Maryland
What’s on Maryland lawmakers’ deadline day to-do list
Maryland lawmakers, like many of the rest of us, are motivated by deadlines, and a major one comes at midnight.
Monday is the 69th day of the General Assembly’s 90-day session. Known as Crossover Day, it’s the deadline for bills to pass one chamber — the Senate or the House of Delegates — and cross over to the other for the best chance of full passage.
This being politics, exceptions can always be made for a late-emerging, high-priority issue. But most bills that fail to make the crossover deadline will be left in the legislative dust for the year.
Senators and delegates have spent long hours in session over the past week, advancing hundreds of bills. During multiple hours’ worth of sessions Saturday, the House of Delegates churned through long lists of bills, fueled by pizza that was brought into the delegates lounge.
So which of the 2,653 bills and 16 resolutions are charging ahead, and which ones are hanging in the balance? Here’s a quick rundown.
Fighting federal immigration enforcement
Even though state lawmakers have limited ability to respond to ramped-up federal immigration enforcement, Democrats are floating seemingly every option possible.
They have already passed a law banning local jails from having formal cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gov. Wes Moore signed that law a month ago.
Since then, lawmakers have considered a raft of actions, though none has yet fully passed.
They include measures to protect noncitizens from enforcement at sensitive locations such as hospitals, prevent personal data from being used for enforcement, and require state and local law enforcement to document federal immigration enforcement.
Lawmakers also are considering bills to require local zoning approval for private detention facilities, and to set standards and oversight for conditions in those centers.
Attacking energy issues
The House of Delagates approved a bill on energy policy that cobbles together multiple ideas — including about $150 annual savings on electric bills — last week. It’s expected to be considered in the Senate after the crossover deadline.
The bill would also require data centers to submit plans showing how they would employ local labor and use battery storage to lessen their impact on the electric grid.
Senate Democratic leaders and Moore are on board with the plan, so the bill shouldn’t face trouble reaching final passage before the end of session.
The bill is called the Utility RELIEF Act, with RELIEF standing for Reducing Energy Load Inflation for Everyday Families.
$70B budget moving forward
The Senate signed off on a roughly $70 billion state budget last week, sending it to the House of Delegates, where it will be debated this week.
There are no tax or fee increases in the budget, though it includes more than $1 billion of spending cuts and fund shifts to cover a gap between revenue coming in and anticipated spending.
Among the most difficult cuts is $127 million sliced from the Developmental Disabilities Administration, which is slightly less than the governor’s original proposal of a $150 million spending cut.
Senate President Bill Ferguson noted that this is the fastest the budget has moved — at least since the coronavirus pandemic-shortened session in 2020.
“This is something that we really wanted to make sure that we got the Senate product done early, so that we wouldn’t have this at the end of session,” said Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat. “So we could deal with all of the other issues.”
Criminal and juvenile justice reforms
Lawmakers have advanced a bill to ban the sale of Glock handguns and facsimiles because their trigger design allows them to be easily converted into machine guns.
And, on juvenile justice, they are working to reduce the list of crimes for which minors are automatically charged as adults.
Lawmakers are also advancing a version of a bill intended to push the state to carry out plans to build a prerelease and reentry center for incarcerated women. The version in the Senate removes a requirement to put the facility in Baltimore, raising concerns among some advocates.
Lawmakers have yet to vote on a bill that would reform the process through which people can seek criminal charges through a district court commissioner with no input from police or prosecutors. A Baltimore Banner investigation documented how the process can be easily abused.
Foster care improvements
The House of Delegates approved three bills Saturday aimed at improving the troubled foster care system, including creating a foster care ombudsman and banning the state from placing foster children in hotels or keeping them in hospitals when not medically necessary.
One of the bills is called Kanaiyah’s Law for Kanaiyah Ward, a 16-year-old girl who died by suicide last fall in a Baltimore hotel where she was supposed to receive one-on-one supervision.
House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk praised delegates for their unanimous votes on the bills.
“When you go home, each and every one of you has to feel proud of these three bills that just passed, because they are really important,” she said.
Governor’s priorities
Most of the Democratic governor’s priorities are moving forward in some fashion, including legislation to limit grocery stores from rapidly changing prices for different customers, facilitate housing construction around mass transit stops, promote economic development and set a process for the state health secretary to make vaccine recommendations.
Moore put forward a bill on energy policy, which is not moving, but he was involved in developing the larger energy bill.
Symbols and commemorations
The House of Delegates is moving forward with a bill to designate megadolon as the state shark.
