2019 Legislative Session

The Maryland Sierra Club set a bold agenda for the 2019 session of the Maryland General Assembly, and when the session concluded at 11:30 pm on April 8 with a tribute to Speaker Mike Busch, the General Assembly indeed had  adopted some of the most significant environmental laws in Maryland’s history. 

With a few exceptions, almost all of these adopted bills are now law (through the Governor’s signature, by the Governor allowing them into law without his signature, and one where the Governor’s veto was overridden during session). Three bills – concerning oyster protection, state bikeways funding and Central Maryland transportation planning, and rail safety – were vetoed after session ended, and these vetoes are eligible to be overridden when the General Assembly next convenes. 

We owe a big and emphatic “thank you” to all our amazing volunteers and Chapter staff who made the 2019 session such a success: the hundreds who participated in Lobby Night, the over one thousand who sent emails and made phone calls, and our core group of staff and volunteer leaders who lobbied legislators, submitted testimony in support of 70 bills (of which 31 passed and 28 are law), organized volunteer efforts, and were a constant presence in Annapolis from the first day to the last day of session. 

We also owe a resounding “thank you” to our environmental champions in the General Assembly – they were elected in 2018 with a promise to make a difference, and they are doing that.

Two of our priority bills were enacted, and were allowed into law by the Governor without his signature:

• A ban on single-use foam food containers – These containers are a major part of the worsening plastic pollution harming our streams and oceans, and are easily replaced by environmentally-friendly substitutes.
• The Clean Energy Jobs Act – At this critical moment, we need to dramatically expand clean energy, and turn away from the fossil fuels which are devastating our planet. The legislation will substantially increase in-state solar and offshore wind energy, will achieve a 50% Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2030, requires planning for 100% clean energy in Maryland by 2040, and includes worker and community protections. A companion bill to increase investment in clean energy through long-term contracts did not pass.

We were not successful in passing two other priorities – to ensure full and complete state reviews of any new proposed fracked-gas pipelines under the federal Clean Water Act; and to compel detailed environmental reviews of the Governor’s plan to expand the Capital Beltway and I-270.

Our other accomplishments (enacted bills which are now law) included:

• Maryland ready to join the multi-state Transportation and Climate Initiative to begin to fashion strong measures to address the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., the transportation sector;
• Extension of the state’s community solar pilot project;
• Initiation of an electricity storage pilot project;
• Support for electric buses;
• Tightening restrictions passed two years ago on use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals;
• Better safeguards for children in housing and schools against lead poisoning;
• Oyster protection; and
• Jump-starting efforts to reform the state’s Forest Conservation Act.

We were not successful in passing bills to ban the dangerous pesticide chlorpyrifos, or to end state funding of synthetic turf playing fields and playgrounds.

A full list of all bills on which the Maryland Sierra Club submitted testimony may be found here.

To Learn More and Volunteer to help enact our legislative agenda, email legislation@mdsierra.org.