Last week I had my first bill hearing on legislation I am sponsoring, the Maryland Metro Funding Act which alters a provision of state law to match the contribution to our regional Metro system in the Governor's budget. You can watch it here. And yesterday was the first day of bill hearings that I presided over in my committee. We had over 50 witnesses testifying on 11 bills related to housing and land use issues. Dear Friend:
Last week I had my first bill hearing on legislation I am sponsoring, the Maryland Metro Funding Act which alters a provision of state law to match the contribution to our regional Metro system in the Governor's budget. You can watch it here. And yesterday was the first day of bill hearings that I presided over in my committee. We had over 50 witnesses testifying on 11 bills related to housing and land use issues. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Last week I attended a joint House and Senate press conference to announce a set of consumer protection bills we will work to pass this legislative session. Importantly, this includes the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act authored by District 16's own Delegate Sara Love. Here are all of the bills in the legislative package: Electricity and Gas - Retail Supply - Regulation and Consumer Protection (SB1/HB267): balances electricity choice with tighter electricity supplier licensing regulations to protect customers from dishonest business practices, like confusing variable rates and unwanted, automatic renewals. Commercial Law – Consumer Protection – Sale and Resale of Tickets (SB539): requires ticketing platforms to implement all-in-ticketing (to allow consumers to see the total cost of a ticket up front); prevents tickets from being resold for a large profit; caps ticket reseller fees at a reasonable rate (10%); and ends the sale of speculative tickets. Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 (SB541/HB567): gives consumers more protection and control over their personal data; requires companies to keep collected data safe; and adds extra layers of protection for sensitive data. Consumer Protection - Online Products and Services - Data of Children (Maryland Kids Code) (HB603): requires tech companies to design their online products with kids’ privacy, safety, and wellness in mind. This means not collecting or selling kids’ data, setting high privacy standards by default, and avoiding manipulative design. ----- Last week's Montgomery County Delegation meeting included a briefing by Montgomery County Park & Planning that you can watch here. At the same meeting, the Delegation unanimously voted to support my bill reforming the Washington Suburban Transit Commission (WSTC). Because WSTC is a bi-county agency, the bill now goes to the Prince George's County Delegation for consideration. Also at the meeting, the Delegation voted to accept another local bill I drafted for late file related to teacher training at Montgomery County Public Schools for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination based on religion. BUDGET UPDATE I received a few questions about some of the District 16 capital projects I referenced in last week's email. The Whitman High School upgrades are to replace the HVAC system which is over 30 years and past its useful life. As for the North Bethesda Metro Station second entrance, you are not imagining that this project has received state taxpayer support before. The $8 million in state funds committed so far is being combined with local funds to seek a federal RAISE grant to build the entrance. ---- I have written quite a bit in recent newsletters about the state transportation budget. The Governor recently submitted his first supplemental budget, which allocates $150 million in one time money to help mitigate cuts to transportation and updates the language for the BOOST program, a $9 million program the Governor chose to fund for private school scholarships. TRANSPORTATION UPDATE The Montgomery County Council recently passed a compromise approach to Little Falls Parkway. You can read about the project here. ----- Last year, the Maryland Department of Transportation sought over $2 billion in federal funds to support their planned replacement and widening of the American Legion Bridge and portions of the Beltway. Local media covered last week that Maryland did not receive federal support but plans to apply again. COMMUNITY NEWS The Bethesda Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club has a series of upcoming meetings. To obtain links for any of the below, please email keller.johnw@gmail.com: -Monday, February 5 at 7:30am: Council President Andrew Friedson -March 4, at 7:30am: Lisa Taylor, Chair of the Montgomery County Committee Against Hate/Violence -April 10, at 7:30am: District 18 state legislators ---- Congratulations to District 16's Amy Maron and Barry Shanoff on their recent appointments to the Montgomery County Solid Waste Advisory Committee. ----- District 16's Kari Swenson--co-owner of Horizon (a franchisee of fast food restaurants)--was recently profiled by the Maryland Department of Transportation for the transit benefit she offers her employees. Read about it here. BOOK CORNER If you watched the Montgomery County Delegation meeting linked above, you would have seen be show a copy of Suburb by Royce Hanson. Hanson was the two-time chair of the County's Planning Board and at the center of many of the most significant planning issues in the county over the past 60 years including establishment of the Ag Reserve, establishing a growth policy, and rethinking our suburban strip malls. You can read a more fulsome review I wrote about this book for a local Dear Friend: Last week the Governor introduced his proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2024. Although I no longer serve on the Appropriations Committee, I recognize the importance of the state budget as it reflects our priorities and values. The budget is made up of three parts: -Operating Budget: These are funds for people and programs, such as state education aid. -Capital Budget: This is the state construction budget, such as to build schools or hospitals. -The Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA): This is a piece of legislation necessary to balance the budget and alters provisions of state statute as necessary to do so, typically to adjust statutory budget formulas. The complete budget as proposed by the Governor can be found here. The non-partisan Department of Legislative Services prepares a fiscal briefing on the budget each year. The briefing materials can be found here and the briefing can be watched here. Some relevant highlights of the budget are: -The budget is balanced--as it must be each year--and actually reduces spending from the prior year by 1.7%. -All pre-k through 12th grade education funding formulas are fully funded, including $1.1 billion in state support for Montgomery County Public Schools. -There is a modification to the community college formula to reduce it based on enrollment. -$90 million is being allocated to implementation of the Climate Solutions Now Act to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. -The budget contains important capital support relevant to District 16 including $3 million for a second entrance to the North Bethesda Metro Station, $2 million for a new building for the University System of Maryland Institute for Health Computing in North Bethesda, and $2.7 million for Walt Whitman High School upgrades. -The Rainy Day Fund will be maintained at 9.4% of General Fund revenue (a few years ago a 5% Rainy Day Fund was considered strong). -The full actuarially required contribution to the state pension is being made. -A one-time $150 million withdrawal from the Rainy Day Fund will mitigate some of the transportation budget cuts I have previously written about, which in Montgomery County means no cut to state support for the Ride On system, no cuts to MARC Commuter Rail Brunswick Line service, the launch of expanded service on the Brunswick Line, maintenance of Motor Vehicle Administration Saturday hours, and no cut to trash clean-up and mowing along state highways. -Although the budget is balanced as it must be every year, future year deficits are projected. Although this has been the historic norm since the Great Recession, it is worth noting. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE I have formally introduced two more pieces of legislation. Port of Baltimore - Renaming (HB 375) officially renames the state's port the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, something done 20 years ago via Executive Order but never codified in statute. The Open Source Phonics Matching Grant Program Act (HB 475) was brought to me by a constituent to help give parents access to open source phonics-based teaching tools to support childhood literacy. ----- As I wrote last week, the Montgomery County Delegation meets most Fridays early in the legislative session to consider local bills (bills that only affect Montgomery County).We also hear from governmental guest speakers at those meeting and last week we heard from State's Attorney John McCarthy. The State's Attorney shared information about juvenile crime in Montgomery County and you can view the discussion here. ----- I am one of 20 Jewish legislators in the Maryland General Assembly and we have recently formed a Jewish Caucus to advocate for policies important to the Jewish communities of Maryland. You can read all about it here. TRANSPORTATION UPDATE As part of the state budget we require the Maryland Transit Administration to submit bimonthly Purple Line status reports. Below is a progress chart which includes a new metric for progress on reconstructing the Capital Crescent Trail. The full report is available here. COMMUNITY NEWS
The Bethesda Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club has a series of upcoming meetings. To obtain links for any of the below, please email keller.johnw@gmail.com: -Monday, February 5 at 7:30am: Council President Andrew Friedson -March 4, at 7:30am: Lisa Taylor, Chair of the Montgomery County Committee Against Hate/Violence -April 10, at 7:30am: District 18 state legislators ---- Congratulations to several District 16 residents recently appointed or re-appointed to County Boards and Commissions: Commission on Common Ownership Communities: Stephen Kraskin County-wide Recreation and Parks Advisory Board: Edward Krauze Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs: Nurith Berstein-Rosales; Carol Lubin; and Thomas Jackson Taxicab Services Commission: Elizabeth Ellis Bethesda Downtown Implementation Advisory Committee: David Yampolsky; Naomi Spinrad; and Michael Fetchko. ----- Two District 16 residents have been re-appointed to the leadership of the Montgomery County Republican Party: Lori Jaffe and Monte Gingery. We may be of different political parties but we share one political system, so congratulations to Lori and Monte. BOOK CORNER Although not a big issue in our Washington Post-reading area, the Baltimore Sun was recently sold and the new ownership announced that the paper would no longer endorse political candidates. This had me reflecting on the most famous newspaper endorsement in Maryland political history: the Baltimore Evening Sun's front page endorsement of former state legislator and Transportation Secretary (Maryland's first one in fact) Harry Hughes in the Democratic Primary for Governor in 1978. The endorsement is largely credited with his primary win (including over the ticket of Blair Lee III (from Montgomery County) and Steny Hoyer. You can read about that and more in the autobiography of former Maryland Governor Harry Hughes, My Unexpected Journey. Dear Friend: Later today, the Governor will introduce his proposed budget and I will have plenty more to say about that in a future email. But in these early days of session before there are many bills to have hearings on or votes to take, the committees participate in briefings on various topics of interest to perform our oversight functions. I chair the Environment and Transportation Committee and some of the briefings we have held or will hold during these first few weeks of session include: -Electrification Impacts on the Maryland Electric Grid -Clean Cars & Electric Vehicle Equipment -State of Agriculture -Housing -Maryland Department of Transportation Major Projects -State of the Chesapeake Bay Further briefings are in the planning phase. And if you are really into the minutiae of how these committees work, you can watch the Environment and Transportation Committee's organizational meeting from last week, my first one as chair. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Two of my pieces of legislation have been scheduled for their first hearings. I shared further information about both bills in last week's email. The Maryland Metro Funding Act (HB 198) would ensure that Maryland can provide additional resources to the Metro system that serves Montgomery County. The bill will be heard by the Appropriations Committee on January 23rd. The Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment Act (HB 159) updates the law on how Homeowners Association, Condo Board, and Co-op Board governed housing can provide access to vehicle charging equipment. The bill will be heard by the Environment and Transportation Committee on February 6. ----- The Montgomery County Delegation meets most Fridays early in the legislative session to consider local bills (bills that only affect Montgomery County). Our first meeting of the session was last Friday where we also heard from the County Executive and County Council President. You can watch the meeting here. And the calendar for all of the Delegation's meetings is regularly updated and can be found here. ENVIRONMENT UPDATE Last week I shared a few recent reports related to Maryland's work to implement our greenhouse gas reduction goals. Another relevant report is the annual submission from the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, which you can review here. It includes recommendations from the Commission for legislative and executive action to help meet our climate goals. COMMUNITY NEWS We have experienced our first significant weather in quite some time. Below is a list of useful storm contacts for the future. -----
The Bethesda Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club has a series of upcoming meetings. To obtain links for any of the below, please email keller.johnw@gmail.com: -Monday, February 5 at 7:30am: Council President Andrew Friedson -March 4, at 7:30am: Lisa Taylor, Chair of the Montgomery County Committee Against Hate/Violence -April 10, at 7:30am: District 18 state legislators BOOK CORNER Given the bill hearing being scheduled for my Metro legislation, I thought I would tie-in this week's recommended book: Zachary M. Schrag's The Great Society Subway. Scrag's book is a history of the development and construction of the DC-area Metro. It was written in 2006 and is focused on Metro's formative stages, as opposed to its actual operation. I actually reviewed this book for a local political website 15 years ago and you can read that throw-back here: https://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/07/summer-reading-list.html Today marks the start of the 2024 legislative session. Unlike the United States Congress, the Maryland General Assembly is part-time and meets for 90 days each year. Also unlike Congress, the House of Delegates only has six standing committees--the U.S. House has about 20--and I am starting my first session as chair of one: the Environment and Transportation Committee. Below I will discuss my legislative agenda--the bills I will be primarily sponsoring--but like every year I will also have the opportunity to work on numerous other issues both as a member of the full House and chair of a committee. Specifically, in addition to having the usual opportunity to weigh in on the state budget, public education, healthcare (including reproductive health), sensible gun control and public safety, and myriad other issues, the committee I chair has jurisdiction over the environment, transportation, housing, agriculture, ethics, and more. In fact, as committee chair I am the sponsor of 17 bills as a courtesy to various state departments and agencies seeking changes to their governing statutes. That said, I currently plan to sponsor five pieces of legislation with a few more still under development. I will share more about these bills in the weeks ahead but here are brief summaries: Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment Act of 2024: Senator Ariana Kelly is cross-filing this bill which has been pre-filed (already introduced). The bill updates a law we passed several years ago on access to vehicle charging equipment in buildings governed by homeowners associations and condo boards. Specifically, the bill adds co-ops to the existing