OCEAN CITY — Delegate Wayne Hartman (R-38C) this week provided a briefing on the abbreviated 2020 General Assembly session including some good news and some rather grim news.
The 2020 General Assembly session ended abruptly on March 18 as the COVID-19 pandemic started to ramp up to its peak in Maryland. In the months since, most local and statewide elected bodies held their meeting virtually through Zoom and only two weeks ago did the Mayor and Council start meeting in person again at City Hall.
On Monday, Hartman presented an overview of the 2020 General Assembly session including updates on legislation germane to the local area. Hartman said as the session was closed early, some bills made it through and others were left on the table.
“The Maryland General Assembly adjourned early for the first time since the Civil War,” he said. “We adjourned March 18, right around the same time the restaurants and casinos and everything else was shutting down.”
Perhaps the most significant bill locally during the 2020 session was legislation that would enhance Ocean City’s special event zone laws during certain motorized special events. Two years ago, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing for the creation of a special event zone on roadways in the resort including increased speed limits and enhanced penalties for certain traffic violations.
However, while that initial legislation did improve the situation to some degree, it lacked teeth in some regards and the reckless behavior continued and even increased during some events, particularly the unofficial H2Oi event in September.
To that end, Hartman and Senator Mary Beth Carozza went back to the General Assembly this year with an enhanced version of the special event zone bill that included, for the first time, provisions for jail time and the ability to impound vehicles for the most serious offenses. It also added a definition for exhibition driving with enhanced penalties. Hartman said the cross-filed bills had strong support in both the House and Senate, but needed a little creative finagling to get through before the session expired early.
“The big news locally for the session was the enhanced special event zone bill passed,” he said. “It was good to have all of the support for the bill locally. It took a lot of scrambling down to the finish line but it got through.”
Hartman said the enhanced special event zone legislation should provide some teeth and some more tools in the law enforcement toolbox with upcoming motorized special events.
“Hopefully it will help this year,” he said. “The bill allows for increased penalties for the driver and for taking that vehicle off the road for some of the most egregious offenses.”
Another bill sponsored by Hartman this session would have prohibited ceremonial and celebratory balloon releases. Unlike the special event zone bill, while the balloon release bill had strong support, it was left on the table as the session timed out.
“The balloon release bill passed both chambers, but got lost in the shuffle when the session ended early,” he said. “As you know, balloons from a hundred miles away and up here in the ocean and threaten wildlife. The bill got caught up in crossover when the session ended abruptly, so we’ll have to go through that effort again.”
On a statewide scale, Hartman said perhaps the biggest issue during the session was the expansive Kirwan school funding legislation. Locally, the bill is extremely important because Worcester County historically pays one of the largest contributions to its public school system because of a flawed wealth formula based on property values.
“Kirwin did pass,” he said. “It’s going to cost the state about $30 billion over the next 10 years. It was vetoed by the governor, but it remains to be seen what happens with that.”
Hartman said House Republicans were able to thwart a major tax increase bill on certain services, which he claimed was a significant victory during the session.
“The largest tax increase in Maryland’s history was proposed,” he said. “It was about a $2.5 billion tax bill, but we were able to kill it in committee and it never made it to the floor, so that was exciting.”
Hartman also addressed the state budget and the real and potential impacts on revenue because of the ongoing COVID-19 situation.
“At the Board of Public Works last week, Governor Hogan cut $400 million from the budget and a few hundred more million could be cut at the next BPW meeting,” he said. “We had a good, well-balanced budget, but the pandemic arrived and wreaked havoc on the prior year’s budget and future budgets going forward. What we’re hearing is the budgetary effects of COVID are expected to continue until 2024.”