Another bill is progressing in the House that would require the governor to proclaim January as Muslim American Heritage Month and May as Jewish American Heritage Month.
The House is also advancing legislation banning state and local governments from using Confederate names on government property such as streets, parks and buildings.
The Senate, meanwhile, passed a bill setting Jan. 13 as Korean American Day and another designating the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state’s natural sciences museum.
Redrawing congressional districts
A hot issue early in the session was whether to redraw Maryland’s congressional district boundaries to give Democrats a chance at a sweep of all eight seats in this fall’s election. The state currently has one Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Moore championed the plan, which sailed through the House of Delegates before stalling in the Senate. The proposed map has remained parked in the Senate Rules Committee, where it’s expected to stay.
Moore’s team floated the idea that it was working on a “Plan B” for redistricting — possibly pushing a new map for the 2028 election — but nothing has been put forward publicly.
Next steps
After the crossover deadline, lawmakers have three weeks to finalize the bills they intend to send to the governor. Each bill must be approved in the exact form by both the House and the Senate by midnight April 13, and the final days can be marked by wrangling over fine details.
If lawmakers fear Moore will veto any bills, they could present them to the governor early to give themselves time for veto override votes. Typically, veto overrides are taken up in the next scheduled legislative session. There is no session planned before the election.
:format(url)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/FX3DMTXIW5C73H5VELQTREZ6EI.jpg?w=400&resize=400,240&ssl=1 "Maryland doubles down on science of reading with new literacy plan")
:format(url)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/FX3DMTXIW5C73H5VELQTREZ6EI.jpg?w=80&resize=80,80&ssl=1 "Maryland doubles down on science of reading with new literacy plan")
Author Stephanie Fowler talks about her new book, ‘Into the Night’
Author Stephanie Fowler has released her third book “Into the Night”. It’s a true crime work on the 1968 double homicide at the Wicomico County jail.
Gas prices are surging in Maryland, and state officials are beginning to weigh in on a potential gas tax suspension.
The price jump occured after the United States and Israel launched joint military strikes against Iran beginning on Feb. 28, 2026.
Average gasoline prices in Maryland have risen 25.2 cents per gallon within the last week, now averaging $3.86/g, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 2,167 stations in the state.
Prices in Maryland are 87.7 cents per gallon higher than one month ago, and stand 85.1 cents per gallon higher than one year ago, GasBuddy shared.
As of March 25, gas prices in Salisbury are between $3.73/g and $3.99/g. The current lowest reported cost, $3.73/g, was found at Sam’s Club at 2700 North Salisbury Boulevard.
“Gas prices continued to rise nationwide over the last week as seasonal factors, combined with ongoing supply concerns tied to the continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, pushed both gasoline and diesel prices sharply higher,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.
“It now appears increasingly likely that the national average price of gasoline will reach the $4-per-gallon mark — potentially as early as this week — for the first time since 2022, while diesel prices are surging to multi-year highs, with some markets nearing record territory,” De Haan continued.
Gas price averages in Maryland over the last five years
Here’s a closer look at the historical gasoline prices in Maryland and the national average within the last five years, according to GasBuddy:
- March 23, 2025: $3.00/g (U.S. Average: $3.08/g)
- March 23, 2024: $3.56/g (U.S. Average: $3.53/g)
- March 23, 2023: $3.26/g (U.S. Average: $3.42/g)
- March 23, 2022: $3.79/g (U.S. Average: $4.23/g)
- March 23, 2021: $2.84/g (U.S. Average: $2.86/g)
Will Maryland suspend its gas tax? Officials weigh in
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Maryland Govenor Wes Moore, weighed in on the state’s potential gas tax suspension:
“Marylanders need real relief, not a 30-day gas tax suspension that would blow a $100 million hole in our transportation budget at the same time we’re working to close Maryland’s budget shortfall. If Maryland Republicans are serious about lowering costs, they should pick up the phone and call Donald Trump and tell him to end this missionless war — instead of asking Maryland taxpayers to help pay for it.
“This war is costing more than a billion dollars a day and driving up the price of oil, fuel, and everyday goods. The best way to bring prices down is to address the source of the pain, not shift the cost of Donald Trump’s war onto Maryland families.”
Nicole Beus Harris, Chairwoman of the Maryland Republican Party, shared her thoughts next with Delmarva Now:
“We know Wes Moore thinks about the White House 24/7, but his responsibility, just like Republicans in the General Assembly, is to make state policy. A temporary pause of the state gas tax is a commonsense solution to this temporary crisis, but we’ll never see meaningful tax relief under this Governor.”
