ANNAPOLIS – Maryland lawmakers passed a budget on Monday, concluding their spring session after months of grappling with a tough fiscal reality and new federal policies coming down from President Donald Trump.
The end-of-session agreement hikes taxes and cuts programs to balance the spending plan for the 2026 fiscal year, assuming the federal funding picture does not change radically in the months to come.
Lawmakers made the budget work partly by trimming back the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the ambitious 2021 education reform plan meant to improve public schools. Architects of the deal said the changes will preserve the Blueprint’s priorities.
“We present a budget that puts Maryland in a strong fiscal position and faces the challenges ahead while protecting our shared values and priorities,” said Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone, a Democrat from Howard County.
But House Minority Whip Del. Jesse Pippy, a Republican who represents Frederick and Carroll Counties, argued that the plan unnecessarily burdens taxpayers.
“A majority of my colleagues feel very strongly that we could have balanced the budget without raising taxes,” Pippy said. “I don’t think the direction of the state is the direction that most Marylanders want to go in.”
Republicans made their mark on legislative work in the opening months of the new Trump administration, which helped give rise to the newly formed Maryland Freedom Caucus.
Still, the Democrat-controlled legislature generally opposed new Trump-era policies. And now the state – home to the most federal workers in the country outside of Washington, D.C. – likely faces continuing challenges with the Trump administration’s mass government layoffs. At present, one Democratic leader said, the number of fired workers in Maryland stands at about 11,000.
“We expect that number to climb to 30,000, and there are many more contractors, probably at least double that amount,” said Sen. Katie Fry Hester, a Democrat representing Howard and Montgomery Counties.
@cnsmaryland Capital News Service was there as Bill Ferguson, president of the Maryland Senate, shared his concerns over “draconian” actions from the Trump administration, which he said are destroying the economy and Marylanders’ lives. #Maryland #MarylandNews #Trump #Musk #Politics ♬ original sound – Capital News Service
The legislature might have to reconvene at some point this year to cope with unemployment and changes in federal policy affecting Maryland. For now, though, the General Assembly has settled a range of issues affecting Maryland’s six million residents.
BUDGET
The $67 billion spending plan addresses a significant deficit through approximately $2 billion in spending cuts and $1.6 billion in tax changes.
The budget raises income taxes on the state’s higher earners, extends the sales tax to certain technology services and introduces a $5 tire fee. It includes two new tax brackets, increases the standard deduction, phases out itemized deductions for those in higher tax brackets and includes tax hikes on individual goods and services.
Many lawmakers celebrated its passage, but some said increasing the standard deduction would lead to service cuts in lower-income counties that rely on the income tax of low- and middle-income residents. The finalized plan will now go to Moore for consideration.
ENERGY
Energy was a hot topic this session, with multiple bills going through the legislature as lawmakers worked to address high energy prices. They passed a three-bill package on Monday.
The package focuses on new in-state energy generation, ratepayer protections and reforms, solar siting and permitting and the creation of a state energy planning office. It outlines procurement processes for nuclear, battery storage and dispatchable energy, and removes trash incineration from the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.
“I think, on balance, it’s a good package,” said Sen. Brian Feldman, a Democrat from Montgomery County and chair of the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment committee.
The package initially drew criticism from environmental advocates, who were concerned that one of the bills would lead to new natural gas development in the state. But the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund praised the bill as passed, saying in a statement that it “will likely reduce the chance of new gas plant construction in the state and … will advance a host of clean energy priorities,” including battery storage.
Republican critics worry that the package doesn’t do enough to help ratepayers.
EDUCATION
Blueprint funding was the subject of debate during the legislative session. In January, Moore proposed short-term cuts to mitigate the cost of the massive education plan, pushing back and pausing funding for different programs.
The education budget came under even more scrutiny late in the session, after an expected $418 million in government funds was suddenly in jeopardy. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the end of a pandemic-era fund for state educational spending.
As it stands, state lawmakers agreed to postpone the Blueprint requirement that teachers receive a set amount of planning every school week, delaying it for three years. Additional Blueprint funding was also decreased through freezes and cuts.
JUSTICE SYSTEM
Lawmakers passed a bill to let prisoners access medical or geriatric parole more easily by allowing them to prove they are no longer a threat to others. It would not apply to those serving life sentences without parole or those on the sex offender registry. Geriatric parole would only be available to those over 65 who have served at least 20 years of their sentence.
Lawmakers also approved the Maryland Second Look Act, which aimed to reduce the sentences of some inmates with good behavior credits.
A proposal to scale back the state’s practice of automatically sentencing teen offenders as adults in violent crimes stalled in committee. The bill faced pushback from law enforcement over concerns that the Department of Juvenile Services couldn’t accommodate juveniles with “complex problems.”
TRANSPORTATION
Baltimore’s Red Line project, a long-awaited east-west light rail line, will keep chugging along. The new budget sets aside funding from the state’s Transportation Trust Fund to continue project planning in anticipation of a future, more transit-friendly administration that might help finance the Red Line’s construction.
But most transit agencies, both large and small across Maryland, are straining to keep up with rising costs. Requests for inflation relief stalled in the hands of this year’s cost-shy General Assembly.
For transit agencies in rural Maryland, that means yet another year of belt-tightening, even as ridership – particularly among seniors – rebounds.
PRIVACY
Concerns over the Trump administration’s immigration policy encouraged some lawmakers to propose the Maryland Data Privacy Act to prevent law enforcement and other local officials from sharing sensitive data with immigration officers. However, the bill failed to receive enough support.
Despite concerns about unregulated police drones, lawmakers decided not to advance a proposal to set guidelines for law enforcement uses of aerial surveillance.
DISABILITIES
Lawmakers passed Eric’s ID Law – a measure allowing individuals with invisible disabilities to include a sticker on the bottom of their license, identification or moped operator’s permit. The notation is meant to improve interactions and communication with law enforcement.
REPARATIONS
Maryland lawmakers approved the creation of a commission to study the impact of slavery after years of debate and consideration. The Maryland Reparations Commission would make recommendations to the state legislature, providing guidance on what, if any, benefits should be given to those impacted by “historical inequality” by November 2027.
SEX ABUSE
After emotional deliberation, lawmakers voted to downsize the monetary compensation the state can provide for sexual abuse lawsuits, amending the amount survivors can file for under the 2023 Child Victims Act.
GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE
The legislature chose not to roll back rights for trans people. Republicans introduced a bill that would have made it a felony for a healthcare provider to give hormone replacement therapy to any minor, but the measure did not pass.
If passed, the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act would have required both public schools and the nonpublic schools that compete against them to separate sports teams based on the team members’ sex assigned at birth. Similar legislation has been introduced since 2022.
But the General Assembly also rejected an attempt to expand rights for trans people, turning away a bill to allow “X” as a sex designation on birth certificates for transgender and nonbinary individuals.
HEALTH
The legislature considered restricting the distribution of veterinary tranquilizers after neighboring Delaware and Pennsylvania moved to restrict access to the drugs, but the idea failed to garner support.
CNS reporters Rachel McCrea, Emma Tufo, Sasha Allen, Paul Kiefer, Adriana Navarro and Jack Bowman also contributed to this piece.