Maryland Matters

Eastern Shore Plans to Hike Hotel Tax Rates Stall in the Senate

March 23, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

A bill that would allow counties on the Eastern Shore to hike their hotel tax rates by 1% faces an uncertain future after a debate in the Maryland Senate on Wednesday.

The bill would have amounted to a nearly $5 million tax on Maryland residents who vacation in Ocean City, Montgomery County Sen. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery) said, as he questioned the policy on the Senate floor.

“This is a $5 million tax hit on every one of your constituents who saved all year long to take the opportunity to join with their families and have a little vacation time in Ocean City, Maryland,” Kramer told senators, before launching into other arguments against the bill, including talking points typically employed by Republican lawmakers. “…I am concerned that Ocean City borders other jurisdictions. Those very tax dollars could easily leave Ocean City, Maryland, if we keep increasing taxes on our taxpayers … and they will simply go across state lines to the Delaware beaches, to the New Jersey beaches.”

The bill is sponsored by the “Eastern Shore senators” because it would enable the four code-rule counties on the shore — Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Worcester — to hike their top hotel tax rate from 5% to 6%. But functionally the lead sponsor of the bill is Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R), who represents Ocean City.

That resort town’s mayor and council asked the other shore counties for support in clearing the way for the enabling legislation to pass. Ocean City officials are expected to lobby Worcester County to increase the rate, but there are no plans for an increase in the other counties, senators said.

Hotel rental taxes are imposed in all counties in Maryland, ranging from 4% in Talbot County to 9.5% in Baltimore City and County. A few municipalities are also authorized to impose a hotel rental tax or to collect the county tax within their jurisdiction, including Ocean City.

Increasing the maximum hotel tax rate on the shore to 6% would raise an additional $444,900 in the four counties, but have a substantial financial impact in Ocean City: boosting hotel tax revenues by $4.4 million to $22 million annually.

Carozza, supporting the bill before the Budget & Taxation Committee, said the tax is an important dedicated source of funding for tourism and tourism-related activities and that each dollar invested in tourism marketing generates $31 in visitor spending.

Among the potential uses for the increased revenue is a new indoor sports facility, Ocean City leaders have said.

The bill passed out of the committee 11-1.

But the measure drew ire on the Senate floor, where some Democrats didn’t want to carry the weight of a tax-enabling bill sought by a Republican lawmaker.

As it became clear that the bill was in trouble, Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) moved to recommit the bill to committee. The move kept the bill from going down on the chamber floor and keeps it alive, along with a House bill that passed out of the House of Delegates chamber.

Kramer, in an interview, said he decided to raise the issue because he did not believe Republicans would support the proposed tax increase on the floor.

“They expected us to be patsies,” he said. “They were all going to put up red votes. When they realized the Dems weren’t going to pass it, they decided to recommit the bill.”

Carozza expressed disappointment with the result, noting that after a House bill by Del. Wayne Hartman (R-Lower Shore) failed to advance last year, Eastern Shore lawmakers and local officials worked hard to get the other code counties to commit to supporting the bill.

“Clearly local courtesy wasn’t extended in the Senate,” she said.

Asked whether her fellow Republicans would have voted against the measure on the Senate floor, Carozza conceded, “I don’t know.”

The same debate, albeit shorter, took place in the House of Delegates last week, when Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) questioned the bill’s intent.

“I do like visiting Ocean City. I’m happy to throw in, I guess, a couple bucks on my hotel stay to help them finance this $150 million sports stadium. And so this Montgomery County Democrat endorses this bill and is going to vote for the GOP tax increase.”

The bill passed the House by a vote of 109-23, with a combination of Republicans and Democrats in opposition.

By Danielle E. Gaines and Josh Kurtz

Maryland House Approves $62.5 billion with $900 million Added for Education Blueprint Reform

March 18, 2023 by Maryland Matters 2 Comments

Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) watches proceedings in the House of Delegates on the first day of the 2023 General Assembly session. Barnes is chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

The Maryland House of Delegates passed a nearly $62.5 billion budget plan Friday, with nearly $1 billion in additional funding directed to state education reform efforts.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) included a $500 million payment to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future fund on top of the required programmatic funding for the program, as well as $500 million for unspecified transportation projects.

By Danielle E. Gaines

The House version of the budget bill would shift $400 million from the transportation column and direct it to the Blueprint, for a $900 million influx.

The payments are intended to create a cushion in the education fund as the state prepares to increase public school funding by more than $3 billion annually at the end of the decade-long plan.

“One of the best things we can do to end child poverty is to make a down-payment on our Blueprint,” said House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s). “…I think this legislature can be proud that the commitments this legislature and this state has made to its children are being recognized and that we are going to stand by them.”

While the education fund was expected to have a $2.2 billion balance at the end of Moore’s fiscal year 2024 budget as proposed, the fund would have dipped to a near-zero balance in 2026 as state school funding obligations increased, according to earlier projections.

Overall public school funding in the amended budget proposal is $8.7 billion.

The budget plan passed by the House includes roughly $205 million in tax relief, about the same proposed by Moore earlier this year.

An anticipated $3.2 billion would be held in reserves, which is about $150 million less than the budget as proposed by Moore, but higher than limits set by the legislature’s Spending Accountability Committee.

