Updates:
Bill Outcome Next Steps CHERISH (HB1287) Dead – read more here Work with MDE and coalition members to ensure that CHERISH finds a middle ground for next session CHERISH (HB1268) Dead – read more here Work with MDE and coalition members to ensure that CHERISH finds a middle ground for next session Bottle Bill (HB0331/SB0342) Did not Crossover Work with MDE to ensure that the Bottle Bill is able to pass next session Affordable Solar Act (HB0345/SB0341) Balcony solar is part of the Leadership omnibus, the Utility RELIEF Act. Nature Forward and other coalition members are still pushing for stronger additions to produce more solar.
Thanks to everyone who voted on what our priorities should be this general assembly! We had 80 people respond to our inquiry, and that is how we have landed on the following bills to follow this General Assembly!
Click the arrows next to the bill names below to read a short description of each bill. Please note that not all of these bills have full language or bill numbers assigned yet. The descriptions of each bill are based on conversations with our partners and legislators alike.
CHERISH Act (Environmental Permits – Requirements for Public Participation and Impact and Burden Analyses (Cumulative Harms to Env. Restoration For improving Shared Health)
Written Testimony for CHERISH Guide
You can read my testimony for the two bills that make up CHERISH here:
We believed in the CHERISH Act so much last year, and are ready to fight for it and the environmental justice it stands for again! Utilizing Environmental Justice mapping, CHERISH would evaluate the cumulative impacts of polluting facilities on their surrounding communities to ensure that underserved communities do not continue to be sited adjacent to heavy pollution burdens. The Act would modernize the permitting system to account for people’s lived experiences. In South Baltimore alone, just four pollutants from two waste incinerators cause $97 million worth of health damages every year – and they are just two out of more than 70 polluters in the area.
The Bottle Bill (Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program)
The Maryland bottle bill would institute a deposit-refund system to reduce the burden of litter and trash on the environment and local governments. Ten other states have already enacted such systems, which are highly effective in reducing beverage-container litter in our waterways and along our roadsides, as well as lowering trash management burdens on local governments. About 5.5 billion beverage containers are sold in Maryland annually, and only a quarter are currently recycled. This legislation is designed to increase that level to 90 percent.
Affordable Solar Act (Public Utilities – Solar Energy Generating Systems and Solar Renewable Energy Credits)
We talk a lot about the need to build grid capacity, and this solar bill does just that. You may recognize this bill from last year. It would eliminate alternative compliance payments being deposited into the SEIF for Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs), and instead require the payments to go to an escrow fund to build clean energy. The escrow funds would be for buying SRECs. The reason this is critical, is because the SEIF money is often deployed for non energy related projects, like making up the budget deficit. This bill would make solar more affordable in Maryland, as well as allowing for balcony/portable solar. These plug-in units are popular in Utah, and allow renters and anyone who lives in a multifamily building to have solar power.
Nature Forward’s Testimony:
Write Your Senators and Delegates to Advocate for these bill TODAY!
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Want step by step instructions on how to “vote” for a bill on the Maryland General Assembly website? Follow this guide!
As always, you can write your legislators using the form below!