The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on transportation and public works policy in the 2025 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 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 931/SB 591 – Environment – Covered Electronic Device Recycling Program – Establishment (Electronics Recycling Health and Safety Modernization Act). This bill would have established a framework for a state fee on the purchase of certain electronics in order to more adequately fund primarily county-operated infrastructure for sustainable electronics recycling. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported SB 686 – Environment – Extended Producer Responsibility for Batteries and Battery-Containing Products (Battery Stewardship Act) with amendments. This bill would have created a framework to establish more robust battery recycling infrastructure in Maryland, recognizing the significant safety and health concerns of those items remaining principally landfill material. MACo offered amendments to ensure that facilities that collect and recycle batteries have adequate fire suppression technology installed. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 1296/SB 930 – Environment – Managed Aquifer Recharge Pilot Program. This bill authorizes the Maryland Department of the Environment to establish the Managed Aquifer Recharge Pilot Program, potentially helping local leaders improve healthy water supply programs. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported SB 901 – Environment – Packaging and Paper Products – Producer Responsibility Plans. This bill creates a framework to establish more robust recycling infrastructure for packaging materials in Maryland. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 25/SB 265 – Environment – Reservoir Augmentation Permit – Establishment. This bill authorizes the Maryland Department of the Environment to create and administer a Reservoir Augmentation Permit for water treatment infrastructure. This legislation gives counties a tool to develop more circular systems, reducing both waste and demand for increasingly limited supplies of fresh and usable water. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 1360 – Environment – Road Salt – Outdoor Storage. This bill would have prohibited the outdoor uncovered storage of road salt and requires counties to enforce this prohibition, creating an unfunded mandate that would be redundant, administratively burdensome, and financially unsustainable. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo submitted a letter of information on HB 628 – Highways – Sidewalks and Bicycles Pathways – Construction and Reconstruction. The bill would give counties that have vision zero programs priority in receiving state funds or program support for sidewalks and bicycle pathways. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 432/SB 20 – Locally Operated Transit Systems – Mandatory Funding – Inflation Adjustment (Local Transit Sustainability Act). This bill aimed to stabilize funding to the Locally Operated Transit System (LOTS) grant program, which partially funds county and municipal local transit systems, a critical component of infrastructure necessary to meet the state’s ambitious growth, housing, and environmental goals. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo opposed HB 232/SB 346 – Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program. This bill establishes the Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
MACo supported HB 362/SB 290 – Natural Resources – Roadside Tree Removal Permit Notification Act with amendments. This bill would have required certain applicants of a roadside tree removal permit from the Department of Natural Resources to follow certain neighborhood notification requirements. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 42 – On-Farm Organics and Wasted Food Reduction and Diversion Grant Programs – Established and its cross-file, SB 134 – Solid Waste Disposal Surcharge and Wasted Food Reduction and Diversion Fund and Grant Programs – Established. This bill would have established the On-Farm Organics Diversion and Recycling Grant Program in the Department of Agriculture to award grants to eligible entities to develop and implement on-farm organics recycling, compost use, wasted food prevention, and food rescue. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
MACo supported HB 860 – Public Nuisance – Common Carriers – Damage to Public Infrastructure. This bill enables counties to seek recourse against certain private transportation companies should they continuously damage public infrastructure. This bill passed the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 626 – Real Estate Development and Highway Rights-of-Way-Installation of Broadband Micro Conduits and Microducts. This bill sought to establish commonsense “dig once” policies for installing certain infrastructure underneath our roads, which counties supported to reduce repeated disruptions and costs through long-term planning. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo submitted a letter of information on HB 909/SB 732 – Sewage Sludge Utilization Permits – Per-and-Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – Concentration Limits. This bill would have placed new limitations on the use of certain byproducts from wastewater treatment processing that meet certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) thresholds. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 20/SB 198 – Transportation – Consolidated Transportation Program – Prioritization (Transportation Investment Priorities Act of 2025) with amendments. This bill aimed to realign the prioritization “scoring” formula and county application requirements for the funding from the Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP), Maryland’s six-year capital budget for major transportation projects. Counties requested amendments to address unwarranted regional and barricading effects. This bill did not pass the 2025 session.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
