As Marylanders endure another hot summer, skyrocketing power bills have sparked understandable frustration. Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky and BG&E Vice President Mark Case have both weighed in on what’s driving these costs. Both point to the same culprit, the competitive energy market, but the data tells a different story.

A recent study by the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) and Energy Tariff Experts, supported by independent research from Energy + Environmental Economics, found that power generation accounts for less than half (approximately 45%) of the average electric bill, a figure unchanged from a decade ago. Adjusted for inflation, generation costs have actually declined by 20% over that period.

So why are bills still rising? The answer lies in the steady increase in transmission and delivery costs from BG&E over the years. Utilities like BG&E hold monopolies on energy distribution and have used that power to raise rates and boost profits for Wall Street investors.

A recent study from the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) found that BG&E’s monthly charges for delivering electricity have doubled since 2010 — an average annual increase of 5%. Over the same period, inflation averaged just 2.65% per year. For comparison, Potomac Edison, which serves Western Maryland, raised rates by only 2.1% annually over the same period.

Families struggling to pay their bills deserve answers. BG&E claims the higher costs are the price of reliability. But the real explanation lies in the commitments made by BG&E’s Chicago-based parent company, Exelon, to its investors.

In May, Exelon promised investors it would deliver annualized earnings “growth of 5% to 7%” through 2028, generating consistent growth and long-term value. Put more clearly, the company is committing to continue increasing infrastructure spending to meet aggressive investor expectations, not to benefit ratepayers.

BG&E earns a guaranteed profit of 9.5 cents for every dollar spent on the electric grid — regardless of whether the investment is necessary. This model incentivizes spending on projects that may not benefit customers. For example, BG&E is spending $130 million on a new substation to support the stalled Baltimore Peninsula redevelopment. Whether the project succeeds or not, ratepayers are on the hook to repay BG&E with profit. In another glaring example, BG&E charged customers for a $17.5 million contract for a Ford F-150 truck.

Marylanders understand that companies should earn a return on infrastructure investments. But when a utility is guaranteed profits from 1.3 million customers, we expect those investments to be necessary and beneficial. BG&E knows how bad this looks, so the company recently announced $15 million in temporary assistance for struggling families. That’s less than 3% of its $527 million in 2024 profits.

Marylanders deserve more than temporary relief and finger pointing. We deserve transparency and leaders who will hold utilities accountable when they put profits before people. If BG&E continues collecting guaranteed returns from hardworking families so it can meet Exelon’s promises to its shareholders, it must also guarantee that those investments are in the public interest. Until then, no amount of spin, or one-time assistance, can explain away the rising burden on Maryland families.

The post Profits Before People: The Real Reason Maryland Power Bills Keep Rising appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

Chutzpah is a Yiddish term meaning audacity, nerve, or bold confidence, often with a connotation of brazenness or cheekiness. It can describe someone acting with shameless boldness, sometimes admirable for its courage, other times criticized for crossing ethical lines.

In 2011 redistricting, Maryland Democrats, under Governor Martin O’Malley, displayed chutzpah by aggressively redrawing the 6th Congressional District to flip it from Republican to Democratic control. The map stretched from rural Western Maryland to liberal Montgomery County, a move critics called audacious and manipulative. X posts from that era (archived) describe this as “political chutzpah” for its disregard of community cohesion.

This week the Texas State Legislature tried to undertake the perfectly lawful process of voting to change the congressional representation of voting districts to accommodate the changing demographics of the state. To avoid a vote on the matter, the Democrats of the state legislature decided to leave the state to prevent a quorum, thus delaying a vote.

But I don’t live in Texas, I live in Maryland … a politically “Blue” state that in 2025 has only one republican representative in the United States Congress … and why is that? The answer is gerrymandering! Yet some of Maryland’s legislators are nothing short of outraged at the actions of Texas and now threaten to gerrymander Maryland. Seriously? I am old enough to remember Martin O’Malley and the elimination of Rosco Bartlett’s Republican seat in Congress. It was not always this way.

Following the 2000 census, Maryland’s Democratic-led legislature redrew congressional and state legislative maps. The state had 8 congressional seats, as it does today. The outcome was that the maps were designed to protect Democratic incumbents, resulting in a 4-4 split between Democrats and Republicans in congressional seats, despite Maryland’s Democratic lean in statewide votes. Districts were relatively compact compared to later cycles, but subtle manipulations ensured safe seats for Democrats in urban areas, such as Baltimore and Prince George’s County.

