This week, Senator Bailey introduced Senate Bill 368 – Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties – Living Shorelines and Nonstructural Shoreline Stabilization Measures. This bill would revise standards and processes for property owners in Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties who want to construct shoreline stabilization measures in a way that continues to protect our environment while recognizing the unique challenges our region faces from erosion based on the depth and the fetch of the water, which creates shoreline erosion. These unique factors can make our local projects be as much as 10 times more costly than those in other jurisdictions and also more prone to failure. Most importantly, this bill would put the local soil conservation district in each county in charge of oversight of these projects. Our SCDs have specific expertise and knowledge of the local environment that will inform these important decisions, and they will be able to help the State protect our shoreline against erosion in our region in a more feasible and responsive manner.
The Senate bill hearing for this legislation will be held before the Senate’s Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee on Tuesday, February 10. As a reminder, if you are interested in giving testimony to the Committee on this bill or any other legislation, all testimony must be submitted through the General Assembly website two business days prior to the bill hearing. If you are interested in supporting Senate Bill 368 testimony must be submitted and witnesses must sign up on the General Assembly’s website on Friday, February 6 between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
You will need to use your MyMGA account or create an account on the General Assembly’s website (mgaleg.maryland.gov) to sign up to testify or submit written testimony on a bill.
Video tutorials about how to set up an account and submit testimony can be found at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Information/VideoTutorials.
More information about the Senate’s committee witness guidelines can be found at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/pubs/Other/2026SenateWitnessGuidelines.pdf.
Fiscal Briefing
Last week, Governor Moore submitted the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget to the General Assembly. The budget committees in each chamber, including the Senate’s Budget and Taxation Committee, will now spend the next several weeks closely reviewing the Governor’s proposal for each agency and considering changes to the budget. Senator Bailey is a member of Budget and Taxation and is looking forward to the opportunity to scrutinize the budget and work to ensure that our tax dollars are spent efficiently and with accountability.
On Monday, the budget committees received a Fiscal Briefing from the Department of Legislative Services (DLS). DLS’s analysis continues to show a growing structural budget shortfall in future years:
Senator Bailey continues to believe that we should address this by reducing our State’s future spending commitments and focusing on private sector economic growth without further raising taxes on Marylanders, as occurred over his opposition last year.
You can read the DLS Fiscal Briefing in full at: https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/RecurRpt/Fiscal_Briefing_2026.pdf.
Correctional Officers Scholarship Bill Hearing
On Wednesday, Senator Bailey presented Senate Bill 101 to the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee. This bill would expand eligibility for the Maryland Loan Assistance Repayment Program for Police Officers and Probation Agents and the Maryland Police Officers and Probation Agents Scholarship Program to include correctional officers.
Recognition of Student Page
This week, Senator Bailey was able to meet with Margaret Byle, a student at Leonardtown High School, who attended session this week as one of the General Assembly’s pages to thank her for her work in support of the General Assembly.