HOUSE PASSES BLUEPRINT AMENDMENT WITHOUT MOORE’s FUNDING CUTS: The House of Delegates on Tuesday evening passed Gov. Wes Moore’s bill to amend the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — without his proposed funding cuts. “This education reform is like nothing we have seen in the nation. It is working. It is paid for for the next five years now, especially now in a time when the president of the United States is drafting executive orders to eliminate the Department of Education,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Ben Barnes. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- The 100-39 party-line vote sets up a potential showdown with the Senate over the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. Senate leaders have indicated that, in the face of a projected $3 billion deficit for fiscal 2026, they may be more sympathetic to the governor’s version of the bill to amend the state’s multiyear, costly Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- The legislation moving forward adds a few of the Democratic governor’s initiatives to the Blueprint plan, including programs to recruit and better train teachers. But it no longer carries some of the reforms that Moore sought, including a multi-year pause on a plan to increase planning time for teachers that’s difficult to implement because it requires more staffing. Delegates opted for only a one-year pause instead. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
CARROLL ED BOARD WARNS ABOUT STAFF CUTS FROM BLUEPRINT: Carroll County Board of Education President Tara Battaglia called on county residents to contact Maryland lawmakers to ask for leniency in implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education law. School system officials have warned that implementing the Blueprint, a multibillion-dollar state education reform law in the third year of a decade-long rollout, will result in larger class sizes for some schools. Thomas Goodwin Smith/The Carroll County Times.
FERGUSON WARNS OF RECESSION SPURRED BY FEDERAL ACTIONS: Senate President Bill Ferguson said Tuesday that residents should brace themselves for a potential recession in the state amid cuts to federal spending and agencies. “That is the news that we are receiving,” Ferguson said to reporters. He pointed to a report from Moody’s Analytics stating that Maryland, Alaska and Hawaii are most exposed to the Trump administration’s “slash and burn approach of government efficiency.” Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
COUNTIES MAY HAVE TO CHOSE BETWEEN GOOD CAUSE EVICTIONS & RENT CONTROL: Supporters of “good cause” eviction laws may finally get their bill this year — but it might come at the cost of other renter protections, as local jurisdictions could have to pick between rent-control measures or good cause evictions under a plan being considered by Senate leaders. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
BUSINESSES OBJECT TO B2B SALES TAX PROPOSAL; TWO HEARINGS TODAY: Juliana Buonanno feels like she’s on the verge of something “revolutionary.” As the CEO of software company, she leads a team developing medical technology. It’s the kind of innovation Gov. Wes Moore has praised and said should be a key part of Maryland’s economic growth revival. But it’s also one that Buonanno and others say the state is at risk to lose under a proposal at the center of two public hearings Wednesday in Annapolis — a new business-to-business sales tax that some Democrats pitched to help resolve a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
MOORE’s POLL NUMBERS DROP, BUT REMAIN ABOVE 50%: Gov. Wes Moore’s job approval ratings remain above 50% but continued to slide in March, according to a poll released Wednesday. The poll released Wednesday by Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media showed 55% of those surveyed said they approve Moore’s job performance, compared to 36% who disapproved, “a statistically significant decline” from January, said pollster Patrick Gonzales. In that poll, Gonzales found Moore had a 61% approval rating, while 28% disapproved and 11% gave no opinion. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
ALSOBROOKS BILL WOULD FORCE STUDY OF TARIFF IMPACTS: Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland) on Tuesday night introduced her first piece of federal legislation since joining Congress this year, the Tariff Transparency Act, which would require the U.S. International Trade Commission to launch a formal study of the consequences of those tariffs on consumers and businesses, including a look at potential price increases on food, energy, housing construction, automobiles, electronics and pharmaceuticals. Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
CROWDS CHEER MARYLAND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION AT TOWN HALL: A packed crowd erupted in applause Tuesday evening as Maryland congressional lawmakers took the stage at Howard Community College for a town hall addressing their fight against President Donald Trump’s administration. Lillian Reed/The Baltimore Banner,
JHU PRESIDENT WARNS OF ANTICIPATED FEDERAL CUTS TO RESEARCH: Cuts to the Johns Hopkins University might be on the way as federal funding for the school’s research is under fire from the Trump administration, according to a letter posted by the school’s Office of the President. Referencing a “cascade of executive orders and agency actions,” Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels wrote that he anticipated possible reductions in research work at the school. Racquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
FIRED NOAA STAFF IN MARYLAND NOW WORRIES ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY: Federal cuts have left former NOAA staff in Maryland worried about public safety services as well as the fate of fishery surveys and data sets NOAA has maintained, in some cases, for half a century. Trump officials have also toyed with cutting leases at important NOAA buildings, among them a satellite operations facility in Prince George’s County and a massive weather forecasting center in College Park. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR WATERMEN’s CHALLENGE TO STRIPED BASS RULES: The Supreme Court has denied a hearing for a coalition of Maryland fishing associations and charter boat operators seeking to overturn new striped bass fishing restrictions. But for Capt. Robert Newberry, chairman of the Delmarva Fisheries Association, the legal battle is far from over. Hannah Coombs/The Easton Star Democrat.
