STATE REVENUE ESTIMATE RISES BY $320M, BUT STILL NOT ENOUGH: The Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates bumped up the state’s previous earnings projection for the current fiscal year by $320 million, but overall revenue is comparatively down. The state’s total anticipated revenue for fiscal year 27 now sits at $27.4 billion. That estimate puts Maryland at over a half a billion less than what it brought in last fiscal year, but BRE Director Robert Rehrmann says the state is not forecasting a recession. Sarah Petrowich/WYPR-FM.
LAWMAKERS EYE NEW EV TAX TO BRIDGE GAS TAX GAP: Some Maryland drivers could be charged based on how many miles they travel as lawmakers confront a growing problem: The gas tax that has long helped pay for the state’s roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure is projected to generate $300 million less than it does today by 2031. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
HAGERSTOWN MOM’s DEPORTATION FORCES A TERRIBLE CHOICE: Melissa Tran of Hagerstown is one of thousands of immigrants who formed communities, started businesses, bought homes and raised children in the United States, before President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign forced them to start over in countries they left long ago and now barely recognize. Tran was 11 when joined more than 1 million Southeast Asians who immigrated to the U.S. in the decades after the Vietnam War, part of the largest refugee resettlement in American history. Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE CONTRACT BOARD SANCTIONS GAMING AGENCY: A nearly yearlong battle over a lucrative lottery contract has landed the state’s gaming agency in hot water with the Maryland Board of Contract Appeals. The gaming agency was sanctioned for repeatedly ignoring orders for records, the board said. A 16-page decision itemizes a lengthy list of ways the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency and its lawyers avoided turning over records to lawyers for Scientific Games Inc. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
WITH NEW mRNA FLU VACCINE, HEALTH OFFICIALS URGE JAB: Flu season is starting, and cases are beginning to rise in Maryland. After last year’s rough respiratory virus season, public health officials are urging people to get an influenza vaccine before the end of October. This year, doctors are recommending a new type of flu vaccine for people age 50 and up — one based on mRNA technology, the same platform used during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meredith Cohn/The Baltimore Banner.
POLITICAL NOTES: RATEPAYERS GET A RETURN; LG’s NEW CHIEF OF STAFF …: BGE, Delmarva Power and Pepco announced Monday they will ask the Public Service Commission to greenlight the return of $160 million to ratepayers. Scott Peterson, media relations and communications manager for outgoing Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, is headed to the State House, where he will take over as the lieutenant governor’s new chief of staff, replacing Geri Royale Byrd. Frederick County officials are asking voters to help them shape the county’s legislative agenda for the 2027 General Assembly. Bryan Sears and William Ford/Maryland Matters.
COLUMN: WHY CAN’T MARYLAND PASS A BOTTLE BILL? D.C. may be about to pass Maryland on the way to cleaning up plastic pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. The D.C. Council will vote this fall to establish the nation’s first bottle deposit law in more than 25 years, creating a 10-cent payback for recycling plastic, glass and aluminum containers. So, why couldn’t a bottle bill even get a committee vote this year in the Maryland General Assembly? Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
BA CO COUNCIL DEBATES $50,000 PAY HIKE AMID EXPANDING MEMBERSHIP: Baltimore County Council members are debating a proposed pay increase that would raise their salaries by $50,000, effective in December when the legislative body is set to expand to nine members. Pay hike supporters said the salary increase reflects the actual work hours members put in and compensates for upcoming expanded duties. David Collins/WBAL-TV News. (Editor’s Note: The headline on a related story in yesterday’s Roundup misstated the amount of the pay hike. It is $50,000.)
JUDGE REFUSES TO REINSTATE THREE TO COLUMBIA ASSOCIATION BOARD: The latest attempt by the three ousted members of the Columbia Association’s board of directors to be reinstated was denied Monday by a Howard County Circuit Court judge. The members requested a preliminary injunction from the court to be allowed back into their seats as village representatives while their appeal of the decision to remove them plays out in the courts. The trio were accused of weaponizing the association’s ethics policy and not cooperating with an outside investigation. Jess Nocera/The Baltimore Banner.
- Eric Greenberg, Reginald “Reg” Avery and Karin Emery filed suit against the homeowners association and nonprofit overseeing Columbia’s villages after they were removed from the board in April following an ethics investigation. The three allege that the organization violated its charter and bylaws and the Maryland Homeowners Association Act. Kiersten Hacker/The Baltimore Sun.
RETIRED DEL. CAROLYN HOWARD OF PRINCE GEORGE’S, DIES AT 87: Carolyn J.B. Howard, a public school teacher and administrator who represented Prince George’s County for nearly 30 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, died Sept. 19 at age 87. No cause of death was given. Howard, a Democrat, rose to serve as deputy speaker pro tem from 2007 until her retirement in 2019. Colleagues recalled her as a kind and even-keeled presence in the legislature and a prolific mentor to up-and-coming lawmakers. Christine Condon and William J. Ford/Maryland Matters.