The 2011 map was widely criticized as one of the nation’s most gerrymandered. It flipped the 6th District to Democratic control by incorporating liberal areas of Montgomery County, significantly reducing Bartlett’s vote share. The map secured a 7-1 Democratic advantage in Congress, despite closer statewide vote margins (e.g., Obama won 62% in 2012). The 6th District’s convoluted shape, stretching from rural Western Maryland to urban Montgomery County, became a symbol of gerrymandering. Even more notable was the 3rd District. Sometimes referred to as a “broken-winged pterodactyl,” the 3rd District’s unusual shape was intended to consolidate the Democratic vote in what could be called “soft” Democratic districts by making sure they were “hardened up” for future elections.

The 2020 census prompted another redistricting. Democrats again controlled the process under Governor Larry Hogan (Republican), creating tension. Maryland’s population grew slightly, but the state retained 8 congressional seats. The Democratic-led Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission proposed a map that maintained the 7-1 Democratic advantage but made the 1st District (Republican-held) more competitive by incorporating Democratic-leaning areas like Annapolis. This map was criticized for diluting Republican votes further.

In the Szeliga et al. v. Lamone legal challenge, Lynne Battaglia, senior judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, struck down the 2021 congressional map as an “extreme partisan gerrymander” violating Maryland’s constitution, which requires compact districts respecting natural and political boundaries. The ruling highlighted the 1st and 6th Districts’ irregular shapes.

A revised map, which was approved by Hogan on April 4, 2022, restored some of the compactness and strengthened Republican chances in the 1st District while maintaining a 7-1 Democratic edge. The 6th District became slightly more competitive, with Biden’s 2020 margin reduced from 23 to about 10 points. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project graded this map a “B” for fairness.

This year, Maryland Democrats, led by figures like House Majority Leader David Moon, have proposed reactive redistricting in response to other states (e.g., Texas) altering maps mid-cycle. Posts on X, such as from @RedistrictNet, suggest this could target the 1st District again to secure an 8-0 Democratic sweep by redistributing voters across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Never mind what is happening in Texas, Maryland congressional representation remains 7 to 1 across 8 seats … hardly representative of the body politic in the state. So David Moon — go back to trying to figure out how to deal with your billion-dollar budget deficit… or try harder to attract new business to the state to bolster the shrinking tax base, or just sit down and stop trying to rig the next, or any, election.

The post The Crooked Lines of Political Chutzpah appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

SPACE PROBLEM:  Montgomery County already has a glut of lab space. Cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could make it worse — so says a Washington Business Journal headline.

Recently, the state lost a $50 billion opportunity to woo a major drug manufacturer to our shores. Wes Moore was asleep at the switch. In 2025, HHS grants to the state for health-related programs are estimated to be $11.6B — not bad, but Virginia scored $50 billion just by out-hustling the Moore administration.

Now enter Montgomery County with its lackluster executive and council is whining about an ever-increasing issue … excess biolab space to the tune of over .5 million square feet and going up. Montgomery County and the state of Maryland continue to lose to surrounding jurisdictions when it comes to attracting new business to the state and the county.

But the reader should know that this is nothing new for Montgomery County. In April 2018, the County Council commissioned an economic study to be conducted by the independent Sage Policy Group Inc., focusing on the county’s overall business health. Here are just of few of the Executive Summary highlights regarding economic activity:

• Job growth has been extraordinarily soft in recent years. In 2016, the county was home to fewer jobs than in 2006 despite the addition of 11,603 public sector positions.

• Business establishment formation has been virtually nonexistent recently. Between 2011 and 2016, the county added just 6 net new establishments, about the population of businesses in a strip mall.  During that same period, the number of business establishments in Maryland increased by nearly 6,300.
  • From 2001 to 2004, Montgomery County added 1,841 net new business establishments.
  • Slow job growth has translated into elevated commercial vacancy rates, with the office vacancy rate at a stubbornly high 14% at year-end 2017. Vacancy is particularly high among older buildings.
  • The county’s circumstances are rendered all the more precarious by the immense local economic dependence on declining federal activity. As of the third quarter of 2017, Montgomery County’s location quotient for federal employment was 5.33, meaning that federal employment is 433 percent more concentrated as a share of overall employment than nationally.

Keep in mind that it was 2018 when the Sage Policy Group study was commissioned, and things were not going all that well for Montgomery County then. Ike Leggett was county executive, and while Ike was clearly a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, he was not the far left socialist that Marc Elrich has turned out to be. Add to that the county representatives and senate representative that the county electorate has sent to Annapolis, and we just needed to sit back and wait for impending doom. That doom arrived in 2025 with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.

