Below is a brief overview of MACo’s work to restore county roads funding that was cut during the Great Recession.
Follow links for more coverage on Conduit Street and MACo’s Legislative Database.
Highway User Revenues
For more than forty years, local governments have received at least 30 percent of these revenues to fund local roads and bridges – 83 percent of the public road mileage in Maryland. In 2010, the State reduced highway user revenues by 90 percent for most jurisdictions – and local governments have advocated for restored highway user revenues ever since.
In 2018, the General Assembly passed legislation to provide counties, municipalities, and Baltimore City with additional highway user revenues for five years beginning in fiscal 2020. HB 807 / SB 516 as amended will provide approximately $30 million more than in fiscal 2018to Maryland’s 23 counties, with additional funding for Baltimore City. Bill Information | MACo Coverage
For more information, see a County-by-County Breakdown of Additional Local Transportation Aid.
This year, as in years past, MACo continued to support legislation that would fully restore highway user revenues to their previous levels. As in recent years, however, the General Assembly did not advance these bills.
Senate Bill 901/House Bill 1569 “Local Infrastructure Fast Track for Maryland Act,” a MACo initiative for the legislative session, did not pass out of committee in either chamber. This bill would have fully restored highway user revenues, enhanced auditing provisions, required the State to share any windfall of infrastructure funding from the federal government with local governments, and called for an assessment of the state of local infrastructure. Bill Information | MACo Coverage
For more information about the various bills introduced, see MACo’s coverage, What’s Up With All These Highway User Bills?
