Baltimore LightRailLink vehicle by BeyondDC licensed under Creative Commons.
It’s been just over four months since the dust settled on a historic, if tumultuous, 2023 Maryland legislative session. Most of the nearly 800 bills that Governor Wes Moore either signed or allowed to pass into law took effect earlier this month. Now seems as good a time as any to take stock of the biggest urbanism wins and losses during the legislative session.
Many, though not all, of these bills, were highlighted in our 2023 Maryland General Assembly (MDGA) preview, but many bills faced significant tweaks before reaching the Governor’s desk or were punted to next year’s session.
Housing: One tenant reform bill passes, second stalls
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Housing policy doesn’t make for particularly easy or fast-moving legislation at any government level, including at the state, and 2023 was no exception for the MDGA. But the legislature passed two bills that will have a big impact for Marylanders.
While Del. Vaughn Stewart (D-Montgomery)’s landmark tenant rights bill, aka the Tenant Safety Act, passed the House, the bill stalled out in the Senate, pushing that particular set of tenant reforms off for another year. However, another pro-tenant bill, HB36/SB100, sponsored by Del. Mary Lehman (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel)and Sen. Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County), made it across the finish line.
HB36 requires Maryland landlords to provide courts with proof of their rental licenses in order to be able to quickly evict tenants in counties that currently have rental licensing laws. It helps close a loophole left open by a 2021 Maryland Supreme Court ruling in which unlicensed landlords could retake property within days of filing with a local court, regardless of whether or not they were even claiming any money from a tenant.
Transportation: Transit fares, equity, safe streets, and TOD incentives
2023 was a mixed bag for transportation legislation in Maryland. Several landmark bills which had struggled to get through the General Assembly or were vetoed by former Gov. Larry Hogan broke through and made their way to the Governor’s desk, while several potentially transformative bills went back to the legislative drawing board.
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Below is a summary of the bills that did make it across the finish line:
Four of those five bills took at least two years to successfully pass, but at least two of them, the Fair Fares Act and the Equitable and Inclusive TOD Act, have had fairly immediate effects. The Fair Fares Act directly averted what would otherwise have been a legally mandated fare increase of at least 10 cents for the MTA’s core services this summer. The TOD Act directly led to Mayor Brandon Scott and the Baltimore City Council supporting four new designations of Baltimore MARC, Light Rail, and Metro Subway stations as “State Transit-Oriented Development sites,” helping to unlock funding for TOD at each of those locations.
Arguably, the most transformative bill in Annapolis that made it across the legislative finish line was SB 24 from Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City), or the “State and Federal Transportation Act (SFTA).” Designed to allow MDOT to issue “GARVEE” (Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle) bonds backed by future federal aid, the bill had languished the past two years.
Initially introduced at MDOT’s request, this year’s effort was led by Del. Marc Korman and Del. McCray. While Korman’s House bill failed due to a Sine Die tantrum led by the Maryland Republican Caucus, McCray’s bill passed the Senate. His bill authorizes MDOT to issue the bonds towards preparations for Baltimore’s Red Line and the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit Corridor.
The Senate bill also included a modification from Senate President Bill Ferguson, creating a blue-ribbon commission to find new funding sources and structures for Maryland’s public transportation. Better gas mileage standards and the increasing popularity of electric vehicles threaten the gas tax revenue available for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund. It’s a concern Ferguson has repeatedly raised in recent years.
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Lastly, the bill tasks the commission with evaluating the structure of regional transportation authorities, an issue that has gained new importance with the recent authorization of a Central Maryland transit authority. The Commission will hold its first meeting on August 24 in Annapolis and is expected to submit a preliminary report on its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly by New Year’s Day 2024.
And more transportation legislation to come?
Finally, four other potentially significant transit-themed bills were introduced during the 2023 MDGA session but did not pass into law. They could, however, feature prominently in the 2024 legislative session if reintroduced. We’ve listed them below:
HB 819 from the Montgomery and Prince George’s County Delegations, which would have banned the Montgomery County Council from requiring off-street parking for residential developments within a quarter-mile radius of any current or planned Metro or Purple Line stations within the county. This bill passed the House 128-0 before stalling out in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee as the General Assembly session ended. GGWash worked on the bill with its three sponsors throughout the session.
Del. Robbyn Lewis (D-Baltimore City) introduced HB 1008, which would’ve created an “Electric Bicycle Rebate Program,” but received an unfavorable report from the House Economic Matters Committee over cost concerns. With a similar bill having been reintroduced with more co-sponsors in Congress this past spring, however, it’s not out of the question that something similar might happen in the MDGA too.