law, expands the definition of vehicles to include charging equipment for e-bikes, and puts in place a process for the state's Department of Housing and Community Development to implement the law and serve as a point of contact for individuals who need assistance with the law. Maryland Metro Funding Act of 2024: This is another pre-filed bill I am working on with Senator Brian Feldman, as well as Senator Malcolm Augustine and Delegate Jazz Lewis. As you may know, our local Metro system is facing an operating funding short-fall. The Moore Administration has stepped up with additional funds but this requires a change to our state law capping the operating fund increases to Metro. The Washington Suburban Transit Commission Reform Act: This is a local bill already introduced for which the local hearings were previously held. The bill reforms the Montgomery and Prince George's bi-county commission that oversees our state's Metro commitment by clarifying how the state Transportation Secretary's designee can serve on the Metro board, revises how the other Metro board seat can shift back and forth, and alters what budgetary actions the commission can take independently. The Open-Source Phonics Matching Grant Program Act: This legislation came from my work with a constituent and will put some state support into free reading materials to help support literacy in and out of schools. The Transportation Funding Act of 2024: Through my work on a state transportation revenue and investment commission (more on that below) and the Administration's recently announced transportation cuts (which I discussed in last month's email), it is clear that more support is needed for the type of infrastructure I often hear constituents want: less trash on the roads, fewer potholes, well-functioning mass transit, roadway improvements, and so on. Given the federal government's current historic investment in infrastructure, it is also an important time for our state to step up. For that reason, I am sponsoring a bill to increase revenue for transportation infrastructure by charging low fees on transportation network company (Uber) trips and certain home deliveries. I do not do this lightly and will explain more of my thinking in future newsletters, but safe, reliable, and efficient infrastructure costs money. The Maryland General Assembly website has many great resources if you are interested in following our work over the next 90 days. I will highlight just a few: The general schedule is available here. You can look up legislation and track its progress here. Every bill introduced by the bill introduction deadline is guaranteed a hearing and before the hearing, a fiscal and policy note about the bill will be published. You can view the Committee Schedule, which will be regularly updated, here. I also recommend a few different news resources for those of you interested in the legislature. In addition to the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, there are three websites that specialize in coverage of Annapolis: Maryland Reporter: http://marylandreporter.com/ Maryland Matters: https://marylandmatters.org/ Center Maryland: http://www.centermaryland.org/ ENVIRONMENT UPDATE The Climate Solutions Now Act is our state's ambitious law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland and ultimately make us a net zero state. As a result of the bill, the Maryland Department of the Environment recently released its comprehensive Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, which you can view here. The Climate Solutions Now Act also required the Maryland Public Service Commission to assess the capacity of the large electric and gas utilities to serve customers under a managed transition to highly electrified buildings between now and 2031. The key takeaways are below. But the bottom line is that the report finds that the system-wide load growth is manageable based on the history of load growth in MD. However, that does not negate the need for granular study in specific locations. You can read the full report here. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE If you missed the District 16 send-off last week, you can watch the town hall style event on YouTube here. ----- Legislation can be "pre-filed" before we convene, This year, 255 House bills and 310 Senate bills were pre-filed. Notably, 68 of the House bills are in my committee, the most of any House committee. You can browse the full list of bills here. TRANSPORTATION NEWS As I have shared before, I am serving as a House appointee on the state's Transportation Revenue and Investment Needs (TRAIN) Commission. The Commission is meeting for two years and our interim report has been released which you can read here. I support the recommendations but they are also inadequate not only to meet our long-term infrastructure investment needs, but our immediate needs as well. Given the Governor's proposed transportation cuts and some of the investments we already know we want to make as a state, I do not think we can wait another year to act on transportation revenue which is why I am introducing one of the bills referenced above. ----- The General Assembly prepares the Joint Chairs Report as part of the budget requesting info and reports from the executive branch. We requested that the Maryland Aviation Administration prepare a report on solar opportunities at Marshall BWI Airport and Martin State Airport. The report is in. The report recommends seven sites at Marshall BWI and three at Martin State that are financially viable for near-term implementation to help decarbonize the airports. COMMUNITY NEWS The Montgomery Perspective blog recognized some of my work in 2023. -----
On Thursday, January 11th at 7:30am, the Bethesda Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club will hear from Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones. Email keller.johnw@gmail.com for more information. Book Corner As those of you who know me or follow me on social media know, I read a fair bit about Maryland history and politics and I thought it would be a nice addition to these newsletters to highlight some of these books. This month I will highlight John W. Frece's 2009 book Sprawl and Politics: The Inside Story of Smart Growth in Maryland. Smart growth was a program pushed through a package of bills and initiatives by then Governor Parris Glendening. The book is a great "how a bill becomes a law" tale in Maryland but also touches on land use policies that are still central to our state and local politics almost 30 years later. If you read the book or have read it previously, let me know what you think. Frece, by the way, has been a writer or co-writer on other Maryland books I may cover in the future. Happy holidays from my family to yours. I hope you and your loved ones are able to get a bit of a break and can enjoy the holiday season. Scroll down for information about the District 16 send-off and my legislative update. On Sunday, January 7th at 4:00pm, the District 16 team will be holding an online legislative town hall send-off in advance of the legislative session. If you are interested, please register here. COMMITTEE UPDATEAs regular readers know, I am now the chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, one of just six standing committees in the House of Delegates. We recently held our first official briefing of my tenure on the topics of Implementation of the Climate Solutions Now Act and Housing Issues for the 2024 legislative session. You can watch the hearing here. And the presentations are available here. