What You Need to Know About Maryland’s State Budget
You hear a lot about Maryland’s budget these days. But what exactly is the budget process, why does it matter, and what does it mean for you and Bay restoration? We break it down for you.
Maryland is at a critical point for Chesapeake Bay, seeking to continue progress on Bay restoration amid historic budget challenges, changes to key legislative leadership roles, and the impacts of policy and funding decisions made at the federal level.
Governor Wes Moore recently released his $70.8 billion budget plan for Fiscal Year 2027. Last year, CBF and its members spoke out and helped ensure environmental priorities were protected as the governor and General Assembly closed a budget deficit of over $3 billion. The governor’s FY 27 introductory budget plan closes a projected $1.5 billion shortfall.
Here’s what you need to know about Maryland’s budget and what CBF is doing to make sure environmental programs and funds remain a priority.
Maryland Budget Basics
- What we call the budget is actually three pieces of legislation: an Operating Budget (year-to-year expenses like salaries and equipment), a Capital Budget (funded by bonds and used for longer-lasting things like buying property or repairing facilities), and the Budget Reconciliation and Finance Act (BRFA). A BRFA seeks to balance past, current, and future budgets and can make sweeping changes to state revenues and programs.
- The governor and his team develop the introductory budget and present it to the General Assembly by day 10 of the legislative session. The governor’s budget plan must be balanced (at least on paper!).
- The General Assembly can cut funding, add restrictions to funding, or reallocate money to other programs so long as the total size of the budget does not exceed what the governor introduced.
- The legislature alternates which chamber acts first on the budget bill. This year the Senate will take the lead.
- Even after passage, the governor still has a line-item veto.
The Governor Introduced His Budget. Now What?
The General Assembly’s budget committees—Budget and Taxation in the Senate and Appropriations in the House of Delegates—will spend the next few weeks holding hearings on the operating and capital budgets of Maryland’s state agencies. Early on in session, they will also hold informational briefings on topics the legislators want to understand better. You can explore a recent briefing held by the House Transportation and Environment subcommittee explaining how various environmental programs are funded.
Budget hearings look very different than the bill hearings you may be used to. For each agency, the Department of Legislative Services (DLS)—nonpartisan experts employed by the legislature to draft and analyze legislation—will provide an in-depth analysis of the agency and make recommendations for where funds could be cut, reallocated, or (in extremely rare cases) where more resources are needed. The agency is invited to provide a response to the DLS analysis and answer tough questions from legislators. Then, the committee invites the public to give their feedback. Many times, the public will not see what cuts DLS staff recommends until very shortly before a hearing.
CBF’s Take
The governor’s proposed spending plan largely maintains the status quo for environmental agencies and programs. Considering the many competing priorities and the large cash shortfall the governor was looking to close, this is about as good an outcome as we could expect.
But we can’t rest easy! One lesson learned from last year’s budget fight is that legislators need to hear from us about the important programs that support the restoration of the Bay and the valuable progress we have made to date. Here are the things we will be pushing legislative leaders and Governor Moore to prioritize as they finalize the FY 27 Budget:
- Level funding for environmental regulatory agencies. This includes the Departments of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, as well as the Maryland Energy Administration.
- Reserving the Strategic Energy Investment Fund—money collected from utilities that fall short of renewable energy goals—for clean energy and climate change initiatives.
- Protecting transfer tax funds for land preservation and development of a plan to repay last year’s $100 million diversion.
- Protecting funds that support a healthy environment, including:
How Can I Get Involved?
This session, CBF is leading a broad coalition of environmental advocates to push for environmental funding. We’ll be calling and writing emails, organizing neighbors, visiting legislators’ offices, and maybe even shucking some oysters while we do it (come find us Tuesday, March 10 at 2 p.m. on Lawyers Mall in Annapolis). If you haven’t already, sign up for CBF’s Action Network to be the first to know about opportunities to support a Bay-focused budget.
