The 2024 Maryland General Assembly

Your state government at work

By Valerie Connelly, VP Government Affairs and Public Relations

The annual 90 days of the Maryland General Assembly session wrapped up on April 8 after legislators completed consideration of 2,700 bills.  Topics for debate this year centered around the declining state revenues, our structural deficit and the need to find new funding sources for education, road construction and mass transit.

There was also significant discussion of juvenile justice reform, housing affordability and cybersecurity.  

From an electric cooperative perspective, Choptank analyzed over 130 bills that would impact members. We actively opposed efforts to add Choptank to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation planning program called EmPOWER. This could lead to an extra line item on monthly electric bills of $20 to $35 per month—that’s $200 to $400 per year. The funds are collected from all ratepayers and used to incentivize some ratepayers to upgrade appliances or install beneficial electrification—like moving from gas heat to electric heat.

Choptank supported legislation that would allow electric cooperatives to use unclaimed capital credits for the benefit of members, rather than forfeit them to the State of Maryland. We believe those dollars can be used more efficiently right here on the Eastern Shore to improve our cooperative and support community activities.

An issue that will likely come back for debate in 2025 is the massive sales tax and revenue increase proposed by the House of Delegates. The package would raise $1.2 billion annually and would fund the Blueprint for Education and the Transportation Trust Fund. To do this, the state would legalize and tax iGaming, add a fee to the registration of electric vehicles, increase the tax burden for corporations, apply the sales tax to used car trade-ins, add a 75-cent fee on ride-sharing and increase tolls to out-of-state drivers.

You can be assured that in Annapolis and back home on the Shore, the elected Board and staff here at Choptank Electric Cooperative are working to keep your lights on and your rates affordable.