GRASONVILLE — Giving the local delegates a chance to talk to constituents about the outcomes of the Maryland General Assembly’s session this year over coffee and conversation, the Queen Anne’s County Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual legislative session wrap-up breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express Kent Island April 25.
Ninety days of legislation concluded earlier in April and together District 36 delegates Steve Arentz R-36, Jeff Ghrist R-36, and Jay Jacobs R-36, as well as Maryland State Senator Stephen Hershey R-36 presented updates regarding House and Senate bills and an analysis of legislation relevant to the community during the 2024 Legislative Session Wrap Up.
Presenting the State of the County Address, Queen Anne’s County Commissioner President Jim Moran noted Queen Anne’s is the third wealthiest county, the third lowest in property taxes, and has the highest reserves for a percentage of the budget in the state.
In regards to the Queen Anne’s County Public Schools budget and the Board of Education (BOE) recent announcement of position reductions, according to Moran at public comment, the commissioners budgeted about $5 million each for FY25, FY26 and FY 27 and this year the BOE came forward with a requested $11.5 million, he said.
“Anybody who does budgeting knows that you need to know what those out-years are going to be,” he said.
This year the BOE is receiving $5.8 million above the Maintenance of Effort (MOE), “We’re trying to be responsible,” he said. And we are hoping they can work within their means.”
Work is underway preparing next year’s budget and “we need to be prepared to all be in the same direction,” he said.
Moran noted a new BOE building is in the works to replace the previous century-old one and a study is developing for the county’s first recreational facility.
Presenting updates regarding the 2024 legislative session, Hershey said overall Gov. Wes Moore presented a budget “that was less spending then the previous budget was. So that was a positive.”
Although the “devil in the details”, as he noted, “Maryland still has a spending problem, there’s no doubt about that. We were able to get through the budget without any major broad scale tax increases,” he said.
With the Port of Baltimore shut down following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge March 26, the General Assembly approved legislation to help workers and businesses directly impacted and ensure immediate funding was available.
Three main issues going into the session of the House and the Senate Republican caucuses were the budget, transportation, and public safety, he said.
Hershey is on the Maryland Commission on Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs and noted the biggest expenditure in regards to operating costs is mass transit, which has no designated funding.
Legislation was approved for a surcharge on electric vehicles, he said, and discussion is expected to continue on how to add to the Transportation Trust Fund, including potentially increasing vehicle registration fees.
In regard to public safety, a rise in juvenile crime was seen spreading throughout the state and legislation went forward this session to expand the Maryland juvenile justice court system, he said.
Ghrist serves on the Appropriations Committee that deals with the budget and noted on paper, the budget is about $1.1 billion less than last year, but it also takes into account the now depleted federal COVID relief funding provided to states, he said.
Anticipating the funding drying up, the state performed one time transfers into the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the transportation trust fund and several special accounts that were not baked into the operating budget, according to Ghrist.
“It was frustrating certainly being on the budget committee this year. We didn’t take a balanced approach to balancing the budget this year,” Ghrist said.
“We focused especially on the House side mostly on revenues and not cutting expenses,” he said.
It is essential to know the fund balance and the rainy day fund in comparison to revenue coming in, Ghrist said.
A government growing faster than the economy is one of the biggest challenges for a very sluggish economy statewide, he said.
With avenues including sports gaming and marijuana legalization,“Maryland is looking to see what can be done to increase revenues,” Ghrist said.
A number of cuts made in the proposed budget were cuts House and Senate Republicans did not necessarily agree with, Ghrist said, including to community colleges.
According to Chesapeake College President Clifford Coppersmith speaking from the audience, the college currently has a proposal for a total 90,000 square foot facility with about 50,000 of that usable space for labs and classrooms.
Most of the college’s programming lies in “short-term” and much of the project proposal is for the college’s noncredit program such as skilled trade, Coppersmith said. The state has put in a new formula to address this noncredit portion of the project, he said.
“Where we are right now, we are still trying to justify the amount of space that we have requested,” because the state is “not confident” the college will have the capacity usage to justify the size of the project, Coppersmith stated.
Evaluations are underway with the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), which serves as the first gatekeeper in project and curriculum approval to potentially consider reassessing the project and meeting state capacity requirements, he said,
It has been considered a viable project by MHEC, “The question is how large is it going to be,” Coppersmith said.
A recent budget meeting affirmed that the five surrounding counties that make up Chesapeake College are strongly in favor of the project, he said.
Ghrist noted the importance of local vocational-technical schools, “Regionalization of these programs is really the only way to do it,” he said.
With nine months before the next legislative session, the delegates are committed to getting the community college the square footage necessary to provide local programs, he said.
A significant amount of this year’s legislation had to do with housing and real property and one aspect of the governor’s budget that increased was addressing the advancement of affordable housing in the state, Jacobs said.
The General Assembly did not raise sales or income taxes, but fee increases will be seen “in pretty much any license you can imagine,” he said.
Jacobs is a member of the Joint Committee on Administrative Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) which handles regulatory oversight.
“It’s all going to be felt in everything you do moving forward,” he said.
Arentz serves on the Economic Matters Committee and noted updates to the Family Medical Leave Act have seen delays from the Department of Labor.
Initiatives for state solar energy also require re-evaluations, he said.
Solar initiatives began in Maryland in approximately 2004 and solar energy generated in Maryland makes up about six percent of the energy produced in the state, he said.
While Arentz wanted to see clean energy as a priority, “we have to be realistic about it,” he said.
“The House and the Senate were as far apart as I’ve ever seen them,” Jacobs said regarding the 2024 Session of the Maryland General Assembly, “All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good session.”
High leadership positions with the delegates allows them to get things done, according to Hershey, who serves as the minority leader in the State Senate. Arentz is the ranking Republican member of the House Economic Committee, Ghrist serves as a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, and Jacobs is the Chair of the House Republican caucus as well as the ranking member of the Environment and Transportation Committee.
“As your representatives I think that we are one of the most influential delegations that are down there in Annapolis,” Hershey said.
Noting the difficulties delegates can face with only minutes to discuss and introduce a bill, Arentz noted the best way to support local legislation is to get involved with input and coordinated testimony. Instead of chain emails, the delegates encouraged businesses and members of the community to participate in personal engagement and communicate issues with delegates.
“These bills affect each and every one of you,” Arentz said.
More information about the 2024 Session of the Maryland General Assembly can be found at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite.
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