Maryland
Massive energy bill quickly passes Maryland House, heads to Senate
MARYLAND (WBFF) — State lawmakers spent hours debating a massive energy package on Tuesday, which has been proposed in an attempt to lower costs for customers. The bill, which was first introduced late last week, passed in the House and will now head to the Senate.
The Utility RELIEF Act, unveiled by Governor Wes Moore and other top lawmakers, is estimated to save Marylanders at least $150 dollars annually in energy bill savings. The legislation, which is quickly speeding through the General Assembly, is a combination of ideas from numerous other bills, which were previously debated in committees.
“This bill will save money now and it will save money in the future,” House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk said. “This bill is worth voting for because you can go home and say you did more. This is immediate, but it is also the future.”
“Both parties on both sides are not happy. That is how you can tell a bill is good,” she added.
“We’ve bet that we’re going to get out of the energy crisis with wind and the solar, and that is foolish, and that’s what’s costing you money in the state of Maryland,” House Minority Leader Delegate Jason Buckel said. “$12 bucks a month that’s great, we’re all going to support any kind of ratepayer relief we can, reasonably, but the cost of a Big Mac is not going to change when Maryland’s energy prices have gone up almost 50% since 2020.”
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There are many provisions in the proposed legislation, which include funding for additional clean energy projects, requires utility companies to prioritize using advanced transmission and grid-enhancing technologies, gets rid of financial incentives for utility companies joining the PJM region, and makes major changes to the state’s EmPower energy efficiency program.
“It rolls back the goal a little bit,” Delegate Marc Korman, Chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, said. “Instead of the goal going up next year, it’s going to go down. It eliminates gas EmPower entirely.”
This bill also makes changes to the large load tariff, lowering the threshold for which large customers fall into that category, making sure large customers like data centers help cover the cost. The bill also makes changes to multi-year rate plans, allowing reconciliation in the event ratepayers benefit.
Other provisions include limiting how much ratepayer money can be used to high salaries at utility companies, provisions requiring underground transmission lines to go through the state regulatory process, as well as changes to policies that have limited competition in the state.
“EmPower is the bulk of it. There are other policy changes that will lead to additional savings,” Senate President Bill Ferguson said Friday.
“We can’t put an exact dollar amount on that, so that’s why we’re saying at least $150 per year,” he added.
With an estimated $150 annual savings, Republicans have been quick to push back on the legislation, arguing the cost savings doesn’t go far enough.
“$12 a month. It’s unacceptable. It is not enough,” Del. Jesse Pippy said. “You heard it from the horse’s mouth. $12 a month when the average Marylander is paying hundreds more.”
During first House session Tuesday, Republicans proposed numerous amendments to this bill, which were not successful. Some of those amendments include withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, eliminating EmPower entirely and putting a moratorium on data centers.
Baltimore Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams held a town hall to discuss juvenile justice in Maryland.
Williams was joined by a panel featuring DJS Chair Betsy Tolentino, City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, and Todd Scott, the founder of ‘We Rise.’
There was also a studio audience of teen “success stories.”
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You can watch the full Town Hall above.
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Maryland State Del. Nino Mangione was picked over the weekend to serve as the County Council’s newest member.
The move came Saturday, when the two-person Baltimore County Republican Central Committee held a public hearing and a vote at the Holiday Inn Timonium.
Mangione was one of seven candidates vying to fill the 3rd District seat left vacant in May by Councilman Wade Kach, who resigned due to health issues after serving on the County Council for more than 11 years.
Other candidates who competed for the 3rd District seat included Todd Huff, Lynne Jones, Tim Braue, Eric Rockel, Gerard Wittstadt, and E.J. McNulty.
Mangione was the only figure who simultaneously ran for a council seat in this year’s election bid. He is also running as a 5th District candidate, which includes most of the current 3rd District.
The county is operating under a new redistricting map that was approved for the 2026 election cycle last year. The map was passed in a 5-2 vote.
Baltimore County will hold its primary election on June 23.
MARYLAND (WBFF) — Starting Monday, June 1st, marks the first day mail-in ballots across the state will be canvassed for the 2026 primary elections, as local boards of election officials can begin the process of opening, reviewing, and counting the mail-in ballots already received.
Just last week, the Maryland State Board of Elections began sending out replacement mail-in ballots after an error assigned hundreds of thousands of residents to the wrong political party.
ALSO READ | Maryland State Board of Elections starts sending out corrected mail-in ballots after error
The Board of Elections has pointed the finger at its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions, Inc., for this error, but members of Congress and political analysts say more answers are needed on how this happened.
“A mail-in ballot error like this only leads to people getting into more conspiracy theories, election rigging, back to the 2020 talk all over again,” said Political analyst John Dedie.
Just a few days ago, FOX News Digital posted an interview with Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, asking for a response to President Donald Trump’s calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the state’s mail-in ballots.
ALSO READ | Maryland Freedom Caucus calls mail-in ballot error a crisis, urges federal audit of rolls
“The administration is a separate body from the board of elections,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Aruna Miller. “It happens, sometimes Ballots get mailed the wrong way. It happens almost in every election. So we’ll see what the investigation shows…I don’t think it was in malice, in any bad way that this happened. I think it was just error by the vendor.”
Meanwhile, at the latest Maryland State Board of Elections meeting, Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis answered questions from board members if an outer investigation will take place following the election.
“We always do a lessons learned after every election,” said DeMarinis. “And this will be a part of our lessons learned, and we will, of course, be working with you know and getting more you know information about how to prevent this in the future, with it.”
DeMarinis adding…”we’ve been open and transparent about it. I don’t necessarily know what more of an investigation would shed light on.”
According to the Board, more than 500,000 voters requested mail-in ballots.
Without being able to identify who received the wrong party ballot, the board says all mail-in voters were sent replacements.
The Board is urging all voters to vote with the replacement ballot, adding safe guards are in place to ensure voting will not happen.
Since this error, a Congressional committee has reached out to the Board requesting a response by June 9th.
ALSO READ | Congressional committee members want answers about Maryland’s mail-in ballot mistake
FOX45 spoke with Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith of Virginia. Griffith said, “We will be keeping an eye on it because we have concerns we want to make sure that the federal elections, state folks can do whatever in the state or local elections, but in the federal elections it’s our job to make sure that voters are getting an opportunity to vote that they’re not being disenfranchised by some accident or intentional act.”
Political analysts also tell FOX45 that more answers are needed to ensure voter confidence.
“There needs to be more answers and possibly a hearing on this,” said Dedie. “Not wait till next year when they’re back in Annapolis after the election.
For now, anyone who has questions on this error and the next steps, the Board is urging you to contact them or go to their website.
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