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Most bill hearings take place during the legislative session but local bills are heard in December. You can check out all of the Montgomery County local bills for the 2024 legislative session here. During the hearing last month, I presented a bill that relates to the Washington Suburban Transit Commission and making some reforms to that body and its relationship with our Metro system. You can watch that evening's hearing here. BUDGET UPDATE Last week, several of the meetings that set the stage for the annual state budget process took place. First, the state Board of Revenue Estimates (BRE)--the Comptroller, State Treasurer, and State Budget Secretary--met to refine its estimates for Fiscal Year 2025 and beyond. As the State Treasurer said at the meeting, not much has changed since the last revenue forecast. But the meeting materials discuss the slowing of sales tax revenue. The BRE presentation can be reviewed here. The full meeting can be watched here. Second, the legislature's Spending Affordability Committee--which I used to chair--met and set the guidelines for the next state budget. The recommendations include: -At least 8.5% of general fund revenue set aside in the rainy day fund -Fund balance (leftover unspent funds) of $100m -$1.75b capital budget -Goal of reducing structural (out year projected) deficit by one third You can review the full slate of recommendations here. TRANSPORTATION NEWS Related to the overall budget discussion is some recent transportation-related news. First, the Metro General Manager recently proposed his fiscal year 2025 budget. Metro is projecting an operating budget shortfall and as one of the funding jurisdictions, Maryland is at the table with Virginia and D.C. to determine what type of Metro system we want to have and pay for. The proposed budget packet is available here. Just to share a few thoughts: -The drivers of the projected deficit are largely outside of Metro’s control such as inflation and the pandemic. The decision to rebate the jurisdictions contributions early in the pandemic was in Metro’s control. It was understandable at the time but has repercussions. -The value of Metro’s funding erodes over time, even in long periods of low inflation, when the dollar amounts are fixed. -Some of Metro’s internal belt tightening is shown but there’s a limit to what doesn’t require service cuts and fare increases. -The proposed budget has extreme service cuts and fare increases proposed in case Maryland, Virginia and DC do not step up. Maryland has already signaled it will in coordination with the other states, even in the context of a difficult funding environment. -One service cut we should want to avoid—and avoiding all service cuts and fare increases is not practical in my view, is restoring turnbacks on the Red Line. Second, the Maryland Department of Transportation released their updated draft transportation budget, which you can read here. This is kicking off a conversation that should have started on September 1 with the submission of the draft. My view on the proposal is summed up in this quote. I am pleased that the Administration has left space for Maryland's commitment to the DC area Metro system and its needs (described above). And Metro is doing its own belt tightening that only shows up in our state budget as a final number, not a series of cuts as you see for other modes. But clearly the cuts are significant. Montgomery County will lose out on $3m in "Highway User Revenue," the local share of the gas tax, and $17m in Local Operating Transit Systems support. To say nothing of various other mothballed projects. And that is just the parochial view. Clearly there are similar priorities and impacts across the state. COMMUNITY NEWS Congratulations to the new County Council President Andrew Friedson and Vice President Kate Stewart. We are excited to have both the President and Vice President from council districts that overlap District 16. Congratulations to District 16's Elizabeth Kellar on her appointment to the Montgomery County Ethics Commission.
---- Now in its 28th year, the Lazarus Leadership Fellows Program prepares high school sophomores and juniors for their citizenship responsibilities. The Lazarus Fellows have provided 77,000 hours of service to our community since 1997. Fifteen students are selected each year to participate in nine seminars with community leaders in the Spring and then perform 200 hours of community service in the Summer. Based at B-CC High School, the program is open to sophomores and juniors who live or go to school in the greater B-CC community. For information, go to the Lazarus Leadership Fellows page on the B-CC HS website (under Activities Quick Links) or email program founder Bruce Adams at bruce@greaterwash.org. To access the Lazarus 2024 Brochure click here. The application deadline for the 2024 program is Sunday January 7. I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For many of us, the holiday included discussion of recent global events. As a Jew, I have felt the weight of recent events on a more personal level with my family and generally prefer to stay in my lane as a state elected official, focusing on state laws and constituent service. However, I have been a part of three recent statements I wanted to share. First, I joined almost 300 state legislators from 26 states regarding the October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel, rising antisemitism, and increased Islamophobia. You can read the letter here. Second, there was a more local controversy related to a local immigrant advocacy group's views on the Middle East. I joined a letter with every Jewish member of the Maryland General Assembly responding to the group. Third and finally, the District 16 Team issued our own Thanksgiving statement. As you probably know, we have a team of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds and I was pleased we could make this statement together. Part of the reason I thought it was important is because my District 16 colleagues and I are in touch almost every day about issues in our community and, sadly, a lot of those recent conversations have been about antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents. I know from sharing each of these statements on social media that many of you disagree with aspects or perhaps even all of them. These are challenging issues but as your elected official, I feel it is my responsibility to share with each of you my views even when we diverge. LEGISLATIVE UPDATEEach year the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services releases issue papers that present some of the matters we will be called on to deal with during the General Assembly session. You can read the 2024 session issue papers here. ----- Each fall, the Montgomery County House and Senate Delegations hold a Joint Priorities Hearing where any county resident can tell us what they want us to work on. You can watch this year's meeting here. ---- Several years ago, I worked with my colleagues to create a summer Supplemental Nutrional Assistance Program (SNAP) for school children. It started with a few hundred thousand dollars of state matching funds to encourage local governments to expand the benefit to children in need. The program is now $5 million a year in state funds with $4.5 million in local matching funds and benefits over 90,000 young Marylanders. You can read the latest report on the program here. BUDGET UPDATEI used to serve as House Chair of the Spending Affordability Committee. They held the first of two annual meetings recently where they discussed the overall Maryland economy and budget outlook. You can review the meeting materials here. And watch the meeting here. TRANSPORTATION NEWSEach year, the Maryland Department of Transportation visits Montgomery County to discuss transportation priorities. You can watch my portion of the meeting here. And if you want to hear even more, I recently spoke to the Action Committee for Transit (ACT) about the forthcoming legislative session and transportation issues. You can watch the meeting and my comments here. ----- As a reminder, the Maryland Transit Administration is seeking input on the development of a new guiding plan for the MARC commuter rail train service and has launched an online survey to gather ideas and feedback. More information and the survey can be found here. The survey will remain open through December 4, 2023, and the MTA strongly encourages you and your constituents to take part and share your perspective on the future of MARC. Take the survey here. ----- Because of a provision we added to the state budget, every other month the Maryland Transit Administration submits a status report on the Purple Line project. As of September 30, 2023, the project is 58.5% complete. We have requested the addition of further information about progress on the reconstruction of the Capital Crescent Trail to be included in future reports. The full report is here. ----- The Maryland League of Conservation Voters reviews the voting record of Maryland legislators and scores them. I am pleased to have scored 100% for the 2023 legislative session. You can review the scorecard here. COMMUNITY NEWSCongratulations to District 16's Meghan Conklin on being appointed by Governor Moore as the state's first Chief Sustainability Officer.