The spending plan also includes several House priorities, including:

$246 million for capital projects — nearly $137 million in new projects and $109 million shifted to the operating budget to free up state borrowing capacity.
$100 million for transportation funding, about $400 million less than proposed by Moore.
$40 million for the Cannabis Business Assistance Fund.
$6.65 million to shift governance of the state’s beleaguered Maryland 529 college savings program to the Treasurer’s Office.

Some of the capital projects include $90 million for school construction, $25.7 million for improvements to the Baltimore City Convention Center, $25.7 million to Prince George’s County for the New Carrollton Metro project, and $18.5 million to Montgomery County for a bus rapid transit project.

Some House Republicans took issue with amendments that added $5 million to the budget to support abortion care and family planning services and $5 million in additional funding for the Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees.

The budget now heads to the Senate for consideration, where the Budget & Taxation Committee finished work on its amendments Friday afternoon.

Early differences between the House and Senate spending plans include a $100 million difference on the Blueprint funding, which the Senate would direct to transportation projects. The Senate committee would also add $2 million that Moore and the House would have cut from the Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today, or BOOST, program, which provides funding for low-income students to attend private schools.

Budget & Taxation leaders are expected to present the committee’s spending plan to the chamber early next week.

Leaders in both the House and Senate characterized the differences in the budget plan as minor and expressed no doubt that the General Assembly will meet its April 3 budget deadline.

The Mid-Shore’s Geoff Oxnam Preaching the Gospel of Microgrids

March 17, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

Geoff Oxnam was sitting on the patio of his favorite coffee shop in Easton the other day, talking about his work in Hawaii, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts and dozens of other states. When he needs to confer with one of his colleagues, all of whom work remotely, they’re in Seattle, Norway, Mumbai and other far-flung corners of the world.

Geoff Oxnam

But make no mistake: The work Oxnam does is rooted in Easton and informed by his 13 years as an executive with the Eastern Shore town’s unique municipal utility. Oxnam, 53, is the CEO of American Microgrid Solutions LLC, a young company that advises real estate developers, nonprofits, and community organizations on how to set up solar arrays, resilience hubs, microgrids and other renewable energy installations that are able to withstand the disasters of the present — and future.

“We’ve been blessed that the phone’s been ringing ever since we started,” Oxnam said. “We know that’s not always going to be the case.”

By virtue of his work, and his volunteer time as board chair of the Maryland Clean Energy Center and as a member of the advisory board of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute, Oxnam has become one of state’s leading advocates for clean energy technology, especially battery storage. And as an entrepreneur, he’s able to use his first-hand experience to spread the gospel and the technology.

Click here to read more from our Climate Calling series.

Oxnam launched his company seven years ago after falling into the electricity generation business quite by accident when he became communications director for municipally owned Easton Utilities, which provides electricity, gas, telecommunications, water, and wastewater treatment services to the town’s 17,000 residents. He rose to become the utility’s vice president of operations — and still never imagined he would become so thoroughly steeped in the world of power grids, solar arrays and transmission regulation.

“We’re 25 years into a two-year plan,” Oxnam likes to say.

In fairly short order, American Microgrid Solutions has grown to serve clients in about 30 states, advising them on how to set up renewable energy installations and storage facilities on their properties or how to establish resilience hubs in their communities — and how to finance and manage them.

“They’re really able to inspire big thinking,” said Christina McPike, director for energy and sustainability at WinnCompanies, a real estate development and management company based in Massachusetts, who has worked with Oxnam.

Every project has a backstory, and reveals something about the challenges of putting clean energy technologies into wide use. They also say something about the state of the electric utility game in an era when natural disasters are becoming more commonplace.

“The American power grid is a marvel of engineering,” Oxnam said. “If you think of the top five things that built the American economy, the grid is one of them. But the technology ages, the components age. What we’re trying to do is build the next generation of architecture that may look different from what we have today.”

‘I was looking at the architecture of infrastructure’

Oxnam’s own journey in some ways reflects the changes and growth in the business of renewables.

He’s a former journalist, publicist and devoted environmentalist who came to Maryland to follow his heart. He was working at a magazine in Rhode Island when he was introduced to his future wife, a Baltimore native, at a social gathering.

“We knew from the hour we met that we were going to get married,” he recalled.

Eventually, Oxnam indulged his passion for the environment by working at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis, where he was communications director for a handful of years. When he and his wife discovered the challenges of finding affordable, kid-friendly Annapolis real estate, they decided to relocate, temporarily, over the Bay Bridge in Easton, so they could start a family. That was 25 years ago.

Within a few years, Oxnam landed the communications job at the local utility. It was a life-altering experience.

“Working at Easton Utilities was the best hands-on graduate school in infrastructure operations I could ever have wanted,” he said. At some point, Oxnam said, his bosses told him, “Feel free to figure out how it works and what you want to do about it.”

The publicly owned utility has an atypical management structure and an exemplary record. The mayor and town council appoint three commissioners who oversee operations, and the utility’s president and CEO, Hugh Grunden, is a local guy and company lifer who has run the operation for almost 30 years. Customer service is at a premium, and power outages in the town are rare.“There’s been so much effort put into preventive maintenance,” Oxnam said. “There’s such a high motivation for excellence in operations. You don’t have a conflict between shareholders and ratepayers. There’s a lot of local pride in it. You can see it, you can touch it. You know the people who are affected by it, so you want to do your very best to make sure the system is operating and functioning.”

