The Maryland Municipal League (MML), representing 160 local governments across Maryland, recently approved two legislative priorities for the 2025 Maryland legislative session: improving pedestrian safety and expanding local revenue options.
Pedestrian Safety: Streamlining Speed Camera Citation Review
One of the top initiatives seeks to enhance pedestrian safety by allowing trained municipal employees to review and certify speed camera citations. Under current law, only sworn law enforcement officers can sign off on speed camera violations, even though trained staff can review red-light camera citations. This policy creates enforcement gaps, particularly in smaller municipalities without police departments.
MML’s proposal aims to align the speed camera program with the red-light system, enabling municipalities to use trained staff for citation certification. According to MML, this change would increase enforcement in critical pedestrian zones, like school areas, and free up law enforcement officers to focus on community policing and other urgent priorities.
Expanding Revenue Through the Admissions and Amusement Structure
The second legislative priority addresses the growing challenges municipalities face in funding essential services while relying heavily on property taxes. MML is advocating for the authority to implement a local fee under the existing Admissions and Amusement statute, proposing a modest 2 percent local food and beverage fee.
This approach would diversify municipal revenue streams, helping local governments avoid excessive reliance on property taxes. It would also shift some of the tax burden to out-of-state visitors, aligning Maryland’s local revenue options with neighboring regions with higher fee thresholds, such as Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Visit the MML website for more information.
MACo’s 2025 Legislative Initiatives
Each year, MACo adopts up to four topics to forward as initiatives — working with supportive legislators to translate those ideas into successful legislation.
MACo’s Initiatives Committee meets through the interim period to review and evaluate various proposals from county governing bodies, individual elected officials, MACo’s professional affiliate groups, MACo chapter organizations, and others within the county community.
The Committee will present its recommendations to the MACo Legislative Committee in October for the slate of initiatives to be adopted for the year ahead. From then on, the membership and staff begin engaging supportive legislators, connecting with other interested stakeholders, and drafting legislation.
Stay tuned to Conduit Street for more information.