----- Our District 16 Democratic Central Committeemember Teresa Woorman was recently awarded the Dorothy Davidson Award by the Montgomery County Young Democrats. As a past recipient of the award, I am particularly pleased to congratulate Teresa. ---- Congratulations to three District 16 residents on their appointment or reappointment to the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board: Nancy Abeles, Cameron Conway, and George Wolfand. ----- Friendship Heights Councilmember Paula Durbin recently passed away. She served eight years on the Village Council. Condolences to her family and friends. UPCOMING EVENTSThe Maryland Department of Transportation is holding an Open House on the American Legion Bridge/270 Corridor on Saturday, December 2, 10am-12pm at Wootten High School, 2100 Wootten Parkway in Rockville. ----- On November 27 at 7pm (virtual) and December 4 at 7pm (at the County Council building), bill hearings will be heard on local legislation introduced for the 2024 legislative session. You can review the local legislation and when the hearing for each bill will be at http://montgomerycountydelegation.com/legislation.html. I am the sponsor of one of the bills, the Washington Suburban Transit Commission Reform Act that clarifies and makes changes to local Metro governance and board seats. ----- The House Environment and Transportation Committee that I now chair will be holding oversight briefings on December 15. You can watch along on the Maryland General Assembly website. Implementation of our ambitious environment goals and addressing housing affordability and access are major priorities and the subject of the hearings. It's been a busy month traveling around the state for site visits related to my work on the Environment and Transportation Committee including an overnight visit to Rocky Gap State Park in Western Maryland, an all day transit tour in Baltimore City, a visit to six farms on the Eastern Shore, and a visit to an innovative scrap facility in Prince George's County. But the best event of the month was the annual Potomac Day parade where my colleagues and I get to give candy and shake hands with our Potomac-area constituents. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE October 1st is the effective date of many bills passed by the Maryland General Assembly. A complete list is here. Some highlights are changes to firearm safety laws--some of which were placed on hold by a court; repealing the Statute of Limitation on certain child abuse claims; altering the process for counting votes by mail; and requiring certain notifications of rent increases. BUDGET UPDATE In late September, the state's Board of Revenue Estimates met to update the current budget year forecasts and update the first forecast for the next budget year. There is a $14m write down for the current year, a relatively minor amount out of a general fund budget of $24.5 billion. Year-over-year growth is projected at 3.8% the current year and 2.1% next year. The corporate income tax changes are due to the surprisingly strong returns lately and the projection is those will drop. The big takeaways: This is a fairly steady estimate assuming modest growth continues and we are at the end of a strong sugar rush from critical Covid relief funds. Read the full deck here. Watch the meeting here. TRANSPORTATION NEWS For those of you who read my write-up of the proposed state transportation program in last month's newsletter and want to hear more, I did a deep dive on transportation a few weeks ago with the "I Hate Politics" Podcast. Listen here. ----- Last week was the Purple Line Community Advisory Team meeting for Bethesda-Chevy Chase. If you missed the event, you can review the presentation here. ----- Did you miss the State Highway Administration's virtual public meeting on River Road/MD-190 safety issues last month? You can watch the meeting online here. COMMUNITY NEWS The Montgomery County Planning Board recently reviewed its biennial report for the North Bethesda (White Flint) sector plan. You can review it here. ----- There is ongoing construction work on Old Georgetown Road between Auburn Avenue and Battery Lane from 9am to 3pm weekdays until December 15th. Be prepared for potential delays in this area. ----- Congratulations to the following District 16 residents recently appointed to local boards and commissions: -Constance Mordecai, Commission on Children and Youth -Angela Wu, Commission on Children and Youth -Joyce Dubow, Commission on Aging -Rene Eicher, Commission on Aging -Kathleen McGuinness, Commission on Aging -Tricia Umeh, Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Traffic Safety Advisory Committee ----- Congratulations to District 16's Melissa Bender on receiving the Montgomery County Young Democrats Outstanding Leader Award. ----- A big shout-out to Diana Conway, winner of the Montgomery County Democratic Party's 2023 Kelsey Cooke Volunteer of the Year Award. UPCOMING EVENTS Each year the Montgomery County Delegation to Annapolis holds a series of pre-session meetings. More information about each will be available at www.montgomerycountydelegation.com.
On October 26 at 7pm, the Delegation will hear from the Maryland Department of Transportation about the Consolidated Transportation Program (described further above). The meeting will be at the Montgomery County Council building. On November 14 at 7pm, the Delegation will host its annual Joint House & Senate Priorities Hearing where anybody can share their views on what should be working on. Sign-up is through the delegation website referenced above. On November 27 at 7pm (virtual) and December 4 at 7pm (at the County Council building), bill hearings will be heard on local legislation introduced for the 2024 legislative session. The bills, what night they will be heard, and testimony sign-up will be at the delegation website. My monthly update for September is fairly long and I hope you find it useful. I share a lot of this information--and more--throughout the month via social media channels. You can "like" or "follow" me on: FACEBOOK: Delegate Marc Korman TWITTER: @mkorman THREADS: @mkorman I should add that while the Facebook page above is used entirely for my state legislative life, I do not maintain separate legislative and personal Twitter and Threads profiles. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Last session, Senator Cheryl Kagan and I sponsored the Maryland State Agency Transparency Act of 2023 to require the State Ethics Commission to webstream their meetings. That began with their most recent meeting which you can watch here. And you can read the bill online from last session. Thank you to former Delegate Al Carr for first raising the prospect of including this commission as part of this years long effort to expand streaming and transparency at different state government entities. ----- The Maryland State Highway Administration released the post-installation analysis for the Old Georgetown Road/MD-187 bike lanes. You can read it here. The Assistant District Engineer working on the project has offered to make himself available for any neighborhood, homeowner, building or other group meeting to discuss. If I can help facilitate that, please let me know. ----- The Moore Administration released their draft Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP) on September 1st, as required by law. You can read it here, but I read through it so you don't have to! The CTP lays out capital spending for the current fiscal year and the next five fiscal years. The next fiscal year is known as the "budget year" because it is adopted by reference into the state budget when the final CTP is submitted with the Governor's budget request in January. Capital projects are important but actually the third priority for the state's multi-billion dollar transportation budget after debt service--incurred from issuing bonds to fund capital projects--and operations. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of the draft CTP--and you will note some overlap in these categories. The Good -Approximately $100 million in Complete Streets funding is now shown as its own project sheet. These are for State Highway projects to support Vision Zero (the idea that there eventually be zero car-related deaths) projects. -Several federal programs have been added or included with their own project sheets including the Carbon Reduction Program (approximately $95 million in federally funded transportation emissions reduction programs); National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) (approximately $60 million in federal funding across multiple years); and the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program (approximately $107 million in federal funding for resiliency) -The Maryland Transit Administration project sheet for I-495/I-270 corridor investments remains in slightly reworked form from the Hogan-era P3 plan. -Separate funding was added for the next phase of work on the 270 corridor north of Gaithersburg, where the road thins out to two lanes in each direction. $10 million is budgeted for next year for environmental work. -There is continued funding for MD 188 (Wilson Lane)/MD 187 (Old Georgetown Road) and Cordell safety improvements from the Transportation Alternatives Program. -The Maryland Transit Administration is continuing the legislatively required transition to zero emission buses partly facilitated by federal infrastructure bill funding. BWI Airport is also replacing its parking shuttles with electric vehicles. -Transit Oriented Development Planning has been added to the CTP in recognition of this Moore Administration priority, although the initial focus is in Baltimore. -A Project sheet for MARC Improvements on the Camden, and Brunswick lines was added last year because of legislation. Those projects and some actual construction work continues. -There is a project sheet for the Baltimore City Red Line program for the first time since the FY15-FY20 CTP (before Governor Larry Hogan turned down federal funding and canceled the project). There is approximately $100m included in the draft CTP although the project will ultimately cost much more as that is just some planning and engineering funding. -An additional $10 million has been added for work on the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit system, beyond the amount mandated by the legislature. The Bad -The draft CTP is not balanced. The document explains "Sufficient funding is available in FY 2024; however, beginning in FY 2025, an increase in revenues, a reduction of spending in the operating and/or capital programs, or a combination of these actions is required to match planned spending to forecasted revenues. In FY 2025, an additional $100 million is needed, and the structural gap increases to $500 million per year in FY 2026 and beyond, resulting in a $2.1 billion total gap in the six-year program" This is unusual, as the draft CTP is typically balanced across all of the included years. That sometimes means removing or delaying projects in the draft. -Transit spending is up as a percentage of the total but only from 35.6% in the last CTP to 36.8% in the draft CTP. Surprise, surprise, I would like to see this number higher! -We continue to operate in some type of weird budget fiction when it comes to the Kim Lamphier Bikeways Network Program. It receives $2.7m in the next budget year--down significantly from $12m in the current budget year but consistent with historical spending--but assume no funding in later future years, which will not be the case. -There is a small increase for the Frederick Douglass Tunnel--a Baltimore-area tunnel replacement project critical for MARC and Amtrak service--but the full cost of Maryland's participation in the largely Amtrak-led project is not accounted for. -Corridor Cities Transitway is zero funded as usual, although unlike in the early Hogan years they have not attempted to entirely remove the project. -The project sheet for I-270/I-495 Phase 1 South has been reworked but $56.5m is being budgeted for the next year. It would be better to have a clearer understanding of what this is for under Governor Moore's vision. -The so-called Chapter 30 scoring--a compromise result of the General Assembly's effort to bring transparency to the prioritization process for transportation funding--remains in its totally pointless form with no correlation to what is funded. However, the Department has removed many of the projects it had initiated and scored favorably for itself. The Ugly -The Secretary's opening letter says "This draft CTP is largely reflective of the previous administration’s priorities and does not include all the projects necessary to truly build a better transportation system for all Marylanders" Why? We are nine months into the Moore Administration. If projects are not Moore Administration priorities then the Department should specifically explain why each is included or remove it. And if the Administration sees unmet needs and submitted an unbalanced CTP anyway, they should include those needs. ----- Recently, the Moore Administration announced some of their next steps on the proposed changes to the American Legion Bridge, portions of I-495, and I-270 and announced that the state had once again applied for a federal grant to support the project. The proposal--which in broad form dates back a few years to the prior Administration--has generated significant feedback in the community. To put it plainly, some of you will write to me that this is the most important thing ever and will immediately end traffic problems and save our economy. Some of you will write to me that this is the worst proposal imaginable and will destroy our environment. Most of you will say nothing and probably have a more nuanced view in between. I am supposed to have a simple tweet or press quote for stuff like this but I find it is too large and complex for that and want to share some of what I have been thinking over. Although the Administration's press release lacks crucial details, the press release along with the submitted grant application do make a few things clear. First, Governor Moore largely agrees with the prior Administration's plans to add two new lanes in each direction—at least as it relates to the American Legion Bridge and 495 from the American Legion Bridge to 270. Around the 270 spur, the project now appears slightly reduced from what was approved in the Final Environmental Impact Statement based on the maps provided. The Final Environmental Impact Statement also called for one new lane and one repurposed HOV lane north on 270 up to 370. The press statement says this will be addressed in a later phase because this will allow for a "rational and fiscally prudent phased development." Of course, one of the challenges is that 270 is already six lanes in each direction south of 370 whereas 495 leading up to 270 is four lanes—six if this plan goes forward—meaning that subsequent 270 expansion could undo any bottleneck relief the 495 expansion could potentially bring…and then we can start talking about widening 495 even further to match the newly expanded 270. On 270 north of 370, the Administration's press release says they will launch the long-awaited environmental study for that section, something I view as critical because 270's reduction to two lanes in each direction north of 370—in my opinion—could use some right-sizing along with an equal investment in transit options (MARC rail’s Brunswick Line runs along a similar corridor and would be a good candidate for this). Indeed, further expansion of 270 North from the Beltway to 370 from its current six lanes will exacerbate the existing bad afternoon bottleneck so frustrating to my county neighbors to the north and those in Frederick. Second, Governor Moore wants to have an honest conversation about funding, as well as whether a public "delivery method" or a Public Private Partnership (P3) makes sense. The prior Administration spent years pretending this project could be done with no public (i.e., taxpayer) expense besides tolls. That was never true. The conservative Reason Foundation--a fan of P3s--have found that most roadway P3s require public subsidy, as was the case for the Virginia beltway toll lanes. The prior Governor essentially acknowledged this when he eventually sought a federal grant--which Maryland did not win--prior to leaving office. I am happy to see Governor Moore not fall into the same rhetorical trap of the past. Moreover, I am glad he will be considering whether a more traditional procurement makes sense compared to a P3. I am not personally opposed to P3s in all cases—I have no quibble with our state port operator or the I-95 travel plaza P3 partner—but the record is extremely poor in Maryland for using a P3 for complex projects and whatever financing benefit they might offer, it does not seem worth the oversight