On March 3, Director of Intergovernmental Relations Dominic Butchko testified before the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee in opposition to SB 781 – Environmental Permits – Requirements for Burden Analysis, Issuance and Renewal, and Public Participation (Cumulative Harms for Environmental Restoration for Improving Shared Health – CHERISH Our Communities Act).
The bill establishes new, more stringent regulatory standards for county infrastructure that receive certain state permits. In effect, it would impose sweeping new regulatory standards on county infrastructure projects requiring certain state permits.
While state leaders have made housing affordability a top priority in response to Maryland’s growing housing shortage, counties caution that layering additional mandates onto public facilities could increase costs, slow project delivery, and strain already limited infrastructure capacity. Without new funding to offset these requirements, the bill could make it harder for counties to deliver the roads, schools, utilities, and other essential services that support housing growth and community vitality.
SB 781 is broad in application and would impose additional
requirements on a wide range of public infrastructure. Practically, this could drive up project costs for facilities development, operation, and expansion, all at a time when infrastructure capacity is already a central challenge for growing communities.
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