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!
Last year Maryland enacted the Climate Solutions Now Act, which set bold goals of a 60 percent reduction from 2006 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2031 and net-zero emissions by 2045.
This year, we recommend enacting legislation to help achieve these goals by reforming the EmPOWER program to facilitate the transition from natural gas appliances, making permanent the Community Solar program, and requiring increased sales of clean trucks. We also urge expanding land conservation programs and reducing unnecessary waste flows of beverage containers. Read more about our priorities below!
Priority Bills
1. Energy Savings Act (Update to EmPOWER) [FACT SHEET]
This legislation will update Maryland’s energy efficiency program (EmPOWER Maryland) to refocus it on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The reformed program would provide rebates to Maryland households to switch from gas to high-efficiency electric heating, cooking, hot water heating, and clothes drying, and would end subsidies for fossil-fuel burning appliances. We also are supporting a related bill passed in 2022 but vetoed that would increase EmPOWER’s support for low- and moderate-income ratepayers.
2. Make Community Solar a Permanent Part of Maryland’s Solar Energy Efforts [FACT SHEET]
The current Community Solar pilot program has demonstrated that Community Solar is an important means for offering solar energy to households that cannot install solar on their roof, such as low- and moderate-income renters. It is important to enact legislation this session to make the program permanent to avoid what otherwise will be a pause in new Community Solar projects that would set back the state’s clean energy efforts and could drive the Community Solar industry from our state.
3. Pass Advanced Clean Trucks Rule [FACT SHEET]
Maryland should join California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state and adopt this regulation to accelerate increased sales of electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, and delivery vans through 2035. These phased in sales goals would reduce greenhouse gas and other pollution, averting over 116,000 respiratory illnesses in Maryland through 2050. The Maryland Commission on Climate Change recommended that Maryland adopt the Advanced Clean Truck rule in its 2022 annual report.
4. Strengthen Forest and Land Conservation [FACT SHEET]
Promote greater conservation of forests, farms, and other undeveloped lands through the Maryland the Beautiful Act. This bill will establish goals of protecting 30% of the state’s lands by 2030 and 40% of the state’s lands by 2040.
5. Pass a Maryland Beverage Container Deposit Program [FACT SHEET]
Ten states in the U.S., covering about 90 million people, have long-standing, successful, and cost-effective beverage container deposit programs that incentivize recycling and deter littering by refunding a small deposit for each container to those who return them for recycling. A modern program requiring a 10-cent deposit on single-use beverage containers would boost Maryland’s recycling rate for beverage containers, from 23% to more than 80%; remove about 3 billion beverage containers annually from landfills, incinerators, or the environment; and yield substantial cost savings for local governments.
The bill numbers are as follows:
- Energy Savings Act, Update to Empower (HB 904/SB 689)
- Community Solar (HB 908/SB 613)
- Clean Trucks Act of 2023 (HB 230/SB 224)
- Maryland the Beautiful Act (HB 631/SB 470)
- Maryland Beverage Container Deposit Program (HB 1089)
We also are testifying in support of many other bills and appropriations actions this session. So far as of mid-February this legislative session (which runs from 1/11 to 4/10), we have given testimony on 81 bills!