Politics

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore began the year as a brand-new governor with no elected political experience. He’s walking away from his first General Assembly session with most of his priorities passed in some form or another, and with almost all of his appointees confirmed. Ahead of a key procedural deadline last month, the Democratic governor told reporters that it was an “extraordinary moment” because all of his bills were alive in some form.

Legislators struck a deal Saturday morning to create two more slots on the Maryland Stadium Authority board — a new seat for Prince George’s County and another pick for the governor — breaking a quiet deadlock that threatened a Senate floor fight Monday. Under a plan worked out among lawmakers and administration and county officials, a bill now being held in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee would be amended first thing Monday — the final day of the 90-day legislative session — to increase the size of the board so that Prince George’s County would have a vote.

Maryland leaders are making a big commitment to offshore windmills in an effort to reach state goals increasing the use of renewable energy sources and making the state a leader in the wind energy industry. Both Gov. Wes Moore and the General Assembly are pushing those efforts, with Moore reaffirming the state’s effort to reach 100% of energy supplied by renewable sources by 2035 last month at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown called a Texas court’s decision Friday to suspend the FDA’s longtime approval of an abortion medication called mifepristone “an attack on reproductive freedom.” Around the same time, another federal judge in Washington state ordered U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.

Riding the legislative momentum of a voter-driven mandate, the 2023 Maryland General Assembly arrived Saturday at a policy destination the state has been inching toward for years — establishing rules for recreational cannabis sales. Should Gov. Wes Moore sign the bill into law, which he is likely to do, Marylanders 21 and older will be able to buy recreational cannabis on July 1.

After some procedural maneuvering and heated debate, the Senate gave final approval on an expansive gun bill about 30 minutes before midnight Friday. The 28-13 vote passed House Bill 824, which raises the age for legal gun possession to 21 and expands prohibitions on who cannot possess firearms. The vote may not have happened if Sen. Antonio Hayes (D-Baltimore City) didn’t make a motion to reconsider a special order that would have postponed additional debate until Monday.

The Maryland Senate unanimously confirmed two of Gov. Wes Moore’s latest executive appointments Friday, days before the adjournment of the legislative session. Senators scheduled the candidates’ confirmation hearings and floor votes in between moving landmark legislation on gun control and setting up a regulated recreational cannabis market in the waning days of the 2023 General Assembly.

A bill that advocates and elected officials say would empower Baltimore to tackle its vacant housing crisis appeared stalled on Friday after the city raised concerns about the legislation. The bill would allow the city to overhaul its controversial tax sale system, an annual auction of homeowners’ property tax debt, which can leave residents owing thousands of dollars to investors or risk losing their homes.