State Roundup: $71 billion budget package signed into law; Chambers reach deal on energy bill; questions arise over pausing taxing hospitals’ offshore insurance

MOORE SIGNS $71 BILLION BUDGET PACKAGE: Maryland’s budget season has come to a close after Gov. Wes Moore signed off on the three-bill spending package Wednesday morning. The finalized budget authorizes the state to spend just under $71 billion in operating costs next fiscal year, a growth of 0.8 percent over the current fiscal year. Sarah Petrowich/WYPR-FM.

• “This budget makes life just a little bit more affordable for our people,” Moore said before signing the budget. Key to the affordability fight were efforts to rein in spiking utility costs. Those got a boost Wednesday when House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson announced an agreement on comprehensive utility reform legislation. That bill, should it win final passage as expected, would save ratepayers an estimated $150 per year. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
• Gov. Wes Moore directed hundreds of millions of dollars toward lowering utility bills when he signed Maryland’s fiscal 2027 budget into law, drawing sharp criticism from Maryland Republicans and mixed reactions from environmental advocates. Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.
• Economists warn that lawmakers shouldn’t take a victory lap just yet, because serious budget concerns loom in the future. Anirban Basu, an economist at Sage Policy Group, said “2026 was a bit of a respite for the taxpayer, but it will not last.” Tinashe Chingarande and Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.

HOUSE, SENATE REACH DEAL ON ENERGY BILL: The Maryland House speaker and Senate president announced Wednesday that they have come to a deal on the General Assembly’s broad energy bill, easing concerns that disagreements that cropped up in recent weeks might have derailed the package. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.

HOUSE OKs BAN ON POPULAR GLOCK HANDGUNS: The House of Delegates passed a sweeping ban Wednesday on the sale of pistols that can be easily converted into machine guns, advancing legislation that could take one of the nation’s most popular handguns off the market in Maryland. Madeleine O’Neill/The Baltimore Banner.

PAUSE ON TAXING HOSPITALS’ OFFSHORE INSURANCE QUESTIONED: Maryland lawmakers are questioning whether to grant a temporary reprieve to hospitals from paying taxes on the overseas for-profit companies they create to insure themselves. For years, many of the state’s nonprofit hospitals have socked away money for potential lawsuits and legal claims in offshore, for-profit insurance companies they own, known as “captive insurers,” instead of buying policies from traditional commercial insurers. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.

• Economic policy advocates don’t want to see Maryland’s hospitals let “off the hook” for what could be years of unpaid taxes on offshore insurance accounts, calling on lawmakers to abandon a plan to pause collections on those taxes. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
• “How much longer are we going to be suckers as taxpayers?” said whistleblower Jason Schupp. “In other industries, the Cayman Islands are used as an undisclosed piggybank where nobody can see what’s in it or what it’s being used for. They could be paying for trips to the islands for board members and their families.” Karl Hille/The Baltimore Sun.

DEMS INTRODUCE FLURRY OF IMMIGRATION-RELATED BILLS: Maryland’s majority Democratic legislature braced for the federal ramp up of immigration enforcement this session, introducing a flurry of immigration and citizenship-related bills, more this session than in any of the past 15 years. Aline Behar Kado of Capital News Service/Bethesda Today.

FAMILY SEEKS SOLACE IN LEGISLATION WHILE ANNAPOLIS PLAYS POLITICS: Each day, Bolon Xi-Amaru searches for signs of movement on legislation his family urgently wants Maryland lawmakers to pass. He has become his family’s lead advocate in Annapolis for the last four years, lobbying to pass bills in memory of his cousin, NyKayla Strawder, who was fatally shot by a 9-year-old with access to his grandmother’s gun. They’re pitching two bills that they believe may prevent similar deaths, mandating treatment for kids like the 9-year-old and stiffening penalties for adults who fail to secure firearms. “The politics just beat you down,” Xi-Amaru said. “And I can’t never tell if people are being honest with me, or if they’re just talking me in circles.” Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.

COMMENTARY: MARYLANDERS DESERVE JURIES THAT REFLECT THEIR COMMUNITIES: Maryland holds the shameful distinction of being first in the nation in the over-incarceration of Black males. Extreme racial disparities pervade nearly all aspects of the state’s criminal justice system. Black residents make up 29% of the state population, yet 71% of the prison population. Rightfully, these statistics are drawing increased attention. Less often discussed, however, is how these realities affect juries—and how Marylanders accused of crimes, who are disproportionately Black and poor, are often denied access to a fundamental promise of the justice system: a jury of their peers. Qiana Johnson and Heather Warnken/Maryland Reporter.

PSC SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON PEPCO RATE HIKE PROPOSAL: The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold two virtual hearings this month to gather public input on a proposed electric rate increase from the Potomac Electric Power Co. Pepco services about 610,000 customers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. In October 2025, the company filed its request to increase annual revenues by $133 million, increasing the monthly bill by about $11.73. Jacqueline Kalil/Bethesda Today.

TRUMP ADMIN BACKS FIGHT TO HOWARD’s BAN ON PRIVATE ICE FACILITIES: The Trump administration is backing a legal challenge to Howard County’s efforts to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from moving its Baltimore field office to a privately owned office building in Elkridge. Lillian Reed/The Baltimore Banner.

TWO REPUBLICANS SEEK TO BECOME BALTIMORE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: The Democratic candidates for Baltimore County executive may be sucking most of the political oxygen out of the room but the two GOP candidates say they are offering fresh leadership following the failed policies of Democratic administrations. At a recent candidates forum at Goucher College, both Republicans who are running, Pat Dyer and Kim Stansbury, harkened back to what they say were better days in Baltimore County. John Lee/WYPR-FM.