Maryland General Assembly session starts this week. Here’s five things to know.

Dwight A. Weingarten, The Herald-Mail
·4 min read

The 446th session of the Maryland General Assembly is scheduled to commence on Wednesday. Already over 500 bills have been filed between the House of Delegates and the state Senate, with more expected to follow.

Here are five things to know as the scheduled 90-day session starts.

1. Lawmakers have been working for months already

Despite only being in Annapolis for a legislative period that spans parts of four months, the elected officials, who work jobs ranging from salespeople and small business owners to farmers and accountants, have been preparing for the 2024 legislative session for months.

The Maryland State House pictured at night with scaffolding on October 29, 2023. Renovations to the historic building have proceeded for months.
The Maryland State House pictured at night with scaffolding on October 29, 2023. Renovations to the historic building have proceeded for months.

Several committees held meetings during the interim period, some in Annapolis and others in places around the state or in the case of the Senate Education, Energy & the Environment Committee around the country. The committee with the broad portfolio visited PJM, the regional energy grid operator that provides electricity to approximately 65 million people in 13 Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia, last year.

More: Juvenile justice, education issues take center stage at Wicomico legislative meeting

2. Energy issues and climate concerns often go hand in hand

Whether its offshore wind projects in the works for deployment miles the coast of Ocean City, solar panels on former farmland in Western Maryland, or the race towards clean cars proposed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore at a press conference last year held in the central part of the state, the driving factor behind these developments is climate concerns and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow a warming planet.

The convoy carrying Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller makes its way toward the 46th annual J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield.
The convoy carrying Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller makes its way toward the 46th annual J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield.

On the Eastern Shore, the problem became apparent at the annual crab and clam bake in Crisfield as nuisance flooding rose up to greet many of the state’s politicians, including governor and lieutenant governor, in late September. Annapolis, which has not been free of flooding of its own, is the locale where work may happen to alleviate some of these issues. At the same time, as one Education, Energy & the Environment committee member said last month about energy: “We need to ensure that we have reliability.”

More: Energy policy and the Maryland General Assembly: Where we are now and what's coming

3. Moore announces several public safety bills on the eve of the session.

At a press conference at the State House on Tuesday, the eve of the legislative session, Moore called public safety “our administration’s top priority.” To that end, he announced three bills on the topic, including the Victims Compensation Reform Act, the Growing Apprenticeships in Public Safety (GAPS) Act, and legislation to create a new center for firearm violence prevention and intervention, which has White House backing. (The text of the bills was not yet available on the General Assembly’s website as of noon Tuesday.)

State Sen. William Smith Jr., D-Montgomery, chair of the judicial proceedings committee, speaks at the lectern during an April 7, 2023 press conference in Annapolis, Maryland. In a December 2023 interview, Smith said he'd bring a bill back designed to shield judges' addresses.
State Sen. William Smith Jr., D-Montgomery, chair of the judicial proceedings committee, speaks at the lectern during an April 7, 2023 press conference in Annapolis, Maryland. In a December 2023 interview, Smith said he'd bring a bill back designed to shield judges' addresses.

The legislation from the governor is in addition to bills that General Assembly members from across the state have proposed on the topic, including one designed to protect members of the judiciary after a Maryland judge was killed outside his home last year.

More: Maryland legislative preview: What are top public safety priorities in 2024?

4. Housing could be a topic that garners significant attention

While the governor announced three bills on public safety in January, in December, he said during a speech in Cambridge he would announce a package of housing bills. The state is at least 96,000 housing units short, according to the department’s secretary, former Salisbury Mayor Jake Day. And rental assistance in many jurisdictions has run out, contributing to a return in the state’s eviction numbers to pre-pandemic levels.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, stands at the lectern before signing an executive order on artificial intelligence in the State House in Annapolis on Jan. 8, 2024. As of Tuesday afternoon, he has not yet publicly announced the details of his housing package.
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, stands at the lectern before signing an executive order on artificial intelligence in the State House in Annapolis on Jan. 8, 2024. As of Tuesday afternoon, he has not yet publicly announced the details of his housing package.

That legislation is yet to be formally unveiled by the governor, but reporting from Maryland’s USA TODAY Network indicated that bills to address what Day has called a “housing crisis” in the state may be on the way in an effort to help.

More: Maryland Housing Secretary Day estimates 96,000-unit housing shortage. Bills aim to help.

5. The rubber meets the road on transportation issues as decisions loom.

In January 2023, on the second day of his administration last year, with a largely federal pandemic aid-induced budget surplus, Moore pledged a half a billion dollars towards transportation. The majority of that sum was shifted towards education by the Maryland General Assembly’s upper chamber, leaving about a fifth of what Moore proposed.

Now, in January 2024, the state faces budget questions. After a legislatively mandated commission released its interim report this month on transportation revenue, the Legislature may be taking up the topic this session.

Traffic heads north on Interstate 81 just outside Hagerstown Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. At 19,400 trucks per day, freight traffic makes up 27% of all vehicles traveling on the 12 miles of I-81 in Maryland.
Traffic heads north on Interstate 81 just outside Hagerstown Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. At 19,400 trucks per day, freight traffic makes up 27% of all vehicles traveling on the 12 miles of I-81 in Maryland.

More: Are fee increases for cars on the way? Transportation revenue commission releases report.

For transportation-related funding requests, ranging from asks for additions to an Eastern Shore airport to the widening an interstate highway in Western Maryland that received support from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, there are decisions for elected officials ahead on how to move the state forward.

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: Maryland General Assembly convenes this week. Here's 5 things to know.