The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on parks and recreation policy in the 2024 General Assembly session.
MACo generally advocates for the appropriate state assistance with roadways and bridges across our local communities. Transportation is a shared function in Maryland, with state-maintained roadways (mainly numbered roads) and locally-maintained roadways interlocking throughout most areas.
Maryland’s 446th legislative session convened amidst a substantial concern over the State’s fiscal situation, with weakened revenues and cost increases for many services at every level of government. Despite the fiscal limitations, a wide range of policy issues received a full debate, with many resolutions arising from the 90-day annual process. MACo’s legislative committee guided the association’s positions on hundreds of bills, yielding many productive compromises and gains spanning counties’ uniquely wide portfolio.
Follow these links for more coverage on our Conduit Street blog and Legislative Database.
Recycling
MACo supported HB 830/SB 686- Environment – Covered Electronic Devices Recycling Program – Establishment with amendments. This bill would have established a framework whereby the State would assess a fee on the purchase of certain electronics in order to more adequately fund primarily county-operated infrastructure for electronics recycling. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
Local Regulations
MACo supported HB 1126/SB 785- Public Nuisance – Common Carriers – Damage to Public Infrastructure. This bill would have enabled counties to seek recourse against certain private transportation companies should they continuously damage public infrastructure. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 972- Motor Vehicles – Off-Highway Vehicles – Clarifications and Revisions. This bill enables counties to establish speed limits for off-highway vehicles on county roadways. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
Public Utilities
MACo supported HB 1165/SB 969- Watershed Restoration – Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Restoration and Funding (Whole Watershed Act) with amendments. This bill, among other things, establishes the Whole Watershed Restoration Partnership, shifting state policy to place more focus on whole watershed restoration projects. MACo requested clarifying amendments to the bill. This bill passed the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 389/SB 514- State Highways – Sidewalks and Bicycle Pathways – Maintenance and Repair. The bill would have removed a requirement that on state-owned and constructed roads, the local government maintain and repair sidewalks where they are located. HB 389 addressed a longstanding quirk in state law, where the State designs, builds, and maintains its own network of highways across the State, but the local government has the odd duty to maintain sidewalks adjacent to these roads it does not control. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1478/SB 726- Bay Restoration Fund – Authorized Uses – Decommission of Wastewater Treatment Lagoon. This bill would have allowed for the use of Bay Restoration Funds to include the cost of decommissioning wastewater treatment lagoons. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1512/SB 1173- Bay Restoration Fund – Use of Funds – Municipal Wastewater Facilities – Sunset Repeal. This bill removes the sunset on the 2020 authorization to use the Bay Restoration Fund (BRF) for costs associated with the connection of a property using an on-site sewage disposal system to an existing municipal wastewater facility that has signed a funding agreement with the Department of the Environment and is under construction to achieve enhanced nutrient removal or biological nutrient removal level treatment. This bill passed the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 101- State Highway Projects – Removal, Relocation, and Adjustment of Utility Facilities – Notification, Work Plans, and Compliance. This bill would require a utility with a “utility facility” (broadly defined to include pipes, sewers, manholes, and “any other infrastructure used by a utility”) to remove, relocate, or adjust its infrastructure if the State Highway Administration (SHA) deems it is necessary for an SHA project. This bill was referred to an interim study by the House Economic Matters Committee and did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 263- State Highway Administration – Sidewalks and Bicycle Pathways – Maintenance and Repair with amendments. This bill would have clarified the responsibilities of the state and counties regarding both the structural maintenance and snow removal of sidewalks adjacent to state highways. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo took no position on HB 908- Environment – Suppliers of Water – Notification Requirements, but submitted a Letter of Information providing county input. This bill would have altered the notice requirements that a water supplier must provide the Department of the Environment. This bill was withdrawn by its sponsor and did not pass the 2024 session.
MACo supported SB 572- Environment – Collection and Reporting of Drinking Water and Wastewater Documents, Data, and Information – Requirements with amendments. This bill would have established reporting requirements for water and wastewater utilities, primarily aimed at making sure publicly available data is easily accessible. Some of these requirements are overbroad, vague, or very difficult to implement, so counties urged caution in advancing this bill without attention to these concerns. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported SB 956/HB 1153- Environment – Water Pollution Control – Protecting State Waters From PFAS Pollution (Protecting State Waters From PFAS Pollution Act) with amendments. This bill requires “significant industrial users” of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to mitigate for contamination in their wastewater before it may enter any wastewater treatment infrastructure. Counties aligned with the broad intent of the bill, but requested an amendment to prevent an unnecessary duplication of federal and state standards. This bill passed the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
Revenue Sources and Fees
MACo supported HB 280/SB 446- Local Government – Condominium and Homeowners Associations – Repair and Rehabilitation Funds with amendments. This bill requires counties and municipalities to establish a fund to provide support to condominium and homeowner associations undertaking infrastructure repairs. This bill passed the 2024 session.
MACo provided a Letter of Information on HB 305/SB 405- Outdoor Lighting – Standards and Use of State Funds. As drafted, this bill would have placed certain limitations on the types of lights that can be used at state facilities and directs the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to establish certain lighting standards. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 940/SB 1170- Local Government – Authorized Uses of Revenues From Development Impact Fees. This bill would have granted counties with more flexibility in how they may use locally enacted development impact fees to fund public infrastructure. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
Transportation Services
MACo supported HB 764/SB 1116- State Lottery Fund – Bus Rapid Transit Fund Distribution and Prince George’s County Blue Line Corridor Facility Fund -Alterations. This bill provides more predictability and certainty in public bus rapid transit services by requiring the State Lottery Fund to allocate $27 million per year to the Bus Rapid Transit Fund. This bill passed the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo took no position on HB 924/SB 1126- Transportation – Regional Transportation Authorities, but submitted a Letter of Information providing county input. This bill would have established Regional Transportation Authorities and would have directed the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Comptroller to examine the feasibility of creating local-option transportation revenues to fund said authorities. This bill did not pass the 2024 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
