Flickr Link with photos by Maryland Sierra Club
Yesterday marked the first day of the 446th session of the Maryland General Assembly. Volunteers from all across Maryland made their way to Annapolis with calendars and planners to deliver to legislators along with factsheets for our three priority bills.
The Chapter’s top priorities for the 2024 legislative session are:
1. Reform EmPOWER Maryland: This legislation will update Maryland’s energy efficiency program (EmPOWER Maryland) to refocus it on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The reformed program would provide rebates to Maryland households to switch from gas to high-efficiency electric heating, cooking, hot water heating, and clothes drying, and would end subsidies for fossil-fuel burning appliances. In 2023 an earlier version passed the House, but time ran out in the Senate before legislative action could be completed. This bill is important to achieving our buildings-related climate goals and easing the financial burden, particularly for low- and moderate-income households.
2. Limit Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
Increases from Highway Projects: The bill (the Transportation and Climate Alignment Act) would require the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and regional transportation planning agencies to mitigate any increases in climate pollution and VMT caused by planned highway expansion projects over $5 million. Mitigation actions could include improving and expanding public transit, creating protected bike infrastructure, expanding remote work options, and locating jobs and amenities near where people live. This will help expand transportation choices so that people have more options to get to their next destination without relying on a car and ensure that we are not increasing greenhouse gas emissions emitted from the transportation sector.
3. Pass a Maryland beverage container deposit program: Each year in Maryland, about 5.2 billion bottles and cans are sold, but only 1.2 billion are currently recycled. The rest are incinerated, buried in landfills, or littered in our waterways and along roadways. Ten states in the U.S., covering about 90 million people, have long-standing, successful, and cost-effective beverage container deposit programs that incentivize recycling and deter littering by refunding a small deposit for each container to those who return them for recycling. A modern program requiring a 10-cent deposit on single-use beverage containers would boost Maryland’s recycling rate for beverage containers, from 23% to more than 80%; remove about 3 billion beverage containers annually from landfills, incinerators, or the environment; yield substantial cost savings for local governments; and reduce the pollution associated with producing containers.
We also will be testifying in support of many other bills and appropriations actions this session. We expect these will include legislation to:
● require analysis of equity impacts of siting facilities that have large environmental impacts;
● restore, through state law, important environmental enforcement authorities that were recently undermined at the federal level by a Supreme Court decision;
● reduce the spread of invasive plants through improved listings and management of nursery sales;
● improve vegetation management along the state’s highways to promote pollinator habitat;
● improve stream restoration and stormwater runoff policies;
● require recycled content in new plastic containers, to displace virgin plastic and incentivize redesign of products to make them more recyclable;
● increase reuse and recycling of used paint and mattresses through two new stewardship programs; and
● require owners of synthetic turf playing fields to report the chain of custody from installation to disposal of the fields’ turf and infill, to deter improper disposal.
We look forward to working with Maryland legislators this year to advance important measures to protect our environment, improve public health, and promote social equity.
In the upcoming weeks we will be meeting with district members during the Chapter’s Lobby Night (Monday, February 12th). RSVP for this exciting event by February 5th – and bookmark our 2024 legislative session homepage to keep up-to-date on the bills we are supporting and how you can get involved.