Remember what the 2018 Sage Policy Group report said:  The County’s circumstances are rendered all the more precarious by the immense local economic dependence on declining federal activity.  As of the third quarter of 2017, Montgomery County’s location quotient for federal employment was 5.33, meaning that federal employment is 433 percent more concentrated as a share of overall employment than nationally. No one heard of DOGE in 2018, but it was clear even then that there was an over-dependency on the federal government and the federal handouts that benefited Maryland and Montgomery County.

Now the knee-jerk reaction is to blame Trump and the Trump administration when the real blame lies with the governor and his legislature as well as the county executive and the County Council. Instead of scheming for ways to gerrymander the state yet again to grab one more seat in Congress, their focus should be on trying to attract more bioscience-related businesses to fill that vacant space — before it goes to seed and becomes unusable. The county could also use some help in trying to figure out what to do with the space as well. Rather than sitting around wringing their hands and moaning “woe is me,” it’s time to get off their collective behinds and get busy with ways to attract new business to the county.

For starters:

Incubators for startups. Transforming biolab spaces into incubators for biotech startups can foster innovation and entrepreneurship. By providing affordable lab space, resources, and mentorship, these incubators can support emerging companies focused on life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare technologies. This initiative could attract talent and investment, further enhancing the region’s reputation as a biotech hub.

Perhaps Research and Development Partnerships. Collaborating with universities and research institutions to utilize biolab space for joint research projects can enhance scientific advancements. This partnership could focus on areas such as infectious diseases, environmental health, or agricultural biotechnology, contributing to the region’s knowledge economy and providing valuable training for students. We could establish training centers within biolab facilities that could help develop the local workforce in the life sciences sector. Programs can be designed to equip individuals with the necessary skills for careers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, thus addressing workforce shortages while supporting economic growth. The list goes on, but you get the idea.

Our politicians are letting us down at the state and county levels. 2026 is coming, and we have the opportunity to change the dynamic — if we don’t, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

The post Lab Space Glut, Leadership Void: Montgomery County’s Economic Malaise appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

The post Maryland Gerrymandering Again appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

The Montgomery County Council passed its “More Housing N.O.W.” zoning reform on July 22, hailed by supporters as a bold move to address housing affordability. By allowing duplexes, triplexes, and other so-called “Missing Middle” options along transit corridors, the Council says it’s breaking down exclusionary barriers and giving working families a shot at living where they work.

But if you believe this addresses affordability, I’ve got a 25-acre gentleman’s “farm” near Poolesville to sell you.

The Council’s new zoning change permits denser housing—yes—but only in pre-selected areas near transit. It spares the vast, leafy neighborhoods that already enjoy generous public services, top schools, and open space.

However, if the Council were serious—dead serious—about making housing in Montgomery County more affordable, they wouldn’t be rearranging duplexes in Silver Spring.

The Council would instead be ready to touch Montgomery County’s holiest of sacred cows, the Agricultural Reserve.

There’s something weirdly poetic about the fact that you can’t afford to live in Montgomery County because know-it-all progressives decided horse farms were more important than people.

These are not the type of farms that feed you, mind you. Or farms that make a dent in the region’s food supply, other than the occasional high-end “farm-to-table” restaurant. No, what Montgomery County has instead is a sprawling, government-protected, preservationist fantasy: the Agricultural Reserve. It’s 93,000 acres – nearly 150 square miles- of mostly private land.  And, according to the county, 10,000 horses.

The idea, of course, was noble — in the way that ideas born in faculty lounges usually are. Save green space. Stop sprawl. Protect the environment. All worthy goals, until you realize what it actually means: telling working- and middle-class people they can’t live near where their jobs are. If you’re a county employee, a teacher, a nurse, or — God forbid — work at a “for-profit,” you’d better hope you inherited a house or enjoy spending hours each day on I-270 or the Beltway.

Curiously, Maryland progressives are now perfectly willing to mandate quasi-industrial uses in the Reserve — like solar farms — but not affordable housing for actual human beings. Rows of panels filled with lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals? Sure – that’s the consequence of the Renewable Energy Certainty Act that Wes Moore signed into law on May 20^th.  The law mandates that local zoning can be overruled by the state to permit solar farms.

A modest bungalow? Absolutely not.

