Weekly Update: Introduction Date

Dear Friend:
According to the House rules, the 31st day of the legislative session is known as the "Introduction Date." Bills introduced after that date are referred to the Rules Committee--instead of their committee of jurisdiction--and are not guaranteed a hearing. With the Introduction Date now passed for both chambers, there are 960 Senate bills and 1,585 House bills (many duplicate each other). 251 of the House bills are pending in the Environment and Transportation Committee. Eight of the bills are ones I have introduced as the primary sponsor and can be viewed here.
Since my last update, I introduced one bill: The Board of Public Works Climate Transparency Act (HB 1161). The legislation ensures that when our state agencies are bringing contracts to the Board of Public Works, they will be consistent with our state's climate and environmental policies.
 
GOVERNOR'S HOUSING PACKAGE UPDATE
I have received many questions regarding the Governor's housing package and its potential impacts on District 16. The Governor has described three different bills as part of his housing package:
1. The Maryland Housing Certainty Act is actually sponsored by members (not formally by request of the Governor) and focuses on what is called "early vesting," as well as impact fees. Early vesting relates to when the existing set of rules and regulations apply to a project. The hearing for the bill is on February 19th.
2. The Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act focused on transit-oriented development in Maryland. A version of this bill passed the House last year and my own view is the that impact on Montgomery County is fairly limited, as we have already prioritized transit-oriented development around our fixed rail transit stations. That is something that has not happened all across the state. The hearing for the bill is on February 26th.
3. The Silver and Starter Homes Act is--in my view--by far the most controversial and far reaching. The bill would preempt a good deal of local rules about set backs, minimum lot size, and where town houses can be placed. As I have shared with those who have asked, I think the proposal is extremely aggressive and would need a lot of work to earn my support. Although the state has occasionally preempted certain local zoning to prioritize specific types of growth, this proposal is far reaching with a one size fits all structure. But I know the committee of jurisdiction will be working on the bill in the weeks ahead. You can watch the bill hearing online.
 
GOVERNOR'S STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
The Governor delivered his annual State of the State Address one week ago. You can watch the speech here.

​DISTRICT 16 NIGHT IN ANNAPOLIS
The District 16 Delegation is hosting District 16 Night in Annapolis on Monday, March 9th starting at 6:00pm in the Lowe House Office Building. If you are interested in attending, just click reply to this email.

POTOMAC INTERCEPTOR NEWS
 
Work continues to mitigate further leaks from the Potomac Interceptor sewage leak. As noted last week, DC Water has a landing page on the situation which you can access here. My office continues to email regular updates on the situation and you can just reply if you would like to be added to the list. The sewage is no longer regularly leaking into the Potomac River but when bypass pumps go offline or other variables occur, some spillage may occur.
The Utilities Subcommittee of the Environment and Transportation Committee held a briefing on the breach with DC Water, Maryland Department of the Environment, Potomac Riverkeepers, and others last week. You can watch that here.

 COMMUNITY NEWS
The National Park Service is seeking public input on potential changes at Glen Echo Park. Learn more and comment here.
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A community meeting about the potential project on the Friendship Heights GEICO property will be held on Thursday, February 19th at 7 pm, in the Westland Middle School cafeteria (5511 Massachusetts Avenue, Bethesda, MD). RSVP at [email protected]. 
 
PRESIDENTS DAY
This past Monday was Presidents Day. Each year, the House of Delegates hears an address from a Republican member in honor of President Lincoln and a Democratic member in honor of President Washington. Back in 2018, I had the opportunity to deliver the Washington Day address. You can hear that old speech--it predates video streaming on the House floor--here.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Every week during the legislative session, I plan to spotlight a non-Montgomery County Delegate colleague. This week, I want to highlight Delegate Ashanti Martinez, the House Majority Whip. Prior to becoming a Delegate, Ashanti had a long history of working in local government and on local campaigns--including on the Congressional campaign of our current House of Delegates Speaker. The online Maryland Manual--the state's historic compendium of government--starts listing a Majority Whip for the Maryland House of Delegates about 50 years ago in the 1970s (the first one listed is a Calvert County Democrat named Thomas Rymer). In all of that time, Delegate Martinez is the first to rise to that post in his first term (and the first Afro-Latino). And, importantly for me, Delegate Martinez's mom works at Metro!