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The legislative session is off to a fast start in committees. In a normal legislative year we begin with short floor sessions--because no legislation has been passed by committees at this early date--and committee briefings. This year, because of COVID, we are skipping the short, largely ceremonial floor sessions and also quickly commencing bill hearings. The Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Transportation and the Environment that I chair is in the process of holding a series of relevant early briefings. And more are in planning on the Maryland Transportation Authority--the agency that handles EZPass--and its recent troubles as well as the Purple Line. You can view the first oversight briefing on Maryland's commuter rail system here. It was also covered in a media story.  You can view the first oversight briefing on Maryland's commuter rail system here. It was also covered in a media story.
The first hearing on one of my bills is also scheduled for tomorrow. The Zero-Emission Bus Transition Act Revisions (HB 10) will be heard by the Environment and Transportation Committee. As always, you can keep up with what I am doing by following me at @mkorman on Twitter or by clicking "Like" on Delegate Marc Korman on Facebook. The Budget By the time you read this, the Governor's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal will be made publicly available. The budget will be available here and I will have more to say about it next week. But for those interested, the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services will hold its annual fiscal briefing on January 24 at 3pm to provide insight into the budget request. TransportationOne of my great frustrations with state government is the mismanagement of the Purple Line construction. I support the project and believe a suburb to suburb transit connection running from Bethesda through Silver Spring and College Park to New Carrollton will, in the long term, be beneficial to the region. But the path to getting there has been disappointing. I have been concerned about the Public Private Partnership (P3) used for the Purple Line from the time it was entered into. As a rank-and-file member five years ago, I joined with colleagues from Montgomery and Prince George's County to question the then-Transportation Secretary on some of the provisions. When I became chair of the Transportation & Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I requested that the P3 vendor attend the Maryland Transit Administration's budget hearing in 2020, which the Administration rejected. I have been in close contact with Department of Transportation officials since the construction contractor walked away and was pleased that the P3 vendor finally attended the Maryland Transit Administration budget hearing in 2021, where I had the opportunity to question them on the progress of the project. The budget last year included language I drafted requiring status reports from the Maryland Transit Administration on the progress of replacing the construction contractor and the most recent submission is informative. As you can read in the submission, the good news is the new construction contractor has been identified, the Board of Public Works will consider the award at its next meeting--the documentation for which is here--and the construction contractor will ramp up their work in the spring . But the awful news is that the total cost of the P3 has seen 66% growth since 2016 including almost 75% growth in the construction phase. The Administration tries to place the blame for this on inflation and COVID, but the truth is they accepted an unreasonably low bid in what looks like an effort to hide costs and we are paying for it. First with a departed construction contractor who has delayed the project and now with these increased costs and other changes to the project that increase the risk to the state. My subcommittee plans to hold a briefing on the project soon. ---- Maryland has a series of alternative fuel corridors that have been federally designed and, thus, eligible for federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations under the new federal infrastructure law. The entire Montgomery County House Delegation sent a letter to the Maryland Department of Transportation seeking the designation of additional corridors in the County. Read the letter here. You can read the response from the Department here. Community News
If you know of an upcoming District 16 event or a District 16 resident who merits recognition or condolences, please email [email protected]. Comments are closed.
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April 2024
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