2024 Weekly Update-Week Two

2024 Maryland General Assembly Update

Week Two: Budget, Child Custody Bill, Education, and Special Report on Congressional Offshore Wind Energy Hearing

Governor Moore’s FY2025 State Budget Books

Governor Wes Moore proposed $63 billion for the Fiscal Year 2025 State Budget on January 17, 2024. This budget spends less than last year and does not raise taxes, but there are a sharp number of fee increases being proposed by the Administration through legislation and the regulatory process in order to address the current fiscal structural gap.

Former Governor Hogan left his successor with a $5 billion surplus, but after only one year under Governor Moore, Maryland has been facing a $322 million structural gap, which is projected to grow to $2.1 billion by Fiscal Year 2029. Governor Moore’s proposed budget includes taking $150 million from the Rainy Day Fund to assist with shortfalls for Fiscal Year 2025. No long-term plan has been presented to prevent the impending financial crisis.

“Passing a balanced budget is the Maryland General Assembly’s only constitutional responsibility. Given this year’s budget challenges, the Maryland General Assembly needs to cut back and extend timelines for the big ticket items like the Administration’s $1 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Plan and the $3.8 billion annual Blueprint Education Plan over 10 years. We need to ensure fair funding for our Shore priorities.”

A LOOK AT THE LOCAL NUMBERS

Somerset County Budget Highlights:

$4.421 million, University of Maryland Eastern Shore New Agricultural Research Education Center

$3.129 million, University of Maryland Eastern Shore Campus Flood Mitigation Project

$3.928 million, Crisfield High School

$3 million, Somers Cove Marine Bulkhead Replacement

$1.565 million, Janes Island State Park

$600,000, Smith Island Clean Water Project

$250,000, Crisfield Depot Pier and Walkway Replacement

$250,000, St. Peters Creek County Dock and Bulkhead Rehabilitation

$100,000, Deal Island Upper Thoroughfare Dredging

$75,000, Tylerton Harbor Breakwater Improvements

$50,000, Ewell County Dock Repairs

Wicomico County Budget Highlights:

$27.629 million, Salisbury University, Blackwell Hall Renovation

$20.93 million, Salisbury Holly Center

$7.212 million, Parkside High School, Roof Replacement

$4.874 million, Naylor Mill Mobile Home Park Water System Extension and Emerging Contaminants Remediation

$2.267 million, Life Crisis Center, Inc.

$2 million, City of Salisbury Infrastructure Improvements

$1.659 million, Town of Hebron Flood Mitigation Project

$925,000, Nanticoke Harbor Dredging

$362,984, Delmar Lead Service Line Inventory

$300,000, 407 Anne Street Site Remediation, Hazardous Substance Clean-up

$223,936, Salisbury, Doverdale Park Playground Improvements

$131,000, Sarbanes Branch HVAC Replacement

$110,000, Cedar Hill Marina and Park

$60,000, Leonard Mill Park Boat Ramp Replacement

Worcester County Budget Highlights:

$4.412 million, Mystic Harbour Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

$3.7 million, Ocean City Convention Center

$2 million, Ocean City Beach Replenishment and Hurricane Protection Program

$1.916 million, Snow Hill Middle School Roof Replacement

$1.799 million, New Pocomoke Library

$1.613 million, Berlin State Police Barrack

$1.325 million, Pocomoke River State Park

$1.298 million, Berlin Water Distribution System

$1 million, Ocean Beach Maintenance Fund

$867,000, Route 346 Water Supply and Treatment Project

$500,000, Natural Resource Police Area 1, Marine Facility Bulkhead Replacement

$400,000, Bay Club State Forest

$389,108, Ocean City Little Salisbury Park Improvements

$216,000, Berlin, Dr. William Henry Park Playground Replacement

$133,533, Pocomoke City, Cypress Park New Lighting

$125,000, Assateague State Park Boat Ramp Repairs and Comfort Station Renovations

$80,000, Stockton Volunteer Fire Department, New Rescue Vessel

CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATOR LEGISLATION

I have reintroduced legislation to establish training and qualifications for child custody evaluators who play an important role in assisting family law courts in determining custody outcomes in some of the most sensitive and difficult cases involving allegations of domestic violence and child abuse.

“I have heard from parents, advocates, and legal child custody experts for years that there is no consistent training for custody evaluators, whose recommendations are given heavy weight by judges.These child custody cases involving allegations of domestic violence and child abuse are among the most sensitive and traumatic issues and there is a fundamental need to ensure adequate training and qualifications for these important child custody evaluators.”

Senate Bill 365 will be heard before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on February 8^th.

SENATE EDUCATION BRIEFING ON BLUEPRINT FUNDING

The Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee held several briefings this week on various subjects under the Committee’s purview, including a three-hour long briefing on Education that included presentations from the State Department of Education, the Accountability and Implementation Board, and from the Superintendents of three County School Systems. These included the President of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland Dr. Jeffrey Lawson; President of the Eastern Shore of Maryland Education Consortium Dr. David Bromwell; and Prince George’s County Public Schools Superintendent Mr. Millard House.