headache and mortgage of public property to the private sector to me for this project. Third, Governor Moore is interested in transit and multi-modal alternatives. Whereas the prior Administration had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make transit a component of the project, including a shared use path on the new American Legion Bridge, and using concessionaire payments for transit investment, Governor Moore seems to be putting this front and center with its placement in his press release. Unfortunately, there are almost no details or plans actually provided. The press release and grant application reference Metro and Fairfax plans to offer express bus service but no detail is provided on precisely where (beyond two Metro stations referenced in the Fairfax plans), what hours, what headways, what fares, and what Maryland's contribution would be. Many critics of Governor Moore's announcement have circulated a list of "Comprehensive Smart Growth and Transit Alternatives to I-495/I-270 Toll Lanes" and one of them is Express Bus "I-495 from Montgomery Mall to Tysons (single dedicated bus/HOV-3 lane in each direction)." Great idea, but repurposing an existing lane in each direction across the bridge is impractical. But what if we built the bus lanes? Better yet, what if we built them paid for by tolls of willing drivers (more on that below)? There are lots of perfectly nice statements in the grant application and press release about transit including improving the MARC Brunswick Line. I think this Governor means it, but Maryland transportation officials have not always followed through on their vague policies and a lot more detail and assurances are required. Fourth, and perhaps most controversial (in a very controversial project), Governor Moore's plan uses toll lanes. It's not popular to be for tolls but I will say two things. First, if—and it's a big if—the plan is to expand a highway, tolling is absolutely, although painfully, necessary to limit the problem of induced demand (when the road just fills right back up because of the available space). We know this from many studies and our own experience on 270, where the road was expanded in the late 80s/early 90s and the traffic engineers were surprised at how fast those new lanes just filled back up. Second, tolls can help pay for major projects. We know that from many projects around the country but also the ICC, Bay Bridge, Harry Nice Bridge, and many other bridges and tunnels in Maryland. Tolls are one of the tools—along with federal aid, gas taxes, and more, that we use to fund infrastructure in the state. The level of tolls is important—and for some reason the current Administration seems to be accepting the toll plans of the prior Administration in the grant application—and we should structure tolls so they are fair and not oppressive, something that should be easier with a non-P3 project. We also need to be honest about what it means to have toll lanes alongside free general purpose lanes: the toll lanes will move faster than the general purpose lanes. Going through what are apparently Governor Moore's views help to expose some of the issues of concern and possibility here. There's more. For example, the environmental impact of any type of project is real. I was surprised that the grant application essentially adopts the prior Administration's rhetoric about this project. Policy involves trade-offs. Many environmentalists—not all, I know I will hear from some of you! —supported the Purple Line despite the environmental impacts such as tree canopy loss. I do not think we have an accurate accounting of the trade-offs here and the Administration should talk a lot more about the environmental impacts and mitigation it proposes. The American Legion Bridge and 495 run through my district alongside neighborhoods, a school, a historic African American cemetery and more. There is a lot of skepticism of the Maryland Department of Transportation from the last few years of strained community engagement. The Administration has announced open houses for the next steps and the Governor is a big proponent and practitioner of engagement and partnership. That's all well and good, but I would like our transportation officials to walk with my interested constituents and me with a map along the corridor to show exactly what land they need to permanently take, what land they need to temporarily take, where they plan to improve the highway noise barriers, where they expect to damage creeks and streams, how massive new interchanges will impact River Road and other affected areas, and how they will avoid damaging the historic African American Cemetery. Both sides need to listen in such a discussion and be open to the possibilities. BUDGET UPDATE Every year after the fiscal year concludes, the Comptroller of Maryland releases a close-out report. The report for fiscal year 23 close-out was released earlier this week. It shows a fund balance for fiscal year 23 of around $555m that will roll over for future year needs. The report shows that revenue estimates were fairly accurate overall (revenue was .2% lower than estimated). Within that, corporate income taxes were higher than expected and non-withholding income (such as capital gains) was lower than expected (they were expected to drop but not at this rate). The state began using a volatility adjustment for capital gains revenue a few years ago that softens the impact of that revenue decrease because not all of the projected revenue was budgeted. TRANSPORTATION NEWS Because of a provision in the state budget, Maryland Transit Administration submits bimonthly Purple Line status reports. The full report is available here. We are discussing with the agency the addition of a metric to track progress on trail reconstruction. Our partners on the Montgomery County Council's relevant committee had a Purple Line briefing recently and the presentation for that briefing is available online. COMMUNITY NEWSOne of the items in the Downtown Bethesda Sector Plan was a study of converting the one-way street sections (Woodmont, Montgomery, EW Hwy, Old Georgetown Road) to two-way traffic. Montgomery County Planning recently discussed the Montgomery County Department of Transportation study of the issue. Below are the primary sources but the short answer is the study doesn’t recommend conversion. Instead, it recommends maintaining the one-way streets combined with road diets for separated bike lanes. Planning Board Hearing Video: tinyurl.com/2p998s7u Summary: tinyurl.com/3eatuzwj Downtown Bethesda Two-Way Study: tinyurl.com/nysuph4b Study Memo: tinyurl.com/2p8kshc ----- Beginning the week of September 26th, Clark Construction will perform night work activities on Old Georgetown Road between 9pm and 5am until late October. UPCOMING EVENTS Each year the Montgomery County Delegation to Annapolis holds a series of pre-session meetings. More information about each will be available at www.montgomerycountydelegation.com.
On October 26 at 7pm, the Delegation will hear from the Maryland Department of Transportation about the Consolidated Transportation Program (described further above). The meeting will be at the Montgomery County Council building. On November 14 at 7pm, the Delegation will host its annual Joint House & Senate Priorities Hearing where anybody can share their views on what should be working on. Sign-up is through the delegation website referenced above. On November 27 at 7pm (virtual) and December 4 at 7pm (at the County Council building), bill hearings will be heard on local legislation introduced for the 2024 legislative session. The bills, what night they will be heard, and testimony sign-up will be at the delegation website. I hope everyone is enjoying the waning weeks of summer. I recently received a new summer (and beyond) assignment when I was appointed as a member of the Commission on Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs ("TRAIN"). The Commission is the result of a bill passed last legislative session that I was the House sponsor of. The Commission has 31 members from the executive branch, legislature, local government, business community, environmental community, and other sectors and will study and make recommendations regarding Maryland's transportation revenues and investment needs. The Commission is scheduled to meet for the next two years, with reports due January 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025.
