The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on planning and zoning policy in the 2025 General Assembly session.
Planning and zoning is an integral function of county governments and an area that spurs a high level of interaction with residents and business owners. In its planning & zoning advocacy, MACo seeks to protect the ability of local governments – those closest to the people and with the most insight into local needs for growth and reservation – to balance community and business interests.
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 supported HB 1406 – Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity – Environmental Impact Analysis and Existing Burden Report. This bill would have placed additional environmental considerations for projects undergoing a State Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) application, bringing additional clarity and direction to communities, implementors, and stakeholders. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 640/SB 34 – Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity – Overhead Transmission Lines – Conservation Easements. This bill would have placed additional considerations and requirements for transmission lines seeking to go on areas under a conservation easement. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 760 – Counties and Municipalities – Approval of Projects Denied by the Maryland Historical Trust – Authorization. This bill would have authorized local governments to approve certain projects previously denied by the Maryland Historical Trust. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
MACo supported SB 903 – Data Centers – Fast Track Pass for Co-Location and Sales and Use Tax with amendments. This bill would have established an expedited certificate of public convenience and necessity review process for certain co-located energy generation projects that have received a fast track pass. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
MACo supported HB 904 – Department of Planning – Study on Solar Energy Project Sites. This bill would have required the Department of Planning and the Maryland Energy Administration to conduct a study to identify and evaluate the suitability of state-owned land for the siting of new solar energy projects. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
MACo supported HB 631/SB 189 – Eminent Domain – Agricultural and Conservations Easements – Prohibited Taking with amendments. This bill would have prohibited counties and the State from using eminent domain to take lands under an agricultural or conservation easement. Counties requested amendments to clarify the language and address unintended consequences on local critical infrastructure. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1037/SB 909 – Energy Resource Adequacy and Planning Act with amendments. This bill establishes the Integrated Resource Planning Office within the Public Service Commission, and charges that office with developing a 25-year comprehensive energy forecast. Counties requested to be included in the forecast as it is developed and updated. This bill did pass the 2025 session but did not include the requested MACo amendments.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 503/SB 430 – Land Use – Regional Housing Infrastructure Gap (Housing for Jobs Act) with amendments. This bill would have made several changes to the land use article to establish a jobs-to-housing ratio and certain threshold requirements should a county fall below a certain ratio. Counties urged a more collaborative approach to ensure effective, locally responsive solutions. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 80/SB 190 – Land Use – Transit-Oriented Development – Alterations. This bill would have preempted counties from imposing minimum off-street parking requirements within 0.5 miles of a rail transit station and altered special taxing districts around transit-oriented developments (TODs). This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 1466/SB 891 – Land Use and Real Property – Accessory Dwelling Units – Requirements and Prohibitions. This bill preempts county land use authority, removing local oversight of “accessory dwelling units” (ADU) in residential areas, and is highly inconsistent with the recommendations of the ADU taskforce. MACo was successful in seeking amendments that improved the legislation and made it more consistent with the taskforce recommendations. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 698/SB 814 – Local Government – Development Impact Fees, Surcharges, and Excise Taxes – Reporting with amendments. This bill requires counties to report certain data on the collection and use of impact fees. MACo amendments seek to make the requirements implementable across all 24 counties. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 751 – Municipalities – Annexed Land – Land Use and Density. This bill would have effectively eliminated the longstanding transition period before a municipality is enabled to change the underlying zoning, following an annexation of previously unincorporated areas. This path to rapid-fire zoning change could overwhelm county infrastructure and school planning. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1149/SB 675 – Public Service Commission – Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of Electricity Generation. This bill would have required the Public Service Commission to conduct a cost and benefit analysis for certain sources of energy generation. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported SB 853 – Public Service Commission – Transmission Line Siting – Limitations. This bill would have limited the placement of new transmission lines to within 0.25 miles of existing transmission lines. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 657/SB 483 – Public Utilities – Alternatives to Construction of New Transmission Lines. This bill would have added considerations and requirements for transmission lines and required the consideration of alternative routes. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 1036/SB 931 – Public Utilities – Generating Stations – Generation and Siting (Renewable Energy Certainty Act). As drafted, this legislation severely undermined local input, equitable tax policy, and essential community protection. MACo was successful in advocating for amendments that clarified county authority, enshrined enforceable livability standards in state law, banned projects bigger than 5MW in tier 1 and 2 growth areas, and capped solar at five percent within priority preservation areas. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 742/SB 640 – Public Utilities – Solar Energy Generating Stations – Eminent Domain. This bill would have prevented the use of eminent domain in the construction of solar energy generating stations and better ensured the rights of private property owners remained protected. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 739/SB 478 – Public Utilities – Solar Energy Generating Stations – Local Approval. This bill would have prevented the Public Service Commission from approving a Certificate of Public Convenience & Necessity for a solar energy generating system until the project had received approval from the county in which it is located. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 829 – Public Utilities – Transmission Lines – Advanced Transmission Technologies. This bill called for additional considerations and requirements for the construction of transmission lines, requiring the Public Service Commission and applicants to more deeply consider the impact of projects and project routes on ratepayers, the environment, and other factors. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 705 – Real Property – Short-Term Rentals. This bill would have preempted a county from prohibiting renters from posting a unit on AirBnB or other short-term rental platforms. Counties are wary of such a wide-open policy inviting detrimental investor behavior that could shrink available housing stock and overwhelm neighborhoods. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 38 – School Construction and Housing – School Zones and Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances. This bill would have broadly limited the enforceability of all Adequate Public Facility Ordinances (APFOs) to four years. As a result, counties would have suffered an override of their own growth policies (designed to avoid overcrowding) based on the decisions of the independent school system’s inability to realign school populations. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 87/SB 132 – Short-Term Rentals and Home Amenity Rentals – Taxation, Regulation, and Crimes with amendments. This bill would have required short-term rentals to comply with certain reasonable health and safety regulations, and reporting and taxation requirements. Counties requested clarifying amendments to ensure efficient and effective tax administration, enhance public safety, and resolve practical implementation concerns. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 827/SB 983 – Solar Energy – Distributed Generation Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, Ground-Mounted Solar, and Small Solar Siting Workgroup with amendments. This bill would have established an expedited approval process for solar energy generating systems between 2MW and 5MW. Counties requested amendments to ensure that increased efficiency does not come at the expense of community input, environmental protections, or other key considerations. This bill did not pass on its own but was incorporated into HB 1036/SB 931 – Public Utilities – Generating Stations – Generation and Siting (Renewable Energy Certainty Act)
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1061 – State-Owned Property – Inventory and Disposition – Housing. This bill would have required the State to assess excess land in its inventory and determine if any of these properties were suitable for affordable housing or solar development in order to convert wasted surplus into strong assets. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 645 – Transmission Line Siting – Comprehensive Plan, Recommendation, and Reporting Requirements with amendments. This bill would have required counties to update their comprehensive plans to include a section on electric system planning, aiming to reduce the impact of future transmission line development in the state. MACo sought amendments to accomplish the intent of the legislation without overburdening already incredibly limited county resources. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 731/SB 635 – Wildlife – Protections and Highway Crossings with amendments. This bill requires counties to consider wildlife movement and habitat connectivity in county comprehensive plans. Counties requested amendments, adding references to other planning documents. This bill passed the 2025 session without MACo’s amendment.