Let’s do the development math. Take 1,000 acres — just over 1% of the Ag Reserve. Build it out at the density of Takoma Park, and you could house 12,500 people. We’re not talking about turning it into Mumbai. We’re talking about front porches, backyard grills, and maybe even an electric vehicle (EV) other than a Tesla of course, with a “Coexist” bumper sticker.

Worried about sprawl? Fine. Cut the population in half. Give every house a 50-by-50-foot backyard, plus space for a garage. That’s still home to over 6,000 people. Actual humans with families, not hypothetical stakeholders in some visioning session. People who currently have to drive in from Hagerstown or squeeze into someone’s overpriced accessory apartment in a former garage in Silver Spring.

However, let’s be honest: the Agricultural Reserve isn’t about agriculture. It’s about control. It’s about aesthetic preferences dressed up as moral imperatives. It’s about the same set of people getting to say, “No, you can’t live here,” while patting themselves on the back for caring about the environment and inequality.

But what’s more environmentally damaging — some clustered housing with existing infrastructure or forcing thousands of people to drive 50 miles a day because they can’t afford to live near where they work?

The result? A county that’s both wildly expensive and increasingly segregated by class. A county where we talk a big game about diversity and inclusion but enforce a land-use policy that guarantees exclusion.

This isn’t a call to pave over everything. But it’s a call to stop pretending that land use policy and social justice are automatically aligned. In Montgomery County, they’re often at war — and right now, the kale and snob zoning are winning.

The post If Montgomery County Really Wanted Affordable Housing, It Would Open Up the Agricultural Reserve appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

The state of Maryland and the Moore Administration can best be characterized as “whistling past the graveyard” once again … case in point: The Virginia Mercury headline (July 22, 2025) … “AstraZeneca to build its largest-ever manufacturing facility in Virginia, creating hundreds of jobs — Pharmaceutical giant makes record investment as state leaders tout life sciences boom.” The article goes on to say that the investment to be made will be worth $50 billion — the single largest investment ever made in the history of the company.

So… the question must be asked: Where was Wes Moore and the Maryland Department of Commerce? AstraZeneca’s announcement of a $50 billion investment in U.S. operations by 2030, with a significant portion allocated to a new multi-billion-dollar manufacturing facility in Virginia, has sparked interest, especially given Maryland’s status as a top three biopharma region in the United States. This decision, made public on July 21, 2025, reflects strategic considerations driven by economic, political, and operational factors, despite Maryland’s established strengths in the life sciences sector.

Maryland is a biopharma powerhouse, hosting over 350 biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including major players like AstraZeneca itself, which already operates a research and development (R&D) facility in Gaithersburg and a cell therapy manufacturing site in Rockville. The state’s proximity to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), combined with a skilled workforce and robust academic institutions, makes it a prime location for biopharma innovation. Montgomery County alone is a life sciences corridor, with AstraZeneca’s $300 million Rockville facility, opened in May 2025, employing 150 people for CAR-T cell therapy production. Maryland’s ecosystem supports high-tech R&D and manufacturing, contributing significantly to its ranking alongside Massachusetts and California as a top biopharma hub.

No investment should be discounted, but $300M vs. $50B – I think the math speaks for itself.

Despite Maryland’s advantages, AstraZeneca chose Virginia for its largest-ever single manufacturing investment, a state-of-the-art facility focused on producing small molecules, peptides, and oligonucleotides for weight management and metabolic drugs, including oral GLP-1 and PCSK9 inhibitors. This decision aligns with Virginia’s growing life sciences sector, bolstered by initiatives like the Alliance for Better Medicine in Richmond, which includes Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medicines for All and companies like Phlow Corp.

Virginia’s appeal lies in its business-friendly environment, with Governor Glenn Youngkin emphasizing “shovel-ready” sites and advanced manufacturing capabilities. The state’s lower operational costs, potential tax incentives, and strategic push to diversify its economy beyond federal contracting likely influenced the decision.

The investment is also a response to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which pressure pharmaceutical companies to onshore manufacturing. AstraZeneca’s CEO, Pascal Soriot, noted that the move supports U.S. national security by strengthening domestic supply chains, a priority amid threats of tariffs on imported drugs. While Maryland is part of the $50 billion plan, with expansions in Gaithersburg and Rockville, Virginia’s new facility is the centerpiece, expected to create hundreds of highly skilled jobs and leverage AI, automation, and data analytics. The decision underscores a broader trend of pharmaceutical giants like Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly investing heavily in U.S. manufacturing to mitigate tariff risks and align with federal priorities

Maryland’s established biopharma infrastructure might suggest it was a natural choice, but Virginia’s aggressive economic development strategy, including rapid negotiations completed in just 33 days, likely tipped the scales.

