On February 12, Associate Policy Director Sarah Sample testified before the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee in opposition to SB 526 – Counties – Construction of Sidewalks and Crosswalks – Safe Alternative Routes to Public Schools.
This bill would place a costly mandate on county governments to carry out new state policies to create sidewalks and crosswalks as alternative routes for all public-school students. MACo does not raise policy objections to the bill’s goal of ensuring safe routes for students – county concerns are merely practical and cost-driven.
The prior year fiscal notes highlighted several counties in which this proposal would be extremely costly to execute. That feedback highlights construction and renovation costs rising to multiple millions of dollars. Others anticipate the need to purchase additional buses and hire bus drivers to meet the requirements of the bill. Redistricting is also an acknowledged means to compliance in the bill, which is a significant barrier to cross in order to comply – and notably, county government lacks the ability to make such changes.
The one-size-fits-all mandate of SB 526 simply does not fit the transportation and geographic realities of Maryland counties. Counties – and schools – face diverse geographic challenges, transportation laws (like rights-of-way), and community characteristics that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to apply SB 526 to all 24 jurisdictions.
SB 526’s cross-file, HB 811, was heard on March 4 in the House Environment and Transportation Committee. Executive Director Michael Sanderson testified in opposition to this bill.
More on MACo’s Advocacy:
