Commentary

For decades, Prince George’s County taxpayers have prioritized children by setting aside revenues to supplement state and county contributions to Prince George’s County Public Schools, including overwhelming support for a casino revenue lockbox for education. Now, two last-minute bills — HB 396 and HB 398 — would ignore the will of Prince Georgians and redirect other revenue currently locked for education, putting more than $60 million in critical funding for PGCPS at risk. Instead of unlocking our students’ potential, politicians want to unlock the funding they need to succeed.

One measure currently before the Maryland General would close a gap in the state’s criminal record expungement eligibility. The bill, HB0073, would change the definition of terms in the Maryland code, clarifying that the timeline for expunging an eligible state criminal record begins at the completion of the sentence — meaning the “time when a sentence has expired, including any period of probation, parole or mandatory supervision.”

Marylanders’ progressive political instincts often make the Land of Pleasant Living not just more pleasant but more equitable and prosperous. Sometimes, however, progressives embrace policies that are destined to do the opposite. So it is with the “Fair Share for Maryland Act of 2024.” Senate Bill 766 proposes to do a couple of laudable things but would, in fact, do several others that would damage Maryland’s economy and quality of life. As Comptroller Brooke Lierman has recently pointed out, there are “flashing yellow lights for the state’s fiscal health”; we shouldn’t turn them to red.

Since 1936, legislative vacancies in Maryland have been filled by a Byzantine appointment process where the state central committee of the vacating senator’s or delegate’s party submits a name to the governor for an appointment to fill the vacancy. When vacancies occur early in a term, the appointee is able to serve for up to four years without voters having a say in who represents them. From 1776 to 1936, vacancies in the House of Delegates were filled by special elections, and from 1837, when state senators were first popularly elected, to 1936, vacancies in the state Senate also were filled by special elections.

If we disagree with the contributions and political activities our bank or grocery store make, then we have the freedom to shop and do business with other companies. That’s not the case with our energy providers operating under state-granted monopolies, facing no competition for their services. In exchange for the monopolies, utilities have to submit to regulation by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), which determines how much utilities are able to charge customers and how they can spend that money.

It’s only one election, for one House seat in New York, and an oddly-timed, low-turnout affair, on a snowy day at that. Still, both parties treated the race to replace expelled Republican George Santos as a real-world test of voter sentiment on immigration in the wake of Congress’s collapsed border deal. Echoing former president Donald Trump, whose opposition sabotaged the deal in the Senate, Republican candidate Mazi Pilip called the measure “an absolute non-starter because it simply puts into law the invasion currently happening at our southern border.”

Even as it searches high and low for funds to support ambitious climate goals, the state is forcing gas utility customers to subsidize billions of dollars in fossil fuel infrastructure spending. In competitive markets, companies don’t spend billions of dollars on long-lived assets without believing they have a product customers will want for a long time. Absent strong future demand, the investment won’t be profitable and could lead to investor losses and, ultimately, bankruptcy.

One measure currently before the Maryland General would close a gap in the state’s criminal record expungement eligibility. The bill, HB0073, would change the definition of terms in the Maryland code, clarifying that the timeline for expunging an eligible state criminal record begins at the completion of the sentence — meaning the “time when a sentence has expired, including any period of probation, parole or mandatory supervision.”