We have come to the end of the 447th Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly. It was an honor to continue to serve you this Session now in a new capacity as State Senator, serving our Appalachia Region of District 1 encompassing Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties. Your calls, e-mails, and letters have been instrumental in making decisions to benefit the residents of our District, Region, and our State.
We have come to the end of the 447th Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly. It was an honor to continue to serve you this Session now in a new capacity as State Senator, serving our Appalachia Region of District 1 encompassing Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties. Your calls, e-mails, and letters have been instrumental in making decisions to benefit the residents of our District, Region, and our State.
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Dear Friends,
We have come to the end of the 447th Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly. It was an honor to continue to serve you this Session now in a new capacity as State Senator, serving our Appalachia Region of District 1 encompassing Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties. Your calls, e-mails, and letters have been instrumental in making decisions to benefit the residents of our District, Region, and our State. I was proud to be a member of seven separate committees and caucuses this year:
Our primary responsibility, as the Maryland General Assembly, is to pass a balanced budget while maintaining our priorities in education, public safety, healthcare, and protecting our natural resources.
Prior to the start of the 2025 Session in January, Maryland lawmakers knew they had to contend with a $3 billion budget deficit which is projected to grow to nearly $7 billion within the next three years.
Maryland Democrats attempted to deflect blame for the state’s fiscal woes on the new occupant of the White House; however, Maryland’s financial challenges existed long before Inauguration Day, and are a direct result of two things:
Passing a budget is the only constitutionally mandated duty of the General Assembly, and this year, it took until Sine Die to pass the $67 billion operating budget. The Operating Budget is made up of two pieces of legislation – the Budget Bill and the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA). The BRFA is the piece of legislation that travels along with the budget bill to make the legislative changes necessary to balance the budget and is where the nasty taxes and fees are hidden.
The Governor and Democrats are touting an income tax cut for two thirds of Marylanders, which amounts on average to just $60 per person. However, when you look at the overall impact of the new taxes and fees contained in this Budget, every Maryland family and business owner will pay net “Moore”, not net less. This year’s BRFA included $1.8 BILLION in new and increased taxes making it the largest tax increase in Maryland’s history.
The biggest losers this year are individual taxpayers and Maryland businesses as well as local governments that will be absorbing costs that were punted to them by the State. These costs will still be paid by taxpayers – they’ll just be writing that check to their local government instead of the State of Maryland.
This budget did not have to include tax increases. Senate Republicans offered amendments to the budget that would have cut the $1.8 billion needed to eliminate new revenue sources. The cuts proposed by our caucus to get there included:
Unfortunately, these proposed cuts and many others were rejected, and Maryland’s families and business will pay more.
The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act (SB 429) was the Governor’s bill that made tweaks to the implementation and funding plan for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Kirwan). The Blueprint costs the state $4 billion/year and is the biggest driver of Maryland’s projected budget deficit in the coming years. Our members appreciated that the Governor recognized that the current trajectory of the Blueprint was unsustainable and was willing to make funding cuts and changes but would have liked to see him do significantly more to reduce costs and increase flexibility at the local level.
The Blueprint continues to be an enormous financial concern as implementation continues – driving deficits at both the state and local levels. This year, our members supported a number of measures to bring down the costs and increase flexibility, including a pause in additional Blueprint funding and eliminating the increase of collaborative time – holding the current standard at the 80/20 ratio. Unfortunately, those proposals were defeated, however, conversations about the costs of the Blueprint will undoubtedly be front and center as we look ahead to 2026.
Other than the budget, Maryland’s energy crisis and skyrocketing electric bills were the dominant issue this session.
Marylanders across the state are facing steep increases in electricity and gas prices, and they want to know why. The culprit is recent legislation passed by Democrats in the General Assembly in the name of climate action and clean energy that is driving up costs for families and businesses.
As they continue to sell these policies as necessary steps toward a greener future, they are ignoring the immediate and painful financial burden of these policies on ratepayers. The state is pursuing an aggressive transition to renewable energy without a realistic plan to manage costs, improve grid reliability, or provide sufficient alternatives for consumers. Instead of balancing environmental concerns with economic common sense, lawmakers pushed an agenda that makes energy more expensive and less reliable.