Maryland’s General Assembly might bear some responsibility too. After years of meetings, Maryland’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) has done little to lower the cost of medications, but the chilling effect on our state’s biopharma economy is undeniable.

The Maryland Tech Council recently reported that out of $158 billion in new U.S. manufacturing investments, Maryland has received $0 dollars.

While Maryland remains a critical R&D hub for AstraZeneca, Virginia’s selection as the manufacturing cornerstone also highlights the state’s rising prominence in advanced pharmaceutical production, potentially shifting the regional balance in the U.S. biopharma landscape. It’s a shift that Maryland cannot afford.

All that said, what we are left to conclude is that the Moore Administration is once again asleep at the switch and remains asleep as we are bypassed by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, Massachusetts and Virginia.

With trillions of dollars flowing into the United States, both red and blue states, Wes Moore needs to up his game – because if he truly does not intend to run for President in ’28 he will surely be out of a job in ’26.

The post As Virgina Lands AstraZeneca Facility, Moore Administration Whistles Past The Graveyard appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

Citizenship is under attack. And in today’s climate, it’s not just about documentation — it’s about dignity, belonging, and protection. But on January 20, 2025, that promise was placed squarely in the crosshairs. President Trump signed an executive order seeking to eliminate birthright citizenship, packaged as an attempt to “protect the meaning and value” of American citizenship. The intent was clear: narrow the definition of who gets to belong.

Just five months later, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Trump v. CASA that further raised the stakes. The Court stripped lower courts of their ability to issue universal injunctions—orders that previously blocked unconstitutional federal policies from taking effect nationwide. It was a legal safeguard often used to halt overreach during Trump’s first term. That backstop is now gone. Today, harmful federal policies can take hold immediately, even as they make their way through the courts. And that gives those who favor removing birthright citizenship a dangerous advantage.

The 14th Amendment — once bedrock constitutional protection — is no longer secure. While the Court didn’t strike it down, it handed enforcement to the states. For millions of immigrant families, that’s not legal theory. It’s a real, imminent threat.

And in this divided landscape, Maryland is on the frontlines. Immigrants make up 17% of Maryland’s population and 21.7% of its labor force. Roughly 140,000 undocumented residents — 85.7% of them working age — contribute $1.4 billion in taxes annually and generate nearly $40 billion in spending power. They support essential sectors like healthcare, education, and construction.

But now, those contributions offer no shield. One federal policy — no matter how flawed — can put their futures at risk. Legal challenges can take years. For thousands of families across Maryland, that delay could be the difference between safety and separation.

A Maryland Model for Protection

As federal agencies roll back protections for immigrants and the Supreme Court threatens access to birthright citizenship, Maryland lawmakers face growing pressure to assert the state’s commitment to inclusion. One proposed response is a constitutional provision that would affirm that all persons born in Maryland are Marylanders, entitled to full protection under state law.

This measure could have real implications. In the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, such a provision might have offered an additional layer of protection. In 2024, more unaccompanied migrant children arrived in Maryland than in any other state. As federal rollbacks continue, the stakes are high. Roughly 7,000 DACA recipients and 31,000 who hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS) have become targets for deportation.

Enshrining birthright protections would send a clear message to over a million immigrant residents: Maryland stands with you. At a time when federal policy is uncertain, states can choose to lead — not with fear, but with values.

This isn’t theoretical. The attack on birthright citizenship is real. And Maryland has a chance to push back — not just to protect its own, but to set a national precedent.

As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned in her dissent in Trump v. CASA, the Court’s decision opened a “zone of lawlessness” that will “disproportionately impact the poor, the uneducated, and the unpopular.” It’s a crack in the foundation of equal protection — and a reminder of what’s at stake.

What the Amendment Would Do

This amendment wouldn’t change federal citizenship law. But it would have serious symbolic and practical impact. It would declare that anyone born in Maryland is a Marylander and entitled to state protections, regardless of immigration status. It would prohibit discrimination by state or local governments based on citizenship.

That matters. It could reshape how services are delivered, whether schools can turn away undocumented students, how police cooperate with ICE, and who qualifies for local benefits. State constitutions are where these protections start.