Another bill from Lewis, HB 1283, would’ve created an income tax credit for “individuals without motor vehicles.” It was introduced too late to automatically be assigned to a regular standing committee and subsequently got stuck in the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee, which decides the fate of that chamber’s late-filed bills. It’s not uncommon for such bills to be reintroduced earlier in the following year’s session with greater success.
A bill from Del. Dana Stein (D-Baltimore County), HB 1289, would’ve officially legalized the “Idaho Stop” for Maryland bicyclists, but it received an unfavorable report from the House Environment and Transportation (E&T) Committee, despite Stein serving as its Vice Chair at the time. Come 2024, however, E&T will have a new Chair…and Stein is currently slated to ascend into House leadership as the chamber’s new Speaker Pro Tem, which likely boosts the bill’s chances next year.
It’s only less than six months before the start of the next session. Let’s see what the 2024 term brings!
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration will provide an additional $23.1 million in federal aid to the agency’s national Home Visiting Program in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
More money is on the way for a home-visiting health care program designed to provide better care for pregnant women, new parents and infants.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced an additional $23.1 million in federal aid to the agency’s national Home Visiting Program in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
The extra money is the first time in a decade that the program has received an increase in federal funds, HRSA administrator Carol Johnson said.
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“What those resources mean is that we’re able to support nurses, social workers and trained home visitors, and help with those early days of being a new parent,” Johnson said. “All of this has been shown to really make a difference in kids’ outcomes. Kids are so much stronger because they get these kinds of supports.”
Johnson said the program’s success hinges on convenient health visits in a comfortable at-home setting.
“When you’re a new parent, if you have to take off from work and take a few buses to get to an appointment, you’re probably not going to do it,” she said. “But if that person comes to your house and they’re full of resources and knowledge, it’s going to make a huge difference to you.”
Rockville, Maryland-based HRSA spearheads the national program, teaming up with local health organizations to target and reach parents.
Home health care workers can provide breastfeeding support, safe sleep tips and developmental screening for babies. They can even help parents find key services like affordable child care or job and educational opportunities.
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“It’s changed my life,” past program participant Fatima Ray said.
Ray said she was introduced to the program in 2015 when she needed help with her infant daughter. She and her husband were first-time parents and stumbled through the first few months with a newborn.
“It felt good, like I had someone on my team,” Ray said. “Those questions you forget to ask the doctor sometimes, she would answer them.”
The experience impressed Ray so much that she became a home health visitor. She is the maternal health coordinator at Primo Center, a homeless shelter for families in Chicago.
“The same care that was given to me, I just want to pass it on,” Ray told WTOP. “I know how much it made a difference in my life. Home visiting matters.”
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President Joseph Biden signed bipartisan legislation in 2022 that doubles funding for the program over five years. The move was part of a campaign promise to lower risks linked to pregnancy and improve maternal health, especially among women in rural, tribal and low-income communities.
The national home visiting program will receive $440 million Maryland’s local programs will get $10 million of those funds. Virginia is slated to receive $11 million and D.C.’s home visiting programs will see a $2.5 million increase.
“This will push home visiting forward a lot more,” Ray said. “It’s just going to help tremendously.”
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Michigan State won a big time road game over Maryland, improving their record to 2-0, and giving head coach Jonathan Smith his first Big Ten conference victory as the head man of the Spartans.
A big part of that win was the connection between Aidan Chiles and Nick Marsh, and more specifically their 77-yard touchdown connection tying the game 24-24 late in the fourth quarter.
Chiles and Marsh spoke to the media after the team’s win, which you can watch via Spartan Mag on YouTube:
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Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Cory_Linsner
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A 16-year-old student at a high school in Maryland has been detained after he allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old student in one of the school’s bathrooms.
The name of the suspect has yet to be released. The victim, Warren Curtis Grant, died following the shooting at Joppatowne High School. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler made the announcement at a press briefing.
The suspect fled the scene but was detained close by just minutes later.
“He has yet to be charged but will be charged, and at the time those charges are preferred as an adult, we will release the name of the suspect,” Gahler told the press, according to The Guardian.
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The sheriff added that his office has handled more than 10 cases in the last two years “where the suspect was either the victim, witness or the suspect in an incident handled by the Harford county sheriff’s office.”
A member of the Harford County Sheriff’s department tries to clear the way for an emergency vehicle as it heads toward Joppatowne High School after a shooting at the school, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Joppatowne, Md (AP)
While the sheriff’s office told the public to avoid the area after the shooting, it said that it was an “isolated incident, not an active shooter.”
An “active shooter” situation refers to when a suspect is firing against everyone they see rather than targeting a particular person.
An area church was used as a reunification center for students and their parents. The school is located about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Gahler noted that more than 100 law enforcement officials responded to the scene.
The fight at Joppatowne High School took place just two days after the shooting at a high school outside Atlanta, Georgia where a 14-year-old shot and killed four people.