The General Assembly’s 2018 session is in now the books. Let’s celebrate our victories, learn from our disappointments, and rededicate ourselves to making Maryland a model for progressive environmental protections.
Every year our elected Delegates and Senators gather for 90 days in Annapolis to pass new legislation and address the most pressing issues in the state. This year was the final year of the current elected “term” for all state elected officials – four years ago we elected this General Assembly, and the Governor, and they have been through a lot. Together, with these public officials, we have banned fracking, increased our renewable energy standard, protected bees, secured additional incentives for electric vehicles, and launched a community solar program for the state. And that just scratches the surface.
This year was a mixed bag of victories and disappointments in Annapolis. Overall, the Sierra Club submitted testimony on 47 bills; 15 of the 42 we supported were passed (a healthy .357 batting average), and none of the five we opposed were passed (we batted 1,000). For our highest priority issues, the take-aways include –
A victory for public transportation! One of our priority bills – to provide much-needed, dedicated Metro funding as well as additional investment in Baltimore transit – is on the Governor’s desk for signature. Transportation is the largest emitter of climate pollution in the U.S., and moving more people in fewer vehicles via public transit will be a major part of the solution. Read our statement about this important victory.
Protection for offshore wind energy in Maryland! We decisively defeated efforts to undermine offshore wind projects approved last year by the state. Wind and solar are the clean energy sources Maryland must nurture and expand to effectively battle climate change and grow our economy. For more information on offshore wind, click here.
- Establishing Offshore Drilling Liability! We decisively defeated efforts to undermine offshore wind projects approved last year by the state. Wind and solar are the clean energy sources Maryland must nurture and expand to effectively battle climate change and grow our economy. For more information on offshore wind, click here. With the Trump Administration proposing opening our coasts to dangerous offshore drilling, we supported House Bill 1456 which established that a person that causes a spill of oil or gas while engaged in an offshore drilling activity is strictly liable for cetain damanges.
Unfortunately, the General Assembly did not enact several of our key bills:
Our effort to strengthen the Forest Conservation Act stalled in the House, and was amended down to a comprehensive study in the Senate. This study bill was reconfigured in the House, and then was considered but not passed on the final day of the session.
Despite a robust campaign and broad support, our bill to ban foam food containers was left in the drawer in its primary assigned House committee, and met some unusual procedural hurdles in the Senate, receiving a tie vote in one of the two assigned committees.
A community-led bill to improve reviews of proposed power plants and other electricity infrastructure by improving public notification and ensuring inclusion of public health information was voted down in the House committee.
Our coalition effort to move Maryland to 100% clean energy by 2035 gained substantial momentum (over 50 co-sponsors!). Ultimately, however, the General Assembly wasn’t ready for the fundamental shift in our electricity sector that this bill would have required and the bill was withdrawn.
We clearly have work to do in 2018 and beyond. We are building our new clean-transportation initiative, seeking to move Maryland off coal in a just and responsible way, ramping up our campaign for 100% clean energy, continuing our struggles to protect Maryland’s forests and reduce plastic pollution, and much more.
We hope you will join in our post-session accountability campaign, to thank our elected representatives for their positive votes and hold them accountable for votes cast against the environment. We have template emails you can send, a guide to planning an accountability meeting, and a list of local community meetings you can attend.
Thank you,
Mark Posner
MD Sierra Club Legislative Chair