Maryland as a Civil Rights Leader: A Track Record of Proactive State Action

This wouldn’t be the first time Maryland led the way. In 2012, Maryland became the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote — not through the courts, and not just through the legislature. It was a declaration that love and dignity are nonpartisan values.

Then in 2022, well before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Maryland voters once again stepped up. By passing a constitutional amendment to safeguard reproductive freedom, the state drew a line in the sand: No matter what chaos came from Washington, Maryland would protect the fundamental right to bodily autonomy.

These weren’t empty gestures. They were bold acts of moral leadership. While other states waited, Maryland acted. Now, it can do so again.

A Tradition Worth Continuing

This proposed amendment — to enshrine equal protection and birthright recognition in Maryland’s constitution — follows that same tradition. It’s not reactionary; it’s precautionary. It’s not about partisan politics; it’s about human dignity.

When federal protections vanish, Maryland has shown time and again it doesn’t wait for permission to do the right thing.

It leads. And now, it has the chance to do so again.

The post A Right Worth Defending: What Enshrining Citizenship in Maryland Could Mean appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

Despite the warnings from previous failed experiments — and a damning Montgomery County Inspector General report — Maryland continues to throw millions at electric school buses that work better in press releases than on actual roads.

Last week, the Maryland Energy Administration announced over $12 million in new grants to seven local school districts for electric buses and their accompanying charging infrastructure. The money — taken directly from Marylanders’ energy bills — will subsidize a policy that is increasingly difficult to justify on technical, financial, or even environmental grounds.

This isn’t Maryland’s first foray into electric bus hype. Four years ago, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) signed a contract to replace its entire bus fleet with electric models by 2035. The $168 million deal was touted as the largest local government electric bus commitment in the country.

In a July 2021 Duckpin column, “Has MoCo’s School System Committed $168 Million to Buy Edsel Electric Buses?,” I raised red flags about the procurement’s reliance on the tech firm Proterra — red flags that MCPS and county leadership ignored. I noted at the time that it rested on a precarious foundation: a reliance on technology from Proterra, a politically connected but technically troubled electric vehicle firm. The company had already made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In Philadelphia, Proterra buses celebrated at the 2016 Democratic National Convention were entirely pulled from service within a few years due to cracked chassis and inadequate battery life. Duluth, Minnesota experienced braking failures. California’s Foothill Transit had buses offline for up to 275 days due to parts shortages.

It’s not lost on observers that Proterra’s rise was built not on engineering success, but on deep political ties. Al Gore’s investment firm helped fund the company, and former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s financial interests in Proterra prompted a Senate ethics inquiry. At a Proterra event in 2021, President Biden lavished praise on the company even as the company’s products were breaking down in cities across the country.

None of that seemed to trouble Montgomery County officials, who chose to partner with Highland Electric Fleets, a start-up integrator relying on Proterra’s platform. Their decision appeared to be driven more by climate politics than sound procurement practices.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich eagerly embraced the electric bus initiative, basking in climate virtue-signaling while leaving taxpayers and students with the consequences. It’s telling that when the buses failed, no official rushed to hold a press conference to explain why.

A year ago, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General released a scathing report validating those early concerns. The report found:

• Millions in wasteful spending: MCPS squandered taxpayer dollars through poor contract oversight.
• Unreliable buses: Mechanical and charging failures rendered many buses inoperable.
• Contract mismanagement: MCPS failed to enforce penalties against the vendor for late and faulty deliveries.
• Environmental setback: MCPS was forced to purchase $14 million in diesel buses to ensure service continuity.

This wasn’t just a bad bet — it was a failure of public accountability. Yet no official has accepted responsibility. Not the school board. Not the County Executive. And certainly not Highland Electric Fleets.

One would think that such an embarrassing debacle might prompt a pause — perhaps even a rethink — before expanding the program statewide. But the Moore administration appears determined to learn nothing.

Instead, more grants were announced this week for electric school buses, distributed to Baltimore, Frederick, and Howard counties. The funding continues to come from Maryland’s Strategic Energy Investment Fund — essentially utility ratepayer dollars redirected into politically favored “green” initiatives. Meanwhile, Marylanders are being crushed under record electric bills, exacerbated by the state’s forced transition to unreliable renewable sources.

There is no corresponding rate relief for the working families footing the bill. Just more symbolic gestures, headline-chasing, and misplaced spending priorities.

Maryland’s continued investment in electric school buses amounts to ideological stubbornness masquerading as climate policy. It fails the tests of accountability, fiscal responsibility, and technological readiness. Worse, it prioritizes optics over outcomes.