Are other states suspending their gas tax to cut prices?
As of March 2026, Georgia has become the first and only state to temporarily suspend its gas tax.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, suspended the state’s motor fuel tax for 60 days on March 20. The excise tax on gasoline is currently 33.3 cents per gallon, and a few cents higher on diesel, USA Today reported.
Olivia Minzola covers communities on the Lower Shore. Contact her with tips and story ideas at ominzola@delmarvanow.com.
MARYLAND (WBFF) — A legal fight is underway in Washington County over plans to convert a warehouse into an immigration detention center, with Gov. Wes Moore opposing the project and securing a temporary pause in construction.
The Trump administration wants to convert the warehouse into an immigration detention center. Moore has taken the issue to court and obtained a temporary halt. In a public service announcement, Moore called the center “concerning.”
“This is being done without transparency, without public input or accountability. And it’s raising serious concerns from Marylanders, all across our state,” Moore said.
ALSO READ | What’s next for the planned immigration detention center near Hagerstown?
Not all Marylanders agree. Patty Morin criticized Moore on social media and said he is out of touch, also speaking with FOX45 News about her concerns.
“First off, I was just really angry because he is misrepresenting the people of Maryland,” Morin said.
“Last time I looked, statistics said 1.3 million immigrants in Maryland. And you know that some of those are here illegally,” Morin said.
Morin’s daughter, Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was killed by an illegal immigrant in Harford County in August of 2023.
Moore said his administration is prioritizing residents’ concerns as the federal government moves forward.
“While the Trump administration is moving forward without any consideration for Marylanders, we’re putting your concerns front and center,” Moore said.
ALSO READ | Emergency order seeks to stop Washington County ICE detention facility construction
Morin said Moore is not listening to residents and argued the detention center is about enforcing the law, not targeting a specific group.
“He is totally politics over people. He genuinely does not care about the people of Maryland or the constituents that he represents. I all the time, Marylanders are like, what is the matter with this governor? Why is he doing this? It’s ludicrous,” Morin said.
“The very word itself, illegal means against the law or not lawful. And they have broken a federal law. Federal law supersedes state law,” Morin said.
It’s not rocket science.”
Morin also said Moore should consider all Marylanders when making decisions about the proposed facility.
“Marylanders that are here want ICE, want law enforcement to protect us. That’s what we’re paying our taxpayer dollars for. Not for a Governor Moore to go to the courts and fight this imaginary battle because he’s trying to, I don’t know, maybe make points with the Democrat party or something. He’s completely out of touch with Marylanders and it’s just, it’s very upsetting,” Morin said.
The court-ordered pause remains in effect until mid-April. Federal officials will announce next steps after the pause is lifted.
Maryland
‘Mattresses all over the place’: Maryland begins yearly operation to clean state highways – WTOP News
In 2025, Maryland spent $16.5 million on litter pickup and debris removal, Charlie Gischlar of the Maryland State Highway Administration said, calling the trash problem “an immense problem.”
This week, the Maryland State Highway Administration is rolling out its yearly “Operation Clean Sweep,” a weeklong program aimed at cleaning up state highways.
The program runs through Friday.
Charlie Gischlar, the deputy director of communications for MDOT SHA, told WTOP, “It’s all hands on deck.”
“It’s going to be SHA crews, contractors and the Department of Corrections folks as well,” Gischlar said. “We do this before the start of the mowing season.”
Gischlar said the program was started a couple of years ago in an effort to deal with “the immense litter problem that we have in the state on the state highway system.”
“We spent last year, in calendar year 2025, more than $16.5 million on litter pickup and debris removal,” Gischlar said. “We’ve gotten about five million pounds of litter and debris last year.”
Crews are picking up more than just fast food bags and water bottles; Gischlar said they found 32 tires and a wooden kitchen table in Howard County.
Along with toys, dolls and sofas, Gischlar pointed out another item that might surprise you: “Bedroom mattresses all over the place.”
“So, you can see that’s an immense problem,” he added.
The state also cleans the state’s highways before big holiday weekends, including Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
“We bring everybody together to beautify the roadsides,” Gischlar said.
If you are driving and see the work crews, Gischlar asks you to “move over when (you) see our crews and slow down.”
“Every year when we see our folks out there picking litter from the side of the road, somebody’s not paying attention or they’re going too fast, and one of our attenuator trucks always gets hit,” he said.
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