Like a standard utility, Easton gets its electric power from the PJM grid, which serves 13 states and the District of Columbia. But the town also has set up a substantial backup microgrid that stores energy, designed to power the entire community for seven to 10 days if the main power source is out of service.

“If there’s a big outage like the East Coast blackout, this is the only place where you’ll be able to use the ATM or get a burger,” Oxnam said.

That vital and unusually resilient backup got Oxnam thinking about the future of modern energy storage.

“Easton has a risk management strategy that’s really diverse,” he said. “While I was there, I was looking at the architecture of infrastructure.”

‘They really helped us see the potential’

So what does American Microgrid Solutions do? It offers an array of services, geared to nonprofits, government agencies and private entities. They may want to convert their power supply to renewable energy. They may want to set up a large-scale energy storage unit. They may want to establish a resilience hub that becomes a gathering place in a community, offering emergency power along with many other necessities during a crisis. As Oxnam puts it, the clients are usually looking for “savings, sustainability or security” — or a combination of the three.

“We’re a mission-driven company focused on strengthening communities,” he said. “And we believe we can strengthen communities best by designing systems that give them more control.”

Many of the company’s clients are small, community-based health centers that don’t have the budget or infrastructure of major medical facilities but are still trying to set up more climate-friendly and reliable power sources, Oxnam said.

American Microgrid Systems will visit a site to see about the feasibility of installing renewable energy systems, a microgrid or battery storage. It will discuss the practical challenges behind operating a system. It will match clients with contractors. And it will make cost estimates and outline financing options.

“Sometimes the financial engineering is more difficult than the actual engineering,” Oxnam said. He calls the services his company offers “soup to nuts management.” Often enough, the advice and services cover present needs but also look to the future.

Consider three projects that American Microgrid Systems currently spotlights on its website. One is a solar installation that the company arranged at the U.S. Geological Service Water Science Center in Catonsville. The government water testing facility, is the first tenant in a tech park just outside the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus, and the solar project includes analysis of whether solar will also be feasible in other buildings when more tenants arrive.

Another American Microgrid Systems project is at a housing redevelopment project in the Barry Farm neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. The company is helping the developer set up a battery storage facility and discussing the possibility of putting a community resiliency center in the heart of the development.

In Hawaii, the company is working with the Maui County government to plan a network of resilience hubs throughout the island — and dealing with the challenges of having to provide back-up renewable power distribution to remote areas that are isolated from population centers (Oxnam laments that when it came time for an American Microgrid staffer to spend a month recently in Maui working on the project, he didn’t get to go).

McPike said WinnCompanies hired American Microgrid Systems after receiving a grant to study the possibility of installing battery storage facilities at six housing developments they own in the Northeast. The discussion also included the potential for integrating battery storage, solar arrays, electric vehicle charging stations and controlled thermostats.

“They really helped us see the potential and the value-add and the complexity of what you do after the conceptual analysis is complete,” McPike said.

Even for a company that is already operating solar panels on rooftops at apartment complexes in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and D.C., the prospect of a more complex, interconnected system of renewables “is interesting, exciting and a little daunting,” she said. But the company believes Oxnam’s firm is able to help navigate the financial and regulatory challenges.

“AMS is filling a knowledge void,” McPike said.

Oxnam and his colleagues have become such experts that they have collaborated with Kristin Baja, a former climate and resilience planner with the City of Baltimore and now a leader with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, publishing guidebooks and other how-to materials about resilience hubs.

“We literally co-wrote the book,” he says.

By Josh Kurtz

As part of Maryland Matters’ ongoing “Climate Calling” series, we will feature occasional profiles of green energy entrepreneurs in Maryland.

Freshman House Republican Riles Colleagues with Suggestion They’re Wasting their Breath

March 15, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

It was a typical day for Republicans on the floor of the House of Delegates on Tuesday.

GOP lawmakers launched lengthy debates on gun regulations, transportation funding and tax breaks for retirees, only to see the latter two discussions lead to predictably resounding defeats as they attempted to add amendments to Democratic bills. The third debate, on guns, will continue into Wednesday, but is likely to result in the same lop-sided futility.

For many Republicans, it was all in a day’s work — a chance to shine a spotlight on what they characterize as Democratic overreach and to put Democrats on record supporting policies that the GOP will invariably use on the campaign trail and in fundraising appeals.

But freshman Republican Del. Christopher Eric Bouchat of Carroll County is suggesting that such a strategy has its limits. He asserts that Republicans have become too performative during floor debates in the House and that they run the risk of obsolescence in a chamber where they are badly outnumbered.

That lament has angered several of Bouchat’s more senior colleagues — who characterize his stance as a form of surrender.

The strategic debate was a topic of heated discussion in the weekly House Republican Caucus meeting Tuesday morning and could come up again when the caucus gathers Wednesday morning. To some Republicans, the messenger was just as objectionable as the message.

The internecine conflict started when Bouchat, a conservative who arrived in Annapolis this year after serving a term on the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, sent a letter to his GOP colleagues last week, questioning their tactics and urging them to “look inward for corrective measures that increase our future success rates.”