Rather than reevaluating after MCPS’s costly misadventure, the state is doubling down. Electric school buses may still be the darlings of the green industrial complex and its political patrons, but for Maryland taxpayers, they remain an expensive symbol of government mismanagement.

The post Maryland Doubles Down on Electric School Bus Boondoggle appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

More than $6.2 billion in federal education funds — approved under the FY2025 budget and scheduled for release on July 1 — remains frozen. The Trump Administration insists this is part of an “ongoing review,” but to the parents, teachers, and students staring down the first day of school without the support they were promised, it looks more like sabotage. The longer these funds remain impounded, the deeper the damage — not just to school budgets, but to the futures of children across the country. And while the crisis is national, the impact in Maryland is particularly acute.

Maryland is still waiting on nearly 14% of its federally allocated education funds. With the fiscal year ending September 30, the clock is ticking, and critical programs are in limbo. These aren’t fringe initiatives. These are core supports that make our schools functional, fair, and forward-looking. Among the programs affected are the Migrant Education Program (Title I, Part C); Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II, Part A); English Language Acquisition Grants (Title III, Part A); Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV, Part A); and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Title IV, Part B). Taken together, they provide essential scaffolding for Maryland’s public schools — supporting the students who need it most and driving the goals of the state’s most ambitious education reform in decades.

Maryland’s Blueprint on Hold?

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is a 10-year statewide investment plan to deliver a public education system that actually meets the needs of today’s students. It significantly increases funding and accountability across every school district in Maryland, while targeting those resources toward proven strategies: expanding early childhood education, hiring and retaining excellent and diverse teachers, preparing every student for college or a career, and giving schools the extra support they need to meet the needs of students who are English learners, low-income, or have disabilities. In short, the Blueprint is Maryland’s answer to decades of underinvestment in public schools — and the state’s best shot at closing achievement gaps that have persisted for generations.

But that vision is now under threat.

Assessing the Fallout on Key Education Initiatives

One of the Blueprint’s core goals is to deliver greater support to students who need it most, including English learners, low-income students, and those receiving special education services. The Migrant Education Program (Title I, Part C), which was set to receive $200,000 before the end of the fiscal year, directly supports this mission. These funds provide continuity of education to children whose families relocate seasonally for agricultural or fishing work. Without these funds, these students risk falling further behind, and the Blueprint’s promise of equity rings hollow.

The effort to elevate teacher quality is also on the line. The Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II, Part A) are designed to ensure that every classroom is led by a well-prepared, high-quality educator. Maryland was set to receive $30.4 million in Title II funding this year, which would support recruitment pipelines, professional development, and teacher retention strategies — all essential to addressing chronic educator shortages and building a more diverse teaching workforce. Without this funding, districts will be forced to make cuts where they can least afford them.

English Language Acquisition Grants (Title III, Part A) are also frozen, with $16.3 million now out of reach. English learners currently make up roughly 12% of Maryland’s K-12 student population. These students need additional support — especially when it comes to reading and language development. The Blueprint sets a clear benchmark: Every child will read on grade level by the end of third grade. But without targeted investment, that goal is a mirage for thousands of English learner students across the state.

Then there’s the issue of whole-child support — everything from mental health to digital literacy to STEM enrichment. The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV, Part A) are supposed to help schools deliver on these needs, but Maryland is now short $26.4 million in those funds. These aren’t luxury programs. They’re the programs that help kids feel safe, supported, and ready to learn.

Lastly, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Title IV, Part B) are being left out in the cold. These centers provide afterschool programming that serves tens of thousands of Maryland students — many of whom have no other place to go after the bell rings. With $25.3 million in funding frozen, the state’s already-overwhelmed afterschool network could collapse further. Nearly 390,000 Maryland students already lack access to these programs. Without intervention, that number will grow.

The Clock is Ticking

The bottom line is clear: this isn’t just a bureaucratic slowdown — it’s a direct threat to Maryland’s education system, and it demands more than quiet concern. Each day these funds remain frozen, students are shortchanged, schools are destabilized, and the promises of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future edge closer to collapse. Governor Wes Moore must be more vocal and forceful in defending the Blueprint and publicly challenging this impoundment. In moments like these, leadership requires more than managing from within — it means sounding the alarm and mobilizing public attention to protect the future of Maryland’s children. The state’s congressional delegation should immediately explore legal remedies. If these funds were lawfully appropriated and are now being unlawfully withheld, that may constitute a violation of federal law. Congressional oversight, hearings, and litigation should all be on the table.

