The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on intergovernmental relations policy in the 2025 General Assembly session.
Counties serve as the boots-on-the-ground public service providers to nearly all Maryland residents. From fire and EMS response to energy safety to basic structures of government, MACo routinely advocates on issues that keep communities thriving.
Maryland’s 447th 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.
MACo opposed HB 28 – Constitutional Amendment – Form of County Government – Requirement to Adopt Charter Home Rule. This bill would have repealed Maryland’s historic reliance on self-determination by county residents and instead mandated that every county conform to a single-government structure – a full two-branch charter government. This bill did not advance.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 100/SB 102 – Insurance Pooling – Public Entity – Definition. This bill makes helpful changes to state law authorizing cooperative purchasing of insurance coverage by local government entities, modernizing those references to include a locally-created resilience authority.
The cross-filed bills both advanced to create this sensible local option for jurisdictions empowering this innovative tool to defend local resources against disaster, climate effects, and other larger scale threats.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 768/SB 546 – Municipal Incorporation – County Commissioners or County Council – Required Approval of Referendum Request. This bill would have upended the longstanding, carefully crafted framework that governs municipal incorporation by stripping county governments of proper and necessary input and oversight. Under the bill, the residents of the proposed municipality would have the complete say in its process toward becoming a recognized city or town, despite meaningful effects on neighboring areas and the affected county at large.
Both bills were heard in committee but failed to advance this session. Discussions of a “work group” in the Senate never materialized into committee action on the bill.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