Bouchat, a self-proclaimed political nerd and one of the original Republican plaintiffs who challenged Maryland’s congressional district map in court following the 2010 Census, observed that many of his fellow Republicans have become “show horses” on the House floor, offering meaningless messaging amendments to bills that have no chance of passing or of influencing the broader State House debate.

“We as a party have limited resources with 39 proverbial troops opposing 102 troops in military terms,” Bouchat wrote in the letter. “Any individual with officer training in combat will tell you it is a waste of resources, energy, and life to continuously execute a frontal assault upon a superior entrenched force, yet that is what we keep doing only to be repulsed and laughed at…If we were a military unit our commander would be court martialed. I feel we are stuck in a perpetual loop of failure.”

In an interview, Bouchat said he believes that committees, rather than the House floor, are the appropriate venues for lengthy debates over legislation. “Once it’s out of committee, it’s a done deal.”

He added that by rhetorically torching Democratic proposals, Republicans are making it more difficult to work with their colleagues who control the agenda and the purse strings in Annapolis. Democrats, he noted, “won a clear and decisive victory” in Maryland last fall.

Bouchat, who owns a welding and metal fabricating business, likens the situation to a workplace: An employee who routinely irritates the boss isn’t going to be able to credibly ask for a raise. And 95% of the Republican attempts to amend a bill, he calculated, are defeated.

“If I had an employee who was successful 5% of the time, I’d fire them,” Bouchat said.

The GOP intramural debate comes as both houses of the General Assembly become steadily more polarized. While the level of partisan rancor isn’t anywhere near what it is on Capitol Hill, the fact is that while conservative Democrats held sway for decades in Annapolis until very recently, the Democratic caucuses have moved steadily to the left over the last few elections, while the Republican caucuses have moved to the right. True ideological moderates in both parties are hard to come by.

And with supermajorities in both chambers, Democrats can largely move their agenda without paying the Republicans much heed — especially with Democrat Wes Moore now serving as governor.

Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who served until recently as House parliamentarian and fought fiercely with Republicans over procedural and ideological questions during the past few legislative sessions, said House Democrats are still willing to work with their GOP colleagues.

“We are bringing out Republican bills and they’re gaining support, especially when the [Republican] members are working to build relationships,” she said.

According to several House Republicans, Bouchat’s letter became part of the agenda during the 75-minute GOP caucus meeting Tuesday.

“I would say we had a lively discussion with respect to people’s ideas and how best to serve our constituents and our state,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), as lawmakers walked from the caucus to the House floor session. “I would suggest that [Bouchat’s letter] was not well-received by his colleagues, but there won’t be any consequences” for the freshman lawmaker.

Buckel said House Republicans take different approaches when it comes to floor debates: Some speak and offer amendments frequently, others do so occasionally, and many choose to stay silent.

“There’s no right strategy,” he said. “Everybody is going to do what they think is best for their communities and the state.”

In interviews as the caucus meeting ended, two firebrand conservatives in the GOP caucus, Del. Matt Morgan (R-St. Mary’s) and Del. Mark Fisher (R-Calvert), suggested that Bouchat’s strategy essentially amounted to surrender.

“I don’t think the Republicans should be waving the white flag,” Morgan said.

Fisher added: “You have three things down here: Your voice, your vote and your reputation. He wants to give up his voice.”

Del. Carl Anderton (R-Lower Shore), who works more closely with Democrats than many of his colleagues, took issue with both the substance and tone of Bouchat’s letter.

“You just got here,” Anderton said. “You’re calling people who’ve been here a lot longer losers when you haven’t really seen the process yet?”

GOP strategy on display

During a three-hour House session Tuesday, as lawmakers cycled through dozens of bills, Republicans peppered Democratic floor leaders with questions on several measures. Most dramatically, Republicans used a bill by Del. Mark Edelson (D-Baltimore City) that would change the way fare hikes are calculated for Maryland Transit Administration bus and rail service, to remove a provision in state law that raises the state gasoline tax annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The amendment, introduced by Morgan, was hotly debated for about 20 minutes.

Several Republicans argued that the legislature shouldn’t consider a bill that effectively decouples transit fares from the inflation rate without doing the same for motorists — especially during a period of persistent inflation, when a significant gas tax hike on July 1 is inevitable. Morgan estimated that the state could be collecting an additional $62.4 million in gas taxes then.

“We talk a lot about equity in this body,” Buckel said. “Equity to me means fairness. It means treating people in an equally situated way.”

Fisher warned that tax increases are “crushing the middle class in Maryland.”

Defending Edelson’s bill, Del. Marc Korman (D-Montgomery), the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and the Environment, said transit fares and gas taxes are significantly different, because the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is replenished with gas tax revenues, is so big.

“It’s really not comparable to what we’re talking about in terms of scale,” he said, adding that the trust fund could be severely depleted and major transportation projects jeopardized if the amendment went through.

But Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) boiled the debate down to its political essence.

“So a vote for your amendment,” Szeliga asked Morgan, “is a vote to tell the citizens of Maryland that we don’t want their gas taxes to go up on July 1?”

“Yes,” Morgan replied. “And a vote against this amendment says I support a $62.4 million tax increase.”

