Conduit Street

The morning radio show Maryland Morning on Baltimore public radio station WYPR will feature a discussion of the Governor’s septics legislation, today beginning at about 9:10am. MACo Associate Director Les Knapp will be a featured speaker, discussing and debating the progress of the still controversial bills.

Tune in online, or at 88.1 FM.

After the live airing, you may find the archived show available for streaming or download as a podcast online as well.

As previously reported on Conduit Street, the Maryland Senate adopted amendments to Governor Martin O’Malley’s septic system legislation that were jointly agreed upon by the Administration, MACo, and other stakeholders.  The Senate passed the amended bill earlier this week.

A March 27 Baltimore Sun story highlights the reaction to the amended bill by various stakeholders and legislators, including a statement from House Environmental Matters Chair Maggie McIntosh that she expects to make “few – if any – changes” to the bill in the House.

“We are still achieving the public policy objectives,” said Maryland Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall. “I still think the bill does what it sets out to do. … It is very much intact.”

The view was not universal. “I don’t think you can call it a huge step forward, but it is a halting step,” said Sen. Brian Frosh, a Montgomery Democrat who fought on the Senate floor to keep the measure in its original form.

The bill, called the Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act, passed 32 to 14, after Senate Republicans attempted a filibuster. The bill will next be considered by the House Environmental Matters Committee. Del. Maggie McIntosh, who chairs the panel, said she plans to make few — if any — changes.  …

“The jury is still out about whether counties will comply with the spirit of the law,” said Sen. Paul Pinsky, a Prince George’s Democrat, after voting for it.

The article also notes that the Home Builders Association of Maryland has withdrawn its opposition to the bill and that environmental groups are still largely supportive of the bill.

A March 28 Star Democrat article offers further thoughts on the bill from Administration officials and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller:

Joseph Bryce, O’Malley’s chief legislative council, said discretionary state funding and programs are incentive for counties to fall in line with the plan.

“You’re going to have some jurisdictions that are more inclined to work with you than others, but frankly our experience hasn’t been outright revolt,” Bryce said last week.

Miller called it a “compromise bill” that left senators on both sides of the issue unsatisfied.

He disputed assertions from Republican leaders that bill sponsors want to curb local development and are perpetuating a series of political and land use moves they refer to as a “war on rural Maryland.”

“It’s a war on people who don’t support smart growth. It was a war on people who want properties developed without roads, without schools, without fire departments, without police stations,” Miller said. “It’s a vote for planned development at the same time taking into consideration the needs and concerns the property owners.”

MACo Takes New Position on Bill

MACo’s legislative committee met on March 28 and determined that MACo would drop its opposition to the bill contingent on the Senate amendments remaining intact.  In a letter sent by MACo to members of the House Environmental Matters Committee, MACo noted that the amendments address all of MACo’s primary concerns with the bill, including the retention of land use decision-making at the local level.

MACo had initially taken a position of “support with amendments” on the bill but later changed its position to “oppose” when it appeared that county concerns regarding the bill were being ignored.

House Actions

The House Environmental Matters Committee held a brief workgroup on the bill on March 29.  At that workgroup, the Administration presented the amended bill and stakeholder groups offered their thoughts on the bill.  Representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and 1000 Friends of Maryland presented additional amendments to the bill.  Chairman McIntosh has requested that a small group of stakeholders, including MACo, meet on April 2 to discuss the proposed amendments.

During the lengthy Senate floor session Monday, SB 236 – the Administration’s sepcitcs legislation, now a substantially new bill following amendments adopted on the Senate floor, was held twice for later deliberation. The bill sits on “third reading” at the moment, with a final up-or-down vote the next action expected by the Senate. A “crossover” date approaches for each chamber to pass bills it seeks to pass, but the procedural hurdles raised after that date have proven surmountable.

The Senate bill is expected to come up during floor debate today.

The House has not yet acted on the crossfiled bill HB 445, as all indications point toward SB 236 being the target of the House Environmental Matters Committee’s attention in the coming days.

As previously reported on Conduit Street, the Senate adopted significant amendments to Governor Martin O’Malley’s septic system legislation (SB 236) by a decisive 31-14 vote after an intense debate on March 23.  The amendments were the result of an agreement between the O’Malley Administration, MACo, the Maryland Farm Bureau, the Maryland State Builders Association, and the Maryland Association of Realtors.  Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton offered the amendments on behalf of the Administration after the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, which had heard the bill and worked on other amendments, decided to take no position on the Administration amendments. Senator Brian Frosh presented the primary opposition arguments.

The Administration amendments address almost all of MACo’s concerns, including the removal of new subdivision approval authority by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), the removal of approval of the “growth tiers” by MDE and the Maryland Department of Planning, closer linkage of the Tier III and Tier IV definitions to local planning and zoning criteria, and a revised grandfathering system that accounts for jurisdictional differences on how soil percolation tests are conducted.  The basic requirement that a local jurisdiction must adopt the tiers in order to authorize a major subdivision on septic system remains unchanged, as does the limitation that major subdivisions on septic systems can only occur in Tier III and in narrow circumstances Tier IV.

The amended bill still contains major restrictions on the use of new major subdivisions on septic systems and when combined with forthcoming offset requirements and growth restrictions under the federally mandated Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), will limit “sprawl” development.  The amended bill is expected to pass a final Senate vote on Monday and then go to the House.

SB 236 with Administration Amendments

Chart Showing Major Changes of Administration Amendments to SB 236

Summary of Tier Criteria and Restrictions Under Administration Amendments Read the rest of this entry »

In an unusually complicated procedural move, the Senate this evening accepted a lengthy series of floor amendments to the Administration’s so-called “septics bill” SB 236, to reframe its provisions in a substantially different direction. The set of amendments were supported by the Administration, and arose directly from extensive work involving numerous stakeholder groups including MACo.

Following a substantive debate (which itself followed several days of delays during recent negotiations), the amendments were accepted by a vote of 32-13.

Click here to read the adopted amendments.

The third reader version of the bill with the numerous amendments, will be before the full Senate in the coming days.

As previously reported on Conduit Street, the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee is reporting out the Administration’s septic system bill with amendments that do not address the concerns raised by MACo.  MACo will oppose the reported Senate version and argue for amendments on the bill.

MACo’s concerns with the bill fall into six general areas:

1. Approval of residential subdivision plats and lot/street lines by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
2. Approval of the new land use “tiers” by MDE and the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP)
3. Definition and criteria for the tiers
4. Definition of “major” and “minor” subdivision for purposes of the bill
5. Future nutrient offset requirements or use of best available nitrogen-reducing technology (BAT) for septic systems should be subject to General Assembly review and approval
6. Grandfathering of projects currently in the development pipeline

MACo has prepared a summary sheet that further describes its six areas of concerns.  MACo will continue to work with both proponents and opponents of the bill to have our concerns addressed.  The House version of the bill has been held in the Environmental Matters Committee, pending what happens in the Senate.  If a bill does pass over, the House will likely work off of the Senate bill and Environmental Matters Committee Chair Maggie McIntosh has formed a workgroup to consider bill changes and amendments.