LAWMAKERS TO TACKLE MOORE’S BUDGET, $1.4B SHORTFALL IN FINAL 30-DAY PUSH: The Maryland General Assembly has roughly 30 days to prove that it can tackle the state’s affordability crisis, an issue both Democrats and Republicans said is their top-line priority this session. Tinashe Chingarande and Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.
MOORE’S BUDGET RAIDS CLEAN ENERGY FUND FOR $725M: In these lean times for Maryland government, one stack of cash has become a tempting reserve for Democratic leaders: the state’s only fund dedicated to clean energy. Maryland leaders entered this legislative session needing to cover a roughly $1.4 billion budget hole, a mandate Gov. Wes Moore hopes to accomplish by raiding the state’s clean energy fund for hundreds of millions of dollars. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
TALE OF TWO BUDGET YEARS ADDS $250 MILLION TO REVENUE PROJECTIONS: Maryland’s revenue picture improved by nearly $250 million over two years, buoyed largely by a factor that cannot be anticipated — people dying. The numbers released Wednesday by the Board of Revenue Estimates show a tale of two budget years: A $355.7 million increase in taxes expected to be collected this year, offset by a $108.1 million reduction in fiscal 2027. Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.
ADVOCATES URGE LAWMAKERS TO STOP PROPOSED $150M DISABILITY SERVICE CUTS: More than 100 people stood outside the State House on Thursday in sleet and cold temperatures as they listened to testimony from people with developmental disabilities who said they are worried about losing support services under Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed state budget. Katharine Wilson/The Baltimore Sun.
SWEEPING ENERGY REFORM LEGISLATION HEADS FOR HOUSE FLOOR: The House Environment and Transportation Committee approved a sweeping energy bill Thursday that aims to reduce customers’ soaring utility costs. It came quietly, one night before legislative leaders and Gov. Wes Moore (D) were scheduled to formally announce the joint legislative energy package they hope to usher across the finish line before the session concludes on April 13. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
BUILDING MORATORIUM IN SOME BALTIMORE SUBURBS DUE TO SEWAGE OVERFLOWS: A portion of Baltimore’s suburbs, including a shopping complex and business district near the region’s busy airport, has been put under a growth moratorium to control the threat of more wet-weather sewage overflows into the Patapsco River. The stoppage could potentially last for years. Timothy Wheeler of the Bay Journal/Maryland Reporter
BANK STEPPING UP TO HELP TSA OFFICERS WORKING WITHOUT PAY AT BWI-MARSHALL: Union leaders said hundreds of TSA employees at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are receiving conflicting and contradictory shutdown guidance from management. After most got half of a paycheck or less two weeks ago, every TSA officer at BWI-Marshall will go without a paycheck on Friday. Kate Amara/WBAL-TV News.
JEWISH GROUPS SLAM CLUSTER OF BILLS BEFORE LEGISLATURE AS ‘ANTI-ISRAEL: Maryland nonprofits could be barred from donating to causes judged to be in support of “settlement activity” in Israel if a bill before the state legislature is passed — a prospect critics say would infringe on the charities’ First Amendment rights and may signal anti-Israel sentiment gaining a foothold on the state’s political landscape. Jonathan M. Pitts/The Baltimore Sun.
ROCKFISH SEASON STARTS APRIL 1 AS SCHEDULED, AFTER BRIEF LEGISLATIVE DELAY: The state’s rockfish season will start in April as scheduled, after it was almost derailed this week by a legislative committee’s hold on the season, briefly causing chaos among charter boats that had booked customers for April 1. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
HO CO BOARD OF APPEALS MEMBER RUNNING FOR COUNTY COUNCIL SEAT: Democrat Felita Phillips, 59, has filed to run for Howard County Council. The Woodstock resident who is a member of the county’s council-appointed Board of Appeals, said she was drawn to the position after recent tensions boiled over between the county council and the board, resulting in she and two other board members filing then rescinding their resignations. April Santana/The Baltimore Sun.
FREDERICK CO. GROUP WANTS VOTERS TO DECIDE DATA CENTER LIMITS: The Frederick County Data Center Referendum Committee wants to limit data center development in Frederick. They oppose the county council’s creation of a 2,600 acre data center development zone. By collecting enough signatures, they hope to create a ballot question this fall. Nathanael Miller/WYPR-FM.
THE LATEST PLAN TO SAVE DOWNTOWN B’MORE? TAX BREAKS: Fearing a further hollowing-out of the city’s business district, city lawmakers are backing a bill in Annapolis to make it easier for Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration to offer tax break to downtown developers. Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
CATHERINE C. BLAKE, SENIOR JUDGE OF U.S. DISTRICT COURT IN MD, DIES AT 75: Catherine Curtis Blake, senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, who presided over the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force corruption case, died after a lengthy illness on March 4 in Towson. She was 75. Jacques Kelly/The Baltimore Sun.
BGE ABSENT FROM CITY COUNCIL HEARING ON HIGH ENERGY RATES, PRICE GOUGING: The hearing was focused on the major utility provider’s high energy rates, its firing of union workers and price gouging, no BGE officials bothered to attend the hearing and instead sent a memo with previously released information. Chevall Pryce/The Baltimore Sun.
