Until recently the province of a few science nerds and policy wonks, the issue is suddenly getting a whole lot of attention in the State House. Lawmakers have arrived at a “holy s***” moment, and most believe they will have to act this year with urgency and clarity to address potential energy crises, something they are often reluctant to do.

And still, some legislators will privately confess that they don’t fully understand the terrain or the nomenclature — or the challenges at hand.

What they do know is that electricity prices are spiking for consumers while energy supplies are dwindling, at a time when Maryland is trying to foster a business environment that attracts more data centers, which are notorious power hogs. At the same time, the state is lagging when it comes to meeting its aggressive climate mandates and clean energy goals.

The public doesn’t seem to know who to blame for their higher electric bills. And environmental leaders are girding for possible rollbacks in climate protections and concessions to the fossil fuels industry to increase energy supply in the state.

“I think we are at a really significant inflection point on energy,” said Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), one of the recognized legislative nerds in Annapolis on energy and utility policy.

In the opening days of this legislative session, lawmakers on energy and environmental committees received briefings on the regional electric grid, the challenges the state is facing to meet its clean energy goals, and a wonky concept known as co-location, which is relevant to the debate over how and where data centers get their electricity.

Late last week, the House Economic Matters Committee held its first hearings on energy and climate bills, and Gov. Wes Moore’s administration introduced legislation to jumpstart the production of carbon-free energy. The plan relies heavily on expanding nuclear power in the state — a longterm proposition at best.

Legislative leaders are expected to unveil a comprehensive energy policy bill of their own later this week, though they’re keeping the specifics under wraps for a few more days.

“Ultimately, it is to increase domestic generation of energy in Maryland with an all-of-the-above approach, as well as make it easier for projects to site and exist in Maryland in a thoughtful way, as well as encouraging renewables,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told reporters Friday.

In an interview last week, House Economic Matters Chair C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), who has been a key member of the team crafting the legislation, said he and his colleagues are mindful of the rising costs of electricity and the need to generate more home-grown energy in Maryland. The state currently imports about 39% of its energy supply, according to the Maryland Energy Administration.

“I don’t think we’re going to do anything to hurt our constituents,” Wilson said.

‘We’re facing a reliability crisis’

Electricity generation, in the view of many experts, is the No. 1 energy challenge the state is facing.

The state’s three remaining coal plants are expected to close by 2027, and there currently aren’t any plans to make up for the lost production. What’s more, the operator of the regional electric grid, PJM Interconnection, has a backlog of dozens of proposed new energy generating projects in its 13-state territory that dates back to 2017.

“Because of PJM, not because of any state policy, we’re facing a reliability crisis,” Charkoudian said at a hearing earlier this month.

Jason M. Stanek, executive director of PJM and the former chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, said the backlog has begun to ease since federal regulators approved the grid operator’s plan for expediting some of the project reviews.

It seems inevitable that the legislation House and Senate leaders are proposing will seek to encourage the development of at least one natural gas power plant in the state, perhaps at one of the coal plants that are shuttering. That won’t sit well with environmental leaders, who are already convinced that state law is unnecessarily extending the life of natural gas in Maryland through a lucrative incentive program for gas pipeline maintenance and replacement.

“Given the state’s commitment to reducing emissions through the Climate Solutions Act of 2022, any policy that incentivizes fossil fuels is contrary to state law and violates the spirit of the climate commitment in the state,” said Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Any leader that proposes this will face a backlash.”

The legislative leaders’ bill is also almost certain to provide new incentives to expand nuclear energy in the state — a concept that is a lot less controversial than it would have been just a few years ago. Once anathema to environmental leaders, nuclear is now seen as the most reliable way to put carbon-free electrons onto the grid. The Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Lusby generates about 40% of all energy in the state — and more than 80% of the state’s clean energy portfolio.

Another nuclear plant of that scale is unlikely to be proposed or built in the state anytime soon. But state leaders are beginning to tout an emerging nuclear technology, small modular reactors, which are just a fraction of the size of standard nuclear plants, as potentially viable. Even Paul G. Pinsky, the director of the Maryland Energy Administration, who recalls protesting against nuclear energy as a young activist in the 1960s and ’70s, sees the technology as promising.

“There’s a timing issue,” he cautioned members of the Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment earlier this month. “We don’t know how fast the new technologies will come online.”

The most optimistic estimates suggest modular nuclear reactors could be developed in six or eight years.

‘A very, very heavy lift’

The Moore administration bill, dubbed the Empowering New Energy Resources and Green Initiatives Toward a Zero-Emission (ENERGIZE) Maryland Act also seeks to boost nuclear energy, along with other clean energy sources. It reaffirms the governor’s goal that the state should eventually produce 100% clean energy — though the legislation does not mention the 2035 timeline that Moore has previously articulated as a target.

The Maryland Energy Administration recently issued a 70-page study on how to boost clean energy production in the state. “This report,” Pinsky told the Economic Matters Committee, “shows it’ll be a very, very heavy lift” to hit the 2035 target.

“What I’m concerned with is being wedded to a timeline, rather than a goal,” Wilson replied.

The highly technical, 44-page administration bill also seeks to rename the state’s longstanding renewable energy portfolio standard  (RPS) as the clean energy portfolio standard, and changes certain formulas for percentages of clean production along with incentives and pollution credits for clean energy.

“I think the ENERGIZE plan firmly grounds Maryland in a goal of achieving 100% clean energy,” said Josh Tulkin, executive director of the Sierra Club Maryland chapter.

Meanwhile, Charkoudian and Sen. Benjamin Brooks (D-Baltimore County) have introduced the Abundant, Affordable Clean Energy Act, which would restructure Maryland’s energy market to increase in-state clean energy production while protecting ratepayers through profit-sharing and cost caps, aiming to make power both more reliable and affordable. That legislation, which is also highly technical and runs 39 pages, is a priority for environmental groups; a hearing has been scheduled in the Economic Matters Committee on Feb. 6.

Like the Moore administration legislation, the Charkoudian-Brooks bill seeks to overhaul the state’s RPS. A study released last week from a national government watchdog group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, suggested that design flaws in the RPS “are undermining the state’s transition to clean electricity and imposing significant costs on Maryland ratepayers.”

The various bills to generate more electricity in the state come as the Moore administration seeks to attract more data centers, and with a major data center campus under construction in Frederick County. While state policymakers and utility regulators also anticipate a gradual transition to more electric vehicles and a reduction in gas usage in buildings, