Opening day of the 2021 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session is Wednesday, January 13. The 2021 session presents an opportunity to advance important and much needed measures to protect our environment and public health, and to advance the causes of social and racial justice.
Register for our Lobby Week Kickoff to get involved and stay up to date on ways you can support our efforts.
We know this will be a challenging and unusual session. We believe, however, that Senate and House leaders have put in place a framework for making significant progress this session, building on the legislative business left undone when it became necessary to call the 2020 session to a halt.
Our state must do more to confront the environmental and justice threats we are facing. The climate crisis is growing. Plastic pollution is growing. Our natural resources must be better protected. And we must do more to confront the reprehensible racial and economic inequities that continue to plague our society, affecting our state’s residents’ enjoyment of clean air and water, economic opportunity, education, and nondiscriminatory policing.
This session, the Maryland Sierra Club’s top campaign bills include:
Just Transition Off of Coal. Maryland’s coal plants continue to massively pollute our climate, air, and waters. However, in the past year, our state has seen the closing of one plant, a schedule set for another to close later this year, and commitments made by the owners of three of the four remaining plants to end coal burning. The arc of change is clear: the time is ripe to pass the Maryland Coal Community Transition Act (SB148, HB66) to establish a firm timetable, in law, for transitioning Maryland off coal, and a plan for a just transition for impacted workers and communities.
Transportation. The transportation sector is the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland. Maryland must place greater reliance on public transportation, shift to electric vehicles, and support walkable, bike-able communities. We are focusing in particular on two bills that passed the House last session: the Transit Safety and Investment Act (SB199, HB114), to address the significant capital underfunding of the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA); and the Zero-Emission Bus Transition Act (SB137, HB334), to transition the MTA bus fleet to zero-emission buses.
Plastic pollution and waste diversion. The world is facing a plastic pollution crisis, and plastic carryout bags are a major culprit. Our top priority is to pass the Plastic Bag Reduction Act (SB223, HB314), banning plastic carryout shopping bags statewide, which passed the House last session. We also are focusing on the Maryland Paint Stewardship bill (HB127), which would increase paint reuse and recycling and offer savings to local governments.
There will be many other bills we will be testifying in support of. These include:
- a bill to require the Public Service Commission to consider the climate goals enacted by the General Assembly, and fair labor standards, when regulating electric and gas companies;
- the Climate Solutions Now Act;
- legislation to regulate dangerous “forever” PFAS chemicals;
- an amendment to the state Constitution to enshrine in that document the basic human right to a healthful environment;
- a suite of bills to reduce plastic pollution, make producers responsible for managing the end-of-life of their products, and promote reuse, composting, and recycling;
- bills to reform policing, including repeal of the LEOBR and limits on use of force; and
- the Maryland Essential Worker Protection Act.
We also support overriding several of Governor Hogan’s vetoes, including the veto of legislation to prohibit use of the toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos.