City bill would position Baltimore for Key Bridge financial restitution

On Monday night, the Baltimore City Council put forth a bill to prime Baltimore for economic recompense following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in March.

"[The bill] provides the city the opportunity to pursue actions moving forward, for the best interests of Baltimore," Nick Mosby, president of the Baltimore City Council, told WMAR.

The bill would add to Section 10 of the Baltimore City Code: The city "shall be entitled to recover for economic loss, including, without limitation, the following, if the following were caused by any violation of any permit, rule, regulation, or order to which the owner or operator of the M/V Dali or the owner or operator’s agents were subject, or caused by the negligence of the owner or operator of the M/V Dali or the owner or operator’s agents:

"Loss of income; loss of means of producing income; loss of an economic benefit; loss of tax revenue; loss caused by damage to the natural resources of the City of Baltimore; the costs of response, containment, removal, or remedial action incurred by the City of Baltimore; loss due to administrative expenditures for the incremental costs of providing the functions or services that are incurred by the City of Baltimore; and the costs of projects or activities that are delayed or lost because of the efforts of the City of Baltimore."

Friday will mark four months since the Key Bridge collapsed.

"It was a catastrophe, what took place," Mosby added. "Obviously, there is some responsible parties, and this puts the city in the best position to assure that, one, we go after and provide suitable remedy to what took place, but also in hopes that something like this will never ever occur in the city of Baltimore."

The incident took the lives of six construction workers, jeopardized the work of thousands of port employees, and launched a massive undertaking to move the debris.

"We know this was one of the most significant disasters in the history of this country," Zeke Cohen, councilmember for the 1st district, told WMAR.

Cohen said about a third of the Port of Baltimore is within his district.

"It is just critically important that we move this bill quickly, we make sure we're holding folks accountable where wrongdoing occurred, and that we are restoring and rebuilding the Key Bridge," Cohen added.

"We're looking to try to expedite this," Mosby said. "This is really important, not just to the six individuals that lost their lives, not just to the members of our community that live and grieve, the operations of the port, not just our entire city, but for ensuring something like this does not take place again. And that the folks responsible are at the table."

The bill was introduced Monday night and will go to the Rules and Legislative Oversight Committee. It still would need to leave committee and get to a final council vote to go to Mayor Brandon Scott's desk.