Nevertheless, the amendment failed on a 38-90 vote. Two Democrats — Dels. Brian Crosby (St. Mary’s) and Chou Wu (D-Howard) voted for it. Bouchat was the lone Republican to vote against it. He said in an interview that the floor debate essentially illustrated everything he had written about in his letter to colleagues.

Urging Republicans to be more outspoken

But the day’s drama did not end there. About an hour after the floor session came to an end Tuesday, six of the most vocal conservatives in the House Republican Caucus — Fisher, Morgan, Szeliga and Dels. Lauren Arikan (Harford), Brian Chisholm (Anne Arundel) and Robin Grammer (Baltimore County) — issued a statement criticizing Bouchat and rebutting the points in his missive. Arikan, who serves with Bouchat on the Judiciary Committee and on the Criminal Law subcommittee, said she “cannot recall a single time he spoke up in an attempt to impact the legislation in our committee.”

The statement blasted Bouchat for voting against Morgan’s amendment on the gasoline tax, saying he “failed a basic litmus test of Conservatism.”

The six Republicans also took their GOP colleagues to task for not speaking up more on the House floor.

“It deeply concerns us that this erroneous concept of rarely or never standing on the floor to articulate Republican and Conservative ideals appears to be the new accepted norm,” they wrote.

The lawmakers argued that the House GOP hit its modern-era high water mark — 50 seats in the 141-member chamber — after speaking out against Democratic taxes and spending during the 2014 election.

“Our communities and voters did not send us here to be the handmaidens of the Maryland Democrat Party,” the six Republicans wrote. “We must stand in solidarity and combat the Left’s ever-growing radical agenda. Our unified vision, unwavering stance, and proactive leadership will allow us to maintain our values against those who seek to destroy them.”

Bouchat said he agreed that Republicans should vigorously contest the Democrats in the next legislative elections, which are 3 1/2 years away, and that political opportunities may present themselves for the GOP then. But for now, he said, “we need to stop annoying them.”

By Josh Kurtz

Former Hogan Aide Misses Court Appearance as Concern Grows of his Whereabouts

March 14, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

Roy McGrath’s federal corruption trial is on indefinite hold after the former aide to former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) failed to appear in court on Monday.

McGrath was expected to appear in a Baltimore courtroom for the first day of what was anticipated to be a two-week trial. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman issued an arrest warrant and sent the jury home.

McGrath, who spent about three months as Hogan’s chief of staff in spring 2020, faced eight counts, including wire fraud, theft and falsification of a government document stemming from his steps to secure a $233,648 severance payment from the Maryland Environmental Service just as he was joining Hogan’s staff. The payment was equal to his annual salary as head of the agency.

Prosecutors charge that McGrath also sought reimbursement for numerous expenses from the state and failed to claim vacation time while in Florida and on a Mediterranean cruise.

McGrath was expected to start the morning being re-arraigned, a technical process that would incorporate charges included in a superseding indictment.

Jury selection was set to begin at 9:30 following that brief hearing.

Under the terms of McGrath’s pretrial release, he promised to appear in court. Boardman said McGrath’s failure to appear violated those terms.

“Let’s hope he’s safe and there’s some mix-up,” she said.

The terms of McGrath’s pretrial release also required him to surrender his passport to the U.S. District Court clerk’s office in Fort Myers, Florida, near his home, in October 2021 and acquire no new passport. The order additionally required his wife to transfer a firearm and required McGrath to undergo “medical or psychiatric treatment as required by Pretrial Services.”

On Jan. 23, the requirement for medical treatment was stricken after a request from McGrath’s attorney.

Joseph Murtha, McGrath’s attorney, said he had attempted throughout the morning on Monday to reach his client and his wife.

“Most importantly, I’m concerned. I’m hoping he’s safe,” Murtha said. “These situations are very stressful, the uncertainty of going to trial can cause people to do things many people don’t think are appropriate. We hope that he’s safe.”

Murtha declined to discuss the contents of the conversation but said there was nothing unusual about his client’s demeanor.

“He and I always had a very professional, engaged conversation that were directly related to the trial,” said Murtha. “I looked forward to seeing him at 8:45 this morning.”

Murtha said silence from his client was unusual.

“He’s always been responsive,” said Murtha.

Murtha told Boardman and later reporters that he spoke to his client on Sunday afternoon. He said McGrath told him he planned to travel to Maryland that evening.

McGrath was supposed to stay in an undisclosed area hotel, though Murtha said it was unknown if he arrived.

McGrath’s travel plans appeared to be amorphous even for his attorney.

In a filing last week, Murtha told the court his client was planning on traveling to Maryland on Saturday.

“It was a change in travel plans based on flight availability as I understood it,” Murtha told reporters.

Around 6:15 p.m., Murtha confirmed that he had not yet heard from his client.

McGrath also faces pending state criminal charges relating to alleged illegally recorded private conversations involving senior state officials without their permission during his employment at the Maryland Environmental Service and as chief of staff.

By Bryan P. Sears. Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report.

Gun Bill receives Preliminary Approval in the Senate

March 10, 2023 by Maryland Matters 3 Comments

Maryland’s Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a bill that would prohibit a person from knowingly carrying a firearm onto someone else’s property without the property owner’s express permission and also would prohibit carrying a firearm within 100 feet of public places.