As the 2025 Session began, lawmakers were inundated with complaints from constituents demanding action to lower their utility bills, and ultimately, there was no magic solution to provide immediate relief. Democrats did pass a package of three main energy bills, but they fell woefully short in giving real ratepayer relief or making the necessary policy changes to reduce Marylanders’ energy rates. The bills additionally do not give enough confidence to potential investors to seriously look at Maryland as a friendly place to invest in generation infrastructure.
The Maryland Child Victims Act, enacted in 2023, is a significant piece of legislation that eliminated the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse. It allows survivors to file claims at any time, regardless of when the abuse occurred. The Act also redefined “sexual abuse” to include acts where an institution “allowed or encouraged” the abuse, thereby broadening the scope of potential defendants to include organizations that may have facilitated such misconduct.
In February 2025, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act, affirming that the General Assembly had the authority to make these changes retroactively. Following the enactment, there have been a surge in lawsuits, particularly targeting the state’s juvenile justice system, with thousands alleging systemic abuse in youth detention facilities.
In response to billions of potential financial liability, coupled with Maryland’s growing budget deficit in the coming years, Maryland lawmakers passed HB 1378 to limit future liabilities, reducing settlement caps and restricting claimants to one payment per lawsuit.
The measure, which now goes to Gov. Wes Moore, reduces caps on settlements from $890,000 to $400,000 for cases filed after May 31st for state institutions and from $1.5 million to $700,000 for private institutions. It also changes the 2023 law to only allow each claimant to receive one payment, instead of being able to collect for each incident of abuse.
The Governor has not announced if he will sign this bill, and there may be several Constitutional challenges based on the different treatment of public and private entities in the law.
The Maryland Second Look Act (HB 853) will allow individuals serving life sentences who committed their crimes when they were between the ages of 18-25 to petition for an early release after serving at least 20 years. This includes those convicted of the most violent crimes including rape and murder. These individuals can make repeat petitions every three years, retraumatizing the family and loved ones of their victims over and over again. These “look backs” are in addition to 17 other opportunities for reduced sentences that already exist in Maryland law.
Senate Republicans attempted to amend the bill to exclude the worst offenders and were successful on one account. An amendment by Senator Jack Bailey received bipartisan support for removing the early release option for those convicted of murdering first responders in the line of duty. The amendment passed on a close 24-23 vote. Fortunately, the amendment survived and was part of the final bill.
Despite this win for our first responders, the Second Look Act was still a bad bill.
I have been proud to be a member of the Fire/EMS Coalition over the past few years in my time in Maryland General Assembly. The Maryland Fire/EMS Coalition unites Republicans and Democrats in support of fire/emergency services legislation that benefit all first responders. It is an honor to assist our first responders in making sure that their priorities are supported and passed int the Maryland General Assembly. The Coalition is made up of Delegates and Senators who meet every Monday during Session with seven voting organizations that vote on what the Coalition will support.
I was proud to once again chair the Coalition in this year and assist in the direct passage of many great pieces of legislation that will benefit our first responders and the people of Maryland.
In my third year as a Senator, the Senate passed a rule limiting the amount of proposed legislation a Senator could bring forward. This did not affect me, as I did not have as many initiatives this year as previously. I submitted 20 bills this year and was proud to get 8 passed. While it may not have been as high a success rate, it is the same amount of bills that were passed last year. I am very happy the General Assembly passed these excellent bills, and I will push for some of those that did not make it next year. The bills that passed are as follows:
This year there have been great wins for our District. The Board of Public Works and the General Assembly approved many funds for projects throughout Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties. All three received a grand total of $1,109,916,164 from the Capital Budget. Broken down, Garrett County will receive $165,556,259; Allegany County will receive $536,996,021; and Washington County will receive $407,363,884 for this year. Local bond initiatives for our District are below:
It was a pleasure to work with my District One colleagues during the past ninety days. As we move into the interim, I look forward to spending more time with my family and returning to my small business in LaVale, Maryland. Please do not hesitate to call my office if I may ever be of assistance. My email address is mike.mckay@senate.state.md.us and our district office number is 240-362-7040. Thank you again for the honor and privilege of serving as your State Senator.