2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

[NOTE: The 2022 Legislative Session is now over. Click the following links for more details on the overall session outcome and Climate Solutions Now Act. The content below is no longer current.]

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2022 Legislative Session starts on January 13, 2022 and will end at midnight on April 12. Sierra Club Maryland Chapter stays involved in the Maryland legislative process through grassroots activism and support for bills to change our state for the better! Read about our priorities here! We will strategize, meet, advocate, testify (virtually), and organize in teams and with partners to pass the most impactful environmental and social justice bills. 

Please note: There are new protocols for Senate in-person testimony for February 14 and after.

Sierra Club Top Issues for 2022

Our 2022 legislative priorities span several different areas. Read here for an overview. Fact sheets for key areas follow.

A bold climate package is emerging in both the Senate and House. It would put the state on a path for a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2045, promote electrification of buildings (building emission performance standards), encourage sales of zero emission trucks (advanced clean truck rule) and adoption of electric school buses, prepare our electric grid for greater use of renewable sources, accelerate movement of the state’s higher education system to carbon neutrality, and promote equity in allocation of climate funding. In addition to the Sierra Club, more than twenty other environmental, community, and social equity organizations support this package.

Maryland has the opportunity to enact a constitutional protection for a healthful and sustainable environment for its residents and to make the State and local governments trustees of Maryland’s shared natural resources. Other states that have this are Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. New York voters approved its version of the amendment in November 2021, with nearly 69 percent voting in favor. Read the amendment text here: HB 596. The Amendment has support in Maryland from a wide set of racial and social equity, environmental, public health, and faith-based organizations, including the NAACP, League of Women Voters, League of Conservation Voters, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Maryland Public Health Association, Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, and Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, to name just a few. Sign the EHRA Petition and visit our EHRA Information Page! 

Have you observed a large fume cloud or breathed in the dirty exhaust released by a diesel truck? Everyday in our state, tens of thousands of massive diesel trucks run through the places where people live, releasing dangerous pollutants that make people sick and worsen the climate crisis.In addition to making changes to reduce vehicle trips made by large trucks, we need to electrify the large trucks that are on the road. Last summer, California made history by implementing the first in the nation standards for cleaning up dirty, highly polluting trucks by adopting the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule. This regulation requires that vehicle manufacturers sell an increasing percentage of new zero-emission trucks and school buses. In the last few months Massachuessetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington joined California in adopting the Advanced Clean Truck rule and Maryland can too! Sign the Clean Trucks Petition! 

The Senate and House are developing legislation (sponsored by Del. Eric Luedtke and Sen. Sarah Elfreth), which we expect will be titled the Maryland the Beautiful Act, that would set a goal of protecting 30 percent of Maryland’s lands by 2030 and 40 percent by 2040. The legislation would also strengthen support and funding for private land trusts that seek to make the parks more accessible and inclusive, and consider the location of parks, provide green space in underserved and urban areas, and provide funding for stewardship of private forestland, where the majority of Maryland forests are located. Related legislation (the Great Maryland Outdoors Act, HB 727 / SB 541) would increase funding for the state park system to expand access for everyone, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities, target transportation investments to avoid capacity shutdowns, reduce the maintenance backlog and hire more park employees, and address related recommendations of the recent Report of the State Park Investment Commission. Ask your legislator to support these bills!

Supported bills include (more to come):

• Paint Stewardship Fact Sheet
• Synthetic Turf Chain of Custody Factsheet
• GRID Act Fact Sheet
• Building Emission Performance Standards Fact Sheet
• PFAS Fact Sheet
• Maryland Climate Equity Act Fact Sheet, Information Page
• Oversight Bill Fact Sheet
• Schools Bill Fact Sheets: 1. Green School Construction; 2. Net-Zero Schools, and 3. FUTURE Act
• Invasive and Native Plants Testimony
  

This list is being continually updated. 

BILL TESTIMONY      TAKE ACTION NOW     LOBBY NIGHT MATERIALS     PAST SESSIONS

Navigating the General Assembly Online

Due to the pandemic, there are new health and safety rules that will change how everyone, including the legislators, interact. If it's like last year, in 2022, the public generally will not be allowed into the Senate and House office buildings or the Capitol building. Individual lobbying meetings with legislators and committee hearings will probably mostly occur virtually. Most committee meetings will be done virtually. Time for floor debates may be limited. However, the good news is that ALL committee hearings, as well as the Senate and House floor meetings, will be live-streamed on YouTube. So while we are juggling difficult circumstances, we are gaining better online access. The links below help give more information on watching hearings, testifying virtually, and understanding how bills become law. Also, the approved state redistricting map has now been posted on the GA website. 

WATCH A HEARING     TESTIFY VIRTUALLY     BILL PROCESS      GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEBSITE

How You Can Get More Involved

For starters, here are ten suggestions for how to get involved! Definitely visit our Take Action page! We welcome you to join the legislative team, help us be effective and creative this legislative session. We need new creative ideas to inspire and organize people and influence elected officials in this new virtual pandemic reality. Are you savvy with social media? Make videos or artwork? Want to plan a social distance demonstration? Email legislation@mdsierra.org and we will connect. To volunteer to help enact our legislative agenda, email legislation@mdsierra.org and tell us how you’d like to get involved!

FIND YOUR LEGISLATORS      10 SUGGESTIONS     TAKE ACTION     EMAIL US