After a committee hearing last month, Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery) — who is lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1 and vice chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, which moved the bill to the Senate floor — said he realized “the bill was drafted way too broadly [and] could accidentally jam people up who are law abiding, responsible citizens and may be difficult to defend constitutionally.”

The bill is being considered after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that New York’s concealed carry permit law violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The court’s decision in New York State Police & Rifle Association vs. Bruen concluded that residents did not need a “good and substantial” reason to carry a concealed firearm.

Maryland also had required special permission to carry a concealed gun, but the state lifted restrictions in July to comply with the court’s ruling. However, then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said persons carrying a concealed gun would still be required to obtain a permit.

Currently in Maryland, a person cannot carry a firearm at many places that are public and where there are vulnerabilities or people at risk, including legislative buildings, state parks, school property or within 1,000 feet of a demonstration in a public place.

Waldstreicher’s amended version of his bill, labeled the Gun Safety Act of 2023, specifies that guns would be prohibited in areas where children and vulnerable individuals congregate, at government and public infrastructure sites and certain special purpose areas such as a stadium or theater.

Any person found to have knowingly carried a gun at these places would be guilty of a misdemeanor and face up to 90 days in jail, a fine up to $3,000, or both.

If found guilty of a second or subsequent offense a person could face 15 months imprisonment, a fine up to $7,500, or both. Those are the same penalties that a person would face if found guilty of carrying the firearm with the intent to “cause death or injury to another.”

Besides law enforcement personnel, the bill also would allow some other individuals to carry a firearm, including retired law enforcement officers in good standing, members of the military and members of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

A few amendments

Before The Senate gave SB1 preliminary approval, it heard 14 amendments on the floor. A few were technical such as one offered by Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) to add about two dozen co-sponsors to the bill.

Waldstreicher also added that a person cannot a carry or transport a handgun at a building “currently” used as a polling place.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, Sen. William Folden (R-Frederick) had two “friendly” amendments passed.

Folden, a Frederick police officer, said the first amendment would expand who could carry a legal firearm for protection. As an example, he said the amendment would allow a woman in a walking club who has a legal firearm to carry it for protection against an estranged spouse. The second amendment would ensure that a person would not be charged if a firearm accidentally gets exposed “not as a show of force, but as an inadvertent act.”

Meanwhile, an amended bill sponsored by Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, received a 15-7 vote in that committee Wednesday.

As filed, the bill would expand disqualifications for possessing a regulated firearm and increase requirements for issuance of a handgun permit.

The House bill would also double three fees: a wear-and-carry permit from $75 to $150; a renewal or subsequent application from $50 to $100; and a duplicate or modified permit from $10 to $20.

Estimated state revenues may increase from $8.7 million in fiscal year 2024 to $14.1 million by fiscal year 2028, according to the fiscal note.

Power to prosecute police misconduct could move to AG’s office

The Senate also voted 27-20 Thursday to allow the Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division prosecutorial power. The measure now moves to the House of Delegates.

Sponsored by Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), the legislation would repeal a requirement that the investigations division report findings in police-involved deaths to the local state’s attorneys, who would decide whether to prosecute. It would give the division exclusive rights to prosecute, unless the attorney general requests that the state’s attorney does so.

The bill would also require the division to investigate police-involved death or injuries to any individual.

By William J. Ford

A Four-day Workweek Plan for Maryland is Dead for Now

March 7, 2023 by Maryland Matters 1 Comment

Efforts to bring a four-day workweek pilot program to Maryland is over at least for this year.

Sponsors of the House and Senate bills withdrew the legislation amid concerns it would institutionalize a 32-hour work week. Costs of the five-year pilot program and engrained attitudes concerning the traditional 40-hour work week appear to have derailed legislation for this year.

Del. Vaughn Stewart (D-Montgomery) held out hope of study by the state Department of Labor, which lawmakers could still require this session through a budget amendment.

Stewart maintained a move to a shorter work week “is the future” for Maryland businesses.

“I think, if we can get this budget language, that there has been a huge step taken this session,” he said.

Stewart pulled the bill Monday prior to a vote by the House Economic Matters Committee because of concerns that it might not pass because of the costs — just under $1 million annually to establish a five-year business tax credit program. The Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County) was also withdrawn.

Instead, Stewart hoped to create a study by the state Department of Labor. Once the study is complete, supporters could take another run at the proposal before the end of the current term, he said.

House Economic Matters Committee Chair C.T. Wilson, (D-Charles) said shortening the workweek but paying for 40-hours raised some eyebrows among committee members.

“I think a lot of people from both sides of the aisle are a little bit nervous about the messaging and what’s next,” said Wilson. “Sometimes it’s not the bill itself, but what are ramifications and what the next step is going to be in business — is this just the first phase in normalizing a 32-hour workweek? I think a lot of people were a little concerned about that.”

The traditional 40-hour week dates back to 1940 and an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

By Bryan P. Sears

Wilson said his committee had planned to move the bill with a four-day 40-hour work week before it was withdrawn. The chair said the public may have had a difficult time accepting a 32-hour work week even if were not a mandate.

“The practicality of a 32-hour workweek is really, really hard to get people — my generation and above — to discuss or think about, you know,” he said.

Even so, costs continued to be a factor as lawmakers brace for potentially bad budget news from the Board of Revenue Estimates later this week.

