2025 Maryland General Assembly Session Starts This Week
The 2025 Session of the Maryland General Assembly starts this Wednesday, January 8th. The session lasts 90 days. In order for legislation to be signed into law, a bill has to be introduced, heard by the appropriate committee, pass the House of Delegates and State Senate with exactly the same wording and signed into law by the Governor.
The Budget Deficit and How to Meet the Challenge
The number one topic of the legislature will be the projected Maryland Budget Deficit over close to $3 billion. The legislature must (as opposed to the Federal government) pass a balanced budget by the end of the legislative session. This means that the legislature will have to cut the budget, raise new revenue or a combination of the two.
The budget deficit is quite serious. The total operating budget is $63 budget, so the deficit is 5% of the total budget and is projected to grow to $6 billion by 2030. People are saying that this is a worse situation than during the recession of 2008-2009.
Some of the causes of the problem with the deficit have been stated as being a smaller growth in the economy compared to other states, the end of pandemic relief programs, and rising cost of Medicaid expenses. There is also the major risk of the new Trump administration impact on Maryland. Over 250,000 Federal workers live in Maryland (8% of the workforce) and there will be a major option.
The Moore Administration and the legislature are looking at three options: cutting back services, using reserve funds and raising new revenue which might include closing corporate tax loopholes, fee increases, or a sales tax on services (e.g. dog walking). The Governor has stated that he does not want to raise taxes, so we’ll see what he proposes. His budget is to be presented on Wednesday January 15th.
Pre-Filed Bills
The Legislative Session has not even started and there are over 550 bills that have been ‘pre-filed’. While every bill that is introduced on time (there is a deadline for bill introduction) will have a hearing on the bill, the overwhelming majority of the bills introduced will not be passed or even be voted on. Looking over the bills that were pre-filed, I picked out just a few that I personally find interesting and will be following over the next three months. There will be a heck of lot more to follow in the next few weeks:
HB 37 – Declaration of Right to Organize - Delegate Vogel: - Bill states that every person employed by the state has the fundamental right to organize and bargaining. Referred to Appropriations Committee
HB 132/SB 70 – Enabling Counties to Have Different Income Tax Brackets – Delegate Palokovich Carr/Senator Rosapepe - This would allow counties to raise the income tax rates for higher income residents and lower the rates for lower income residents. Referred to House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Budget and Taxation.
HB 174/SB 171 – Delegate Foley/Senator Kagan– Special Election to Fill a Vacancy – Right now all vacancies in the General Assembly are done by appointment. This legislation would make it that a vacancy created in the first year of the four-year session would trigger a special election during the following Presidential year (thus with no extra election costs). House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Education, Energy and the Environment
HB 211/SB 166 – Allowing Graduate Assistants and Postdoctoral Associates at the University of Maryland System to form Unions – Delegate Foley/Senator Kramer – Referred to House Appropriations Committee and Senate Budget and Taxation Committee
HOW TO ADVOCATE FOR BILLS
When there is a Committee Hearing on A Bill Scheduled, it is important to contact members of the Committee. The General Assembly website lists all the committees, the members of each committee and their contact information. Go to the main page (https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/
Call or send an email to your legislators using the contact information found. Here is where you can find out who are your Delegates and Senator: https://mgaleg.
If you would like to include a short description of the bills, you can include the descriptions shown above. You are also encouraged to include any details of why you think this bill is important.
Dear (legislator),
My name is _________ and my address is ______________. I am writing to let you know that the following bill(s) is(are) important to me and to all Marylanders. I would like to request that you be a champion for these bills and help them get passed quickly.
Each of these bills is important for Maryland and I support them and would like your help in getting them passed. If you are not on the relevant committee, I would appreciate your voting for them during the session. If you are on the relevant committee, I hope you will fight for them and support the sponsors as much as possible.
Thank you for your consideration,
(name)