At the state level, the Maryland General Assembly must also prepare to act. If the federal government fails to release these funds in time, the legislature should consider a special session to allocate emergency resources — whether through supplemental appropriations or reserve funds — to prevent catastrophic shortfalls. This is not a theoretical crisis. It’s happening now. School districts are finalizing budgets, hiring decisions are being delayed, and essential services are being scaled back. The Blueprint was designed to close opportunity gaps and deliver a 21st-century education to every student in the state. But that promise is only as strong as the political will behind it. Maryland must show it’s willing to fight for its children — with urgency, with clarity, and with the full weight of its institutions.

The post A Crisis in Plain Sight: Withheld Federal Education Funds Threaten Maryland’s Blueprint for Reform appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

Voting rights in Maryland are under siege — and for Latino, Black, naturalized citizen, and working-class voters, the danger isn’t abstract. It’s happening right now, in courtrooms and committee hearings, in bureaucratic rule changes and so-called “integrity” lawsuits designed to do one thing: make it harder for people to vote. And as we approach the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we’re forced to ask ourselves—have we learned anything from the past?

On March 7, 1965, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, peaceful Americans were beaten for demanding a right they were born with — the right to vote. Eight days later, President Lyndon B. Johnson stood before Congress and declared, “We shall overcome.” And by August 6 of that year, the Voting Rights Act became law. That was how fast a democracy could move when its conscience was pricked. But now? We’re watching that same promise unravel — slowly, deliberately, and dangerously — in our own backyard.

Take Maryland’s unaffiliated voters — now over 953,000 strong, nearly a quarter of the electorate. Many are naturalized citizens and voters of color who’ve grown disillusioned with both major parties. But instead of creating more pathways to participation, state law shuts them out of the very elections that shape our leadership. It’s a policy failure that runs counter to every principle the Voting Rights Act was built to defend.

And while the door is being quietly closed on these voters, extremist lawsuits are kicking it down. In  Maryland Election Integrity LLC v. Maryland State Board of Elections (2024–2025), right-wing groups tried to upend the 2020 and 2022 results with false claims of fraud, demanding machine decertification and mass voter roll purges. A federal court dismissed the case — but not before the damage was done: another seed of doubt planted.

Then came RITE v. State Board of Elections (2025), where a judge ordered Maryland to release voter data to a group claiming to investigate fraud. No credible evidence. Just political theater aimed at intimidating naturalized citizens and multilingual voters — under the cover of law.

These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re part of a coordinated campaign to erode public trust, increase surveillance of the electorate, and shrink the voting pool by any means necessary.

The playbook is familiar: claim fraud where there is none, demand access to voter data, intimidate those least able to fight back, and then change the rules to keep them out. It’s voter suppression by lawsuit, suppression by statute, suppression by suggestion — and it thrives in silence. That’s why speaking up now matters more than ever. Because once trust is broken, once participation drops, it doesn’t come back easily. And the people who pay the highest price are those who can least afford to lose their voice.

Fortunately, some are fighting back. A May 2025 lawsuit led by former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford is challenging Maryland’s primary system on constitutional grounds, calling out the exclusion of taxpayers from elections they help fund. At the federal level, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has joined 18 other states in suing to block Trump’s Executive Order 14248 and the SAVE Act — two sweeping measures that would impose proof-of-citizenship requirements and invalidate ballots that don’t arrive by Election Day.

The common thread in all of this? A relentless effort to make it harder for everyday Americans — especially naturalized citizens, working-class voters, and communities long marginalized — to access the ballot.

The good news: Maryland has a roadmap. The Maryland Voting Rights Act, introduced this year, includes bold steps like expanded language access and more transparent auditing. But it needs to go further. Provisions to prevent vote dilution and local voter suppression must be restored. Not later — now.

And as we strengthen our laws, we must also strengthen our civic infrastructure. We need to invest in the organizers, elders, students, and everyday voters doing the hard work — registering neighbors, holding forums, translating ballots, and pushing back against disinformation. These are the heirs of Selma. They are today’s foot soldiers in the fight for democracy.

As we approach August 6, 2025, the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, let’s stop pretending the threats are behind us. They are here. They are legal. They are strategic. And they are targeting the same voters we claimed to protect six decades ago.

Maryland can lead. Or Maryland can cave. But make no mistake — history is watching. And this time, so are we.

The post The Voting Rights Act Turns 60 — Maryland Puts It to the Test appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.