House Bill 181 and the identical Senate Bill 197, described Hettleman as “a little carrot for businesses,” proposed the creation of a tax credit program for businesses interested in a shorter workweek. Workers participating in the program would not see a reduction in pay from the standard 40-hour week.

The bill would provide an annual tax credit of $10,000 each for businesses implementing a four-day, 32-hour work week for at least 30 employees. A company would be eligible for the credit for up to two years.

The state Department of Labor would be required to collect data on the program and report annually to the governor and legislature. The pilot program would have expired in five years.

The bill also required the governor to set aside funding annually. The costs of the program were expected to exceed $900,000 annually including tax credits and administrative costs at the Department of Labor.

Shorter work weeks are growing in popularity in Europe and among some tech companies. Shifts in work attitudes related to the COVID-19 pandemic have left employers looking for ways to lure new workers or retain veteran hires.

“This is the future,” said Stewart.

“I know it sounds utopian and to some people it sounds crazy to say that companies that tried this didn’t have a profitability loss but I think a lot of the experience of companies that have tried this so far flies in the face of that preconception,” he said.

Hogan Won’t Run For President in 2024

March 6, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Sunday morning that he won’t run for president in 2024 — saying he had “no desire to put my family through another grueling campaign just for the experience.”

In recent weeks, pundits and pollsters have suggested that a crowded GOP field would help solidify former President Donald Trump’s status as a frontrunner in 2024. In a statement, Hogan said he did not want to contribute to the dynamic.

“To once again be a successful governing party, we must move on from Donald Trump. There are several competent Republican leaders who have the potential to step up and lead. But the stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multicar pileup that could potentially help Mr. Trump recapture the nomination,” the statement said.

In a recent independent poll of likely Maryland GOP voters, Hogan was running third in the state’s presidential primary, behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Hogan attracted support from 18% of those polled, while 33% said they would back Trump and 27% said they would pick DeSantis. In recent national polls, the governor was attracting around 1% support.

“I have long said that I care more about ensuring a future for the Republican Party than securing my own future in the Republican Party. And that is why I will not be seeking the Republican nomination for president,” the Hogan statement said.

The former governor will instead return to the business world, the statement continued.

Hogan did not endorse another candidate, but said he would support a return to the party’s core principles, including “fiscal responsibility” and support for “the rule of law.”

“And I still believe in a Republican Party that upholds and honors perhaps our most sacred tradition: the peaceful transfer of power. I will stand with anyone who shares that common sense conservative vision for the Republican Party and can get us back to winning elections again,” Hogan said.

He made the announcement Sunday morning on “Face the Nation,” with a Twitter statement and New York Times guest essay released at the same time.

By Danielle E. Gaines

Moore’s Controversial Nominee for the Public Service Commission Withdraws

March 1, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

Juan Alvarado, the gas industry official that Gov. Wes Moore (D) picked last week to serve on the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), has withdrawn his nomination.

In a statement released Tuesday morning by Moore’s office, Alvarado said he was withdrawing for “personal reasons.”

But Alvarado’s nomination was controversial from the start — largely due to his association with the natural gas industry at a time when state leaders are trying to move policy away from fossil fuels. Lawmakers, environmentalists and community leaders in Silver Spring were also scrutinizing Alvarado’s record as a staffer at the PSC, particularly probing what the agency did before and after a 2016 natural gas explosion at an apartment complex in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring that killed seven people and injured dozens of others.

Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery), a member of the Senate Executive Nominations Committee, which was slated to consider Alvarado’s selection in the weeks ahead, planned to put a hold on the nomination. He represents Long Branch, a community with a large immigrant population.

In his statement, Alvarado, the senior director of energy analysis at the American Gas Association in Washington, D.C., expressed his commitment to fighting climate change.

“I was honored to be nominated for the Public Service Commission,” he said. “My 12 years of service to Maryland as a member of that institution gave me the highest reverence for the work it does each and every day to address climate change, improve service to ratepayers, and ensure families have access to reliable telecommunications, gas, and electricity.

“Climate change is the fight of our lives, and I believe that we have real and substantive challenges to meet Maryland’s goals while ensuring continuous and equitable service at fair rates. Those challenges mean all stakeholders need to be at the table executing the state’s vision towards a sustainable future.”

The PSC is a five-member body that regulates electric, gas and certain water utilities in the state. It has increasingly become an important vehicle for addressing climate change in the state, and policy and regulatory debates at the commission are frequently contentious.

Shortly after taking office, Moore rescinded two recess appointments to the PSC that his predecessor, former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), made last summer, and on top of that, the term of the current PSC chair, Jason Stanek, is due to expire on June 30 — giving Moore a prime opportunity to recast the commission.

Moore on Feb. 17 nominated Alvarado to serve on the PSC and Fred Hoover, a former director of the Maryland Energy Administration, to be PSC chair.

Alvarado isn’t the first of Moore’s high-profile nominations to run aground. Earlier this month, Charles “Chip” Stewart, his nominee to serve as director of the state’s information technology officer, withdrew amid criticism of his handling of a cyber attack on the Maryland Department of Health during the Hogan administration.

Alvarado’s nomination drew criticism and bewilderment from environmental groups, which have high hopes for the new governor’s commitment to fighting climate change. Several leaders of green groups said they were not consulted about Moore’s PSC nominees. But they hope to be moving forward.

