5 things to watch as a new Maryland legislative session begins

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s 447th legislative session begins Wednesday when lawmakers will take on a massive budget deficit and prepare for the second term of President-elect Donald Trump.

“I worked in public service for over 40 years, and I know that it’s not always easy to play defense,” Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, said at the annual Maryland Democratic Party pre-session fundraiser in Annapolis Tuesday. “But I’ve learned there is a season for everything.”

The General Assembly has an unprecedented amount of legislating to do before the 90-day session ends in early April. Here is what you need to know as it unfolds.

There will be a budget fight

The General Assembly is staring down a nearly $3 billion deficit, but lawmakers need to fulfill their constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget through cuts, funding formula adjustments, pauses in certain programming or new ways of accessing revenue.

Gov. Wes Moore and Senate President Bill Ferguson, both Democrats, have said that their respective bars for raising revenue are high.

“No one wants to raise taxes willy-nilly. In fact, if there’s any way for us to move forward without having to look at revenues, that would be ideal,” Ferguson said Tuesday. “It’s the last option on the table, but it’s important that we protect our values and invest in people.”

Jones said at the fundraiser that she is prepared to have discussions about raising revenue.

“I know we don’t want to talk about revenues, but we have to, and we are ready to,” she said.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun on Monday, Ferguson said everything is on the table. But he indicated a particular interest in restructuring programs that have annual funding formula-based increases, like those in the health care, agriculture and education sectors.

Portions of the Blueprint are up for debate

Politicians on both sides of the aisle — including Moore — have floated ideas around restructuring portions of The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a multibillion-dollar education reform plan.

During the Maryland Association of Counties winter conference last month, Moore said that his administration plans to sponsor a bill that would reform the 2020 law, including its “collaborative time” policy for teachers, which gives them increased time for curriculum planning, grading, and professional development outside of the classroom.

After a December meeting of the Maryland Spending Affordability Committee, House and Senate Republicans said they plan to introduce a bill to do away with the provision that mandates pre-kindergarten for 3-year-olds.

Ferguson said Tuesday that changes will be made.

“Any big program is going to have changes over the 10 years of implementation,” he said. “That may have some cost impact, but we’re not going to radically withdraw our commitment to public schools.”

Jones told The Sun that, regarding the Blueprint, her chamber will “have a high bar for any cuts.”

Lawmakers are ready to mitigate potential Trump policy changes

Trump will be inaugurated almost two weeks after Maryland’s legislative session begins.

A second Trump term brings a lot of uncertainty for Maryland lawmakers, who have worked before to reduce the impact of his policies on residents.

During his first term, the General Assembly took action to prevent Maryland from taking federal money if the Trump administration enacted a gag rule disallowing family planning care providers to talk about or refer their patients to abortion services. Should the gag rule be enacted, the state would backfill the gap with money from its general fund.

Trump made a lot of policy promises on the campaign trail, though it’s unclear which will actually come to fruition once he takes office. Ferguson said that a lot of that will become clear during the first two months of the 90-day legislative session, likely leading to a hectic last month before the General Assembly is dismissed for the year.

“It’s hard to know what the next administration is going to bring. I hope I’m wrong. I hope it has nothing to do with what it could portend to be, and what has been said about cutting a trillion dollars from the federal budget; from rounding up people and immigrants as though they’re inhuman; from … attacking the basic justice and freedom and protections that we’ve come to expect,” Ferguson said. “I hope I’m wrong. I hope that will not happen. But if it does, we have a plan and we will adjust.”

General Assembly leadership priorities beyond the budget

Though the budget is set to mark nearly every aspect of the 2025 legislative session, Jones and Ferguson have indicated that they will prioritize green energy, the high costs of health care, affordable housing and civil rights.

The Moore administration will have priority bills — we just don’t know what they are

Every session, a slate of bills are introduced on behalf of the sitting governor.

In previous years, Moore has prioritized legislation for military families, to relieve child poverty and to establish his service year program, which offers a stipend for Marylanders ages 18-21 with a high school diploma or equivalent education to work full time for nonprofits, private sector organizations or government entities.

Aside from expressing interest in altering the Blueprint and signaling support for the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores, the governor’s office has kept mum about what it plans to introduce thus far.

-----------