Bridge collapse: Limited channel opens near port. Senate committee passes emergency bill.

As efforts continue to clear the channel in the vicinity of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, state lawmakers met in Annapolis to ensure that individual employees and businesses affected by disruption at the port would have relief.

An “emergency bill,” the Maryland Protecting Opportunities and Regional Trade (PORT) Act, a bill to provide funds to individuals and businesses relief through the Maryland Department of Labor, cleared the Senate Finance Committee unanimously Tuesday afternoon.

The vote came the same afternoon Gov. Wes Moore said during a press conference in Dundalk that “work is moving” to clear the channel affected by the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

“The entire Port is not closed,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, during the bill hearing, in Annapolis. “The operations are severely reduced.”

A limited, temporary channel was traversed by a vessel for the first time on Monday since the bridge collapsed after being hit last Tuesday. A second limited channel is under development, according to an April 1 release from The Key Bridge Response 2024 Unified Command that includes both federal and state agencies.

More: Francis Scott Key Bridge 'connected family, communities, jobs' in Baltimore

Scholarship program proposed for families of lost roadway workers

Ferguson, a Democrat, who represents the district that includes the Port of Baltimore, and state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, a Republican, who represents an Eastern Baltimore County district, testified on the legislation together, one day after visiting with members of the International Longshoremen Association who work in the area near the site of the bridge.

“We’re finding out all the things that are important to our district and to our area, to Maryland, to the Delmarva area, but to our nation,” said Salling, during the Tuesday afternoon bill hearing, “We really realized how important this port is.”

The Port ranks in the top 20 in the country by both total tonnage and containers, according to a recent United States Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics report.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Ferguson discussed an amendment that was added to the legislation to provide a scholarship program for the families of the transportation roadway workers killed. The bodies of two individuals were found and identified last Wednesday, while four other individuals, all related to construction work that had been taking place on the bridge, were still unaccounted for by officials as of 4 p.m. on April 2.

The legislative efforts at the state level to provide relief are in conjunction with the efforts of the federal U.S. Small Business Administration, which came to the area earlier this week, offering assistance to Maryland and regional small businesses and nonprofits that have been affected.

More: Maryland lawmakers launch effort to aid workers impacted by Baltimore bridge collapse

More: US Small Business Administration offers help to companies affected by bridge collapse

On the Patapsco River, at the site of the bridge collapse, the Unified Command continues its removal operations of the material that fell, according to a March 31 release.

During the Tuesday press conference, the governor said again that the bridge would be rebuilt.

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Limited channel opens. Senate committee passes Maryland PORT bill.