“We look forward to working with Governor Moore and [Appointments] Secretary [Tisha] Edwards to ensure the PSC is ready to advance the governor’s bold climate agenda,” said Josh Tulkin, Maryland director of the Sierra Club.

In a statement Tuesday, Moore reiterated that his administration “is fully committed to achieving Maryland’s bold and necessary climate, energy, and resilience goals.”

“I want to thank Juan Alvarado for raising his hand to serve our state as a member of the Public Service Commission,” Moore said. “Juan shares our conviction that addressing climate change is the defining challenge of our time, and his deep understanding of the Public Service Commission was knowledge that would have served Maryland well. I understand this was a difficult decision for Juan, but respect his decision to withdraw from the confirmation process.”

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told reporters Tuesday that he wasn’t sure how Alvarado would have fared had he gone through the Senate confirmation process, since he hadn’t appeared before the Senate Executive Nominations Committee. Ferguson said PSC members are going to have to balance the state’s ambitious climate goals with the need to protect consumers from high costs.

“I think the appropriate PSC members moving forward, whomever it is, the ones that are still under consideration, and additional vacancies, have to be willing to listen to all sides of the issue to be able to make the best decision for the long term future of the state, recognizing the costs that come along with it,” he said.

This story has been updated to include quotes from Senate President Bill Ferguson and the leader of the Sierra Club. Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report.

By Josh Kurtz

Draft Legislation Allows MD Municipalities to Create their Own Police Accountability Boards

February 27, 2023 by Maryland Matters 1 Comment

As Maryland’s 23 counties and the city of Baltimore continue to work on state-mandated comprehensive police reforms, some of the state’s municipalities may be able to incorporate their own methods.

Sen. Ron Watson (D-Prince George’s) and Del. Lesley Lopez (D-Montgomery) have identical legislation that would allow 88 of the state’s 157 municipalities with police forces to create their own accountability boards.

“Who knows their community better?” Watson said in a brief interview Thursday. “The bill doesn’t force or require anybody to do anything. It gives [local officials] that flexibility to create the boards.”

The bill mirrors reforms that lawmakers passed in 2021 that require all counties and Baltimore City to not only form police accountability boards, but also administrative charging committees and trial boards to oversee alleged police misconduct and improve relationships with residents.

The charging committees review allegations brought from the public against a police officer and recommend possible disciplinary action. An officer can appeal a decision before a local trial board.

Similar to the accountability boards being established by counties, the proposed municipal boards would set a budget, pick the number of members on each body, appoint a chair with “experience relevant to the position” and establish procedures for record-keeping.

The boards cannot include an active duty police officer as a member and the overall membership should reflect the racial, gender and cultural diversity of the municipality.

Municipalities can decide the size of their accountability boards, which have varied so far at the county level. For example, Baltimore City has 15 members on its police board. Prince George’s County designated 11 members and Washington County has nine.

Municipal charging committees would have five members – the chair of accountability board or a person chosen by the chair, two residents selected by the board and two residents appointed by the chief executive officer of the county.

Residents would also be appointed to serve on a local trial board, but not those who serve on the accountability board or charging committee.

If municipal officials decide to create an accountability board, the panel must hold quarterly meetings and submit a report to the local government by Dec. 31 each year that identifies any trends in the disciplinary process and offer recommendations on policy changes to improve accountability.

Both bills were considered at public hearings in House and Senate committees last week.

Bowie Police Chief John Nesky, who supports the legislation, offered at least one amendment that would allow residents from small municipalities to serve on a county police accountability board “that would hear cases that affect their own officers [from] their own municipality.”

Community oversight

Not everyone agrees with the municipal concept.

Beverly John, a member of Progressive Maryland and a local activist in Prince George’s County, said in an interview Friday she expressed the same concerns with the county accountability boards.

John said an accountability board should be granted subpoena and investigatory powers that doesn’t rely simply on a law enforcement agency to hold itself accountable. She also said smaller municipalities could choose residents who may be more “pro-police” and may offer a balance to an accountability board.

“It’s a concern and a fear as well,” she said. “They might have more of an ability to get away with some things and the level of transparency may not be there. It can’t be let’s just pick a couple of people and friends that we know. It has to be a strong, community oversight to make sure accountability happens.”

John said the cost may deter some municipal officials from forming its own police accountability board and just relying on the its county.

A fiscal analysis noted that local expenditures in Annapolis could increase by nearly $911,000 in fiscal year 2024, if a local board were established there.

At the county level, it’s estimated to cost Prince George’s County about $1.4 million to fund its police accountability board and administrative charging committee to pay for about full-time workers, stipends for board members and operating and administrative costs.

The Maryland Association of Counties said the bill has “the potential to lessen administrative burden” on county-level police boards and committees.

Lopez said several municipal police forces are larger than those in their respective counties. They are:

City of Cumberland with 47 officers and Allegany County with 35
City of Cambridge with 41 and Dorchester County with 40
City of Easton with 45 and Talbot County with 37
Ocean City with 102 and Worchester County with 50

“It just doesn’t make structural and logistical sense to feed [an alleged municipal offense] into a county police department when it’s really a municipal issue,” she said in an interview. “We want to make sure all people…have a voice and deserve civilian oversight and not just grouped into an entire county police accountability boards.”

By William J. Ford

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