Monday is the last day of the Maryland General Assembly’s annual 90-day session, and some major issues remain unsettled, including immigration enforcement and changes to education policy. Yet one thing lawmakers have reached an agreement on is the state’s $67 billion budget.
The agreement reached late Friday includes more than $1 billion in new taxes. Among them is a controversial 3% tax on certain data and technology services.
However, services related to cybersecurity and quantum computing are exempt from the tax.
Gov. Wes Moore is “trying to grow business here in Maryland, particularly when it comes to cyber, when it comes to quantum, so we recognize that, and we didn’t want to be a hindrance to that,” House Ways and Means Committee Chair Vanessa Atterbeary said after the agreement was reached Friday evening.
The agreement also includes a new $5 fee on tire purchases, plus increases in taxes on cannabis and sports betting; an expansion of the state’s 6% sales tax to vending machine purchases; and new tax brackets for households earning between $500,000 and $1 million and those earning over $1 million.
Although lawmakers reached the agreement Friday, the two chambers still have not formally approved the agreement. That is expected Monday.
Among the unsettled matters are a few bills pertaining to the state’s role in immigration enforcement.
Over the weekend, the House of Delegates passed a bill that would prevent local governments from assisting with immigration enforcement through what are known as 287(g) agreements.
“When it comes to enforcing immigration law, that is fundamentally a federal responsibility, and so the federal government needs to do that,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Luke Clippinger said Saturday. “They can stay in their lane. We will stay in ours.”
Clippinger’s committee combined that bill with one designed to prevent immigration enforcement officers from entering certain “sensitive locations” without a warrant.
However, Senate President Bill Ferguson has expressed concerns about retaliation from the Trump Administration if the state passes anything it deems a “sanctuary” policy.
Also unsettled as lawmakers enter their final day of the session are Moore’s proposed changes to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s sweeping, multi-year education reform plan. Though the House and Senate have each passed versions of Moore’s bill, the two chambers have not yet reached an agreement over the differences in their respective versions.
The session ends at midnight, at which point all lawmaking stops abruptly and anything not resolved will remain unfinished until the legislature convenes again for a new session.