LEGISLATIVE NEWSWe pass a lot of bills in the state legislature and one thing I have tried to do is keep an eye on implementation of those laws. For example, back in 2019 I sponsored the Energy Storage Pilot Project Act. The bill requires the state's four investor-owned utilities to pilot two energy storage projects each based off of four different models. Energy storage is an important element to meeting our state's goals for renewable energy as storage addresses the intermittent nature of wind and solar. Pilots were supposed to be operational by February 28, 2022. For a variety of reasons, none of the pilots met the operational deadline but at this point one from each of the four utilities is operational. The Maryland Public Service Commission (our state regulator of utilities) requires a status report every six months with an update on the delayed pilots and those were filed recently. You can read them in the docket. Pepco's second pilot appears a long way from operation (fourth quarter of 2024 at the earliest). Delmarva's second pilot may not become operational until December of 2024. Potomac Edison's 2nd pilot project is projected to be operational by the end of January 2024. BGE's second pilot should be operational in November of this year. One piece of good news is that even though the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative was exempt from the legislation, it is voluntarily pursuing a pilot program. ----- During the 2023 budget process, I worked to continue funding for the Maryland Humanities' Strengthening the Humanities Investment in Nonprofit for Equity (SHINE) program, which provides operating support for small humanities programs. The Bethesda Historical Society, for example, has benefited from this program. Details to apply for the grant are here. COMMUNITY NEWSAs part of the current Downtown Bethesda Sector Plan--which sets the zoning rules for Downtown Bethesda--an annual monitoring report must be submitted each year. The recent report covers May 2022-May 2023. You can read the entire report here and watch the Planning Board's discussion of the report here. ----- We receive a lot of reports in the legislature and one that recently caught my eye was on the economic impact of the Montgomery County Conference Center in District 16 (the conference space attached to the Marriott on Marinelli Road). The most recent report is for fiscal year 2022 (prepared in December 2022). Because of the impact of COVID-19, it is also useful to compare this to a pre-COVID report from fiscal year 2019. In Fiscal Year 2022, the conference center represented a net loss to the state because the state (taxpayers) paid $1.6m for debt service on the conference center and the generated tax revenue was less than that. But prior to COVID, the debt service payment was less than the generated tax revenue. ----- From the week of September 5th through the week of September 18th, there will be sidewalk closures at River Road and Brookside Drive as part of road work related to the Westbard Road Realignment. The bus stop will also be temporarily shifted to the south. ----- Congratulations to several District 16 residents recently appointed to the new Friendship Heights Urban District Advisory Committee: Jad Donohoe, Clara Lovett, Ellen Coren, and Danielle Leopold. ----- Several District 16 residents are also part of the new Leadership Montgomery Class. The core program includes Whitney Ellenby, Craig Small, Ronald Sitrin, and Linda Parker Gates. The emerging program includes Katelyn Maurer. Finally, the encore program includes Joan Ronnenberg. UPCOMING EVENTSOn Tuesday, September 19 at 2pm, a virtual hearing will be held on the permanent closure of Westbard Avenue at River Road. You can read the application here, view an overhead image here, and register here. The Maryland State Highway Administration is holding a virtual meeting on Thursday, September 21st from 6:30pm to 8:00pm regarding corridor safety on River Road (MD 190) between Springfield and Little Falls Parkway. Anyone can access the meeting here and more information is in the below image. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. In addition to our usual load of constituent service--my office has approximately 55 active constituent service cases right now--and preparing for the next legislative session, I am spending the summer traveling around the state meeting with the members of my new committee (Environment & Transportation) in their districts. Some of those meetings are nice and close--fellow District 16 Delegate Sara Love is on the committee--but it also means trips to Western Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and Southern Maryland. There are 22 members of the committee besides me and by the time you read this, I will have met with 17 of them with the rest scheduled for July and August. RECREATIONAL CANNABIS UPDATE As of July 1, recreational cannabis is legal in Maryland. Dispensaries that were previously only available to medical users are now available for those over 21 years old. As with alcohol, cannabis should be used responsibly and consistent with the law. Learn more about it here. 529 UPDATE
During the 2023 legislative session, one of the issues we confronted was the mess with Maryland 529’s Prepaid College Trust (which are separate from the college investment accounts that are also a part of Maryland 529). After altering the interest rate on the accounts a dispute arose and many accounts were frozen with an uncertain interest rate. This year we moved the program to the State Treasurer's office to resolve the issue and last week he announced that a 6% retroactive interest rate would be applied. PURPLE LINE UPDATE Last week, the Moore Administration provided an update on the Purple Line. The upshot is a delay in the opening date until Spring '27 and an added cost to the state of $148.3m. We have actually known some version of this was coming for a while because the bimonthly reports the legislature began requiring as part of oversight a few years ago told us 2 things: 1. Utility relocation had stalled; 2. The vendor and state had different views on when the Purple Line would open. What we have learned is that the state did not do everything it said it would between when the prior construction contractor walked off the job and when the new one stepped in. Specifically, the state did not do the utility relocations it said it would. Because the delay in the utility relocations delayed other work, the fall 2026 completion date was not feasible for the contractor. And because the state took responsibility for utility relocation, that's a risk to the state (i.e., added cost to the state). There are some other contributing factors to the delay, apparently both state and contractor risk, but the lion's share is the state's responsibility. Here is the Board of Public Works item on the contract change. You will note it includes a potential contingent payment regarding further delays IF they are the state's responsibility. And here is the latest bimonthly status report showing overall progress. METRO UPDATE Metro is important to District 16 because we are home to five Red Line Metrorail stations and many of us rely on it to get to work or play. Metro recently began releasing information on its next budget year (which commences around a year from now) and there is a large budget gap largely because of the expiration of federal COVID aid, ridership that is still below pre-pandemic numbers on the rail line during the day, and increased operating costs related to inflation (mostly) and some improved service. As part of the WMATA Compact that created Metro, Maryland is a funding jurisdiction so we will be a part of discussions over how to address this challenge. A recent Metro Board presentation outlines the situation for those who are interested. COMMUNITY NEWS Several District 16 residents have been appointed to county boards and commissions since my last update:
Congratulations to District 16's Vernon Ricks on receiving a Montgomery County African American Living Legend award. ----- Each July 4th the Village of Friendship Heights gives out Community Service Awards. This year's recipients were Beryl Blecher, Joan Lewis, and Elena Marra-Lopez. Congratulations one and all. ----- Two District 16 residents were elected to the Woman's Democratic Club of Montgomery County Board. Tazeen Ahmad is the new President and Melissa Bender is the Third Vice President. And thank you to Diana Conway, the now former president. ----- The Jewish Community Relations Council has named its new board and it includes four District 16 residents: Debra Feuer, Rabbi Jonathan Miller, Isaac Snyder and Larry Sidman. |
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