Post General Assembly luncheon highlights concerns over affordable housing bills, blueprint education funding

SALISBURY, Md – Members of Maryland’s Eastern Shore delegation touted their achievements, but also faced questions from the business community as part of the annual post-general assembly luncheon Wednesday.

The Eastern Shore Delegation warning about potential challenges for business owners across multiple sectors, following the passage of several landmark bills in Annapolis this session including the state’s Tenant’s Rights and Housing package.

“Anytime you bring government and put it in the middle between a customer and business, there’re going to be unintended consequences,” Delegate Chris Adams said.

Republican lawmakers say that as the minority in Annapolis, they see their role as improving what they call harmful legislation.

One such bill is a tenant’s rights bill that delegates Chris Adams says, will make it harder for landlords like him- to build more homes.

“What I think really at the end of the day are doing the exact opposite and more administrations do the exact opposite by what it is they should be doing, which is helping them pass policies that reduce prices, keep rents affordable, and grow affordable housing,” Adams said.

A concession on that bill that Adams calls a win, allowing landlords to recoup the costs for filing evictions if they are successful from a tenant’s security deposit, this after the cost to file was increased from 8 dollars to 48 dollars.

Also top of mind Blueprint funding, and the state and local split that for the next ten years could see the counties picking up more of the burden.

Local officials asked how they are expected to pay for the reform, estimated to cost more than 4 billion dollars a year across the state.

“The only way that it becomes affordable is if you extend those timelines, I’m a little bit encouraged when you talk to the chair of the Senate Budget Taxation Committee and you talk to the Senate president, there is a recognition on the Senate side that extending timelines would allow it to go affordable,” Senator Carozza said.

Eastern Shore lawmakers say they will continue to sound the alarm on that expected increase in taxes and fees, to pay for both blueprint and the state’s 3 billion dollar deficit.

” I do believe that we have an obstacle in the House because they’ve been pushing for the higher increases on taxes and fees very aggressively,” Senator Carozza said.

“To raise revenue and spend money for different things without showing results and not having the transparency of why those fees and taxes will increase. That makes no sense, that’s a government out of control and that should be a line in the sand,” Senator Mautz said.

Now lawmakers say many of those state versus county funding issues are not unique to the shore. Next session they plan to present a united front of counties to advocate for more affordable housing and more state dollars to prevent an unfunded mandate for Blueprint.