I was able to bring two issues into focus. “When our local delegation met with the Wicomico School Superintendent Micah Stauffer, he urged us to do something on juvenile crime. He told us that what’s going on in our communities is having a negative impact in our schools, and when a student is referred to the Department of Juvenile Services, they often don’t hear back about the follow up for these students. What do you need to ensure our schools are safe?”

“I think the local ability to work with lawmakers as well as law enforcement will be extremely important. With any murder, with any robbery where a juvenile is involved, it is almost guaranteed that truancy was an issue with that juvenile,” said Prince George’s County Superintendent Millard House. “Regardless of whether it’s the parents responsibility or the Department of Juvenile Services, this child and their particular issues are landing on our doorstep, and it’s something we have to address.”

“There’s a large issue with data, because our data is not matching up with DJS’s data,” said Superintendent David Bromwell. “We started asking who’s doing the Child in Need of Supervision (CINS) complaint process, and we discovered that in the last year, only three of these reports were done for the entire Eastern Shore. In Dorchester County alone, we should have had forty of these reports done. We’re starting to train our own people to complete these CINS forms, but when they get to DJS, they could stop right there.”

I also expressed concern regarding the school construction demands of the Blueprint to expand Pre-K to full time. “We have school systems that have been doing their plans for years based on certain formulas from the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC). There may be a disconnect, based on my own experience recently in Worcester County, with how these formulas are implemented and how the IAC may recommend consolidations that would put Pre-K three and four-year-olds in the same school as sixth grade eleven-year-olds, which is not in the best interest of our children.”

I have been a strong advocate for securing State funding for the Buckingham Replacement Elementary School. “One of the ideas brought forward by the IAC staff, not by Worcester County, to combine Buckingham Elementary (Pre-K – 4) and Berlin Intermediate (5^th and 6^th graders) into one school is unworkable for us for several reasons. First, we should not be mixing four-year-olds and eleven and twelve-year-olds in the same school. Also, it would be a much larger school construction project with site size restrictions at both Buckingham and Berlin Intermediate. This could result in the County trying to find a 25-30 acre site in northern Worcester County, causing more complications and delays for our Buckingham students.

LOCAL OFFICIALS IN ANNAPOLIS THIS WEEK

The Eastern Shore Delegation met via Zoom with Maryland Department of State Police Secretary Colonel Roland Butler, Jr. (upper left corner). I asked Col. Butler about the coordination between the Maryland State Police and local law enforcement agencies and asked for Maryland State Police and the Governor’s support for bipartisan crime legislation that increases accountability on violent criminals and juvenile crime.

Hunters of Maryland in Annapolis , pictured Right to Left: Dennis Bradford, former President of the Maryland Bowhunters Society; Wicomico Councilmember James Winn; John Long of Salisbury; Senator Mary Beth Carozza (R-District 38); Senator Johnny Mautz (R-District 37); Kenny Pusey of Paul Jones Lumber; Tony Dipalo of Snow Hill; Lou Compton, President of the Maryland Bowhunters’ Society; Hunter Pusey of Paul Jones Lumber; Delegate Wayne Hartman (R-District 38C).

Herb Geary( above) of Ocean City visited Annapolis this week for CPA Advocacy Day. He and I spoke on issues constituents are facing under the current tax system.

CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY

On January 20th at the Roland Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, District 1 Congressman Andy Harris was joined by two fellow New Jersey members of Congress, Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew (center right) in a public hearing to serve as a platform to hear from a panel of witnesses (center top) about the negative impacts of Offshore Wind energy development. Offshore Wind Developers were invited but either did not reply or chose not to attend. The Roland Powell Convention Center was packed with attendees (below).

"The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s own Environmental Impact Study further convinced me that the potential negative impacts of offshore wind industrialization off Maryland’s Coast outweigh the many promised benefits by European-based offshore wind developers.

The report validates many of my concerns as “unavoidable adverse impacts” including:

* High-impact hydraulic hammers pounding the seafloor during the 3 three years of construction of the 123 structures.

*Increased risks of accidents due to changes in navigational patterns resulting in gear loss, personal injury, damage to boats, and possible oil spills.

*Substantial negative impact on commercial and recreational fishing that, according to the report, would be “detectable, measurable, of severe intensity, and long-lasting or permanent.”

The impact on the local economy and tourism, and the negative effects on marine life, fishing, and the military, taken together, are unacceptable risks.

We simply cannot afford nor accept offshore wind developers coming back to the State or to the Federal government for more subsidies as expected. More state subsidies for the development of these offshore wind energy projects are unaffordable and unacceptable.

As someone who was raised in Ocean City, lives here, and now represents Maryland’s Coast in the Maryland State Senate, I believe it is my moral obligation to do all I can to protect our Shore way of life which today is threatened by the projected and documented negative impacts from these proposed and expansive offshore wind energy projects."

STAY INVOLVED

We welcome your visit to Annapolis and encourage you to follow the fast pace of legislation by signing on to the General Assembly Website where you can find useful information. At the bottom of the page, click on video tutorials for full descriptions. Below is a link to the site.

MGA Website

IN SERVICE,

MARY BETH

By Authority: Friends of Mary Beth Carozza, James R. Bergey, Jr., CPA, Treasurer