Political notes: ‘Madness’ in the House, another FAMLI delay, a sludge slump

With two weeks left in the legislative session, it’s about to get crazy in the General Assembly. So talking about madness in the House seemed only fitting Monday night.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to have some tough discussions over the [budget] debate that may be partisan, but tonight, we can stand unified and congratulate our Lady Terps for coming back in double overtime,” House Majority Whip Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George’s) said to cheers and applause.

“As well as our men’s Terps,” said Lewis, who earned both his undergrad and graduate degrees at the University of Maryland, College Park. “Congratulations, Terrapins! Win March Madness, please.”

Lewis’ comments came less than an hour after the Maryland women’s basketball team beat Alabama 111-108 in double overtime to advance to next weekend’s Sweet 16. And it came less than a day after the Terrapin men’s basketball team beat Colorado State 72-71 on a game-winning bank shot at the buzzer by Baltimore product Derik Queen.

“Quite the Baltimore all-star,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore) to cheers and whoops from the Senate when he asked who had watched the Terps triumph over Colorado State the night before.

Another Queen was caught up in the March Madness — Del. Pam Queen (D-Montgomery) who was identified by ESPN announcers Sunday as the very enthusiastic fan jumping and screaming in support of Madison Scott at the Ole Miss-Baylor game in Waco, Texas. Scott, a fifth-year point guard/forward for Ole Miss from Indian Head, refers to Queen as “my grandmother, Miss Pam.”

Something worked: Ole Miss defeated Baylor, 69-63, to advance to the Sweet 16. Queen’s seat, meanwhile, was empty at Monday night’s session of the House.

There were other allegiances on the floor Monday.

Del. Emily Shetty (D-Montgomery) majored in mathematics and graduated in 2005 from Duke University, whose men’s and women’s teams also advanced to the Sweet 16 over the weekend. Today, Shetty teaches a public servant leadership training course as part of a Maryland Fellows Program at the University of Maryland.

“May the best teams win,” she said after the House adjourned Monday night. “Cheering them both on for the time being, but I’m hoping for Duke at the end.”

Moving forward on moving FAMLI back

A move to further delay implementation of statewide paid family leave benefit is officially underway as of Friday.

The House Economic Matters committee added language to a bill that will slow the start date of payroll deductions to fund the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI) by 18 months, even though the program has already been pushed off several times.

The Moore administration announced its intention in February to delay the program. At the time, Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu cited federal “uncertainty” as a reason to delay the program again — to help the state, employers and workers prepare amid “huge instability and uncertainty” from the Trump administration.

Advocates counter that federal uncertainties should reenforce the need to issue the benefit as soon as possible – and 55% of Maryland voters agree, according to a recent poll. But the administration is pushing through with the delay anyways.

HB 102 was originally a bill to create a voluntary option for self-employed individuals to participate in the FAMLI program, but the amendment adopted last week also makes it the vehicle to delay the FAMLI program altogether, so that collections would start in Jan. 1, 2027, and benefits would become available on Jan. 1, 2028. Benefits are currently supposed to be available in 2026

Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), worries that with each delay, the value of the benefit can’t keep up with rising costs and inflation.

“I understand the reasons for the delays but my biggest concerns, when we finally implement the program, that the purchasing power of the benefit is going to be considerably eroded,” she said, planning to offer an amendment to address that issue but opted to withhold it.

Committee Chair C. T. Wilson (D-Charles) said Friday that the delay is necessary amid the state’s current financial picture.

“The concern is twofold, it’s making sure that we have the ability to properly get this program into play,” Wilson said. “But it’s also to make sure that in, what I would consider financially tumultuous times, as much as this is needed, it is also taking money out of the pockets of both the employers and the employees.”

The Economic Matters Committee approved the amended bill and sent for full House consideration. If successful there, the legislation would still need consideration by the Senate Finance Committee and Senate approval.

Cleaner sludge will have to wait

The press conference was meant to discuss “historic” legislation that would set new limits on the amounts of PFAS in sewage sludge, but it took a gloomy turn Monday afternoon when legislators behind the bill revealed that a deal on the proposal had seemingly fallen through.

Originally, Senate Bill 732 and House Bill 909 bill would have set a limit at 1 part per billion of certain harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in sewage sludge, a byproduct from wastewater treatment plants that is often spread on farm fields as fertilizer.

Once applied to farmland, harmful PFAS chemicals such as PFOS and PFOA can wind up in livestock and crops, or run off into nearby rivers, streams and lakes. Even at incredibly low concentrations, such as 1 part per billion, PFAS in sewage sludge can pose a health threat to farm residents, their neighbors and those who rely primarily on their products, according to research released Jan. 14 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bill sponsor Sen. Sara Love (D-Montgomery) said that supporters made “tremendous” concessions to win support for the measure. The amended bill set an initial limit at 50 parts per billion, before lowering the threshold to 25 parts per billion in 2028.

“We had an agreement,” Love said. “Unfortunately, many of us just came off a call, and I am really disappointed that several of the wastewater treatment plants — including those whose numbers already meet the threshold and those who don’t even land-apply in Maryland — are standing in the way of this historic legislation.”

During a hearing for the bill, some wastewater utilities argued that sending any noncompliant sludge to landfills or other sites instead of farm fields would come with a significant cost — which could be passed onto ratepayers.

The bill did not meet the March 17 deadline to cross from one chamber to another, which already challenged its path to passage. But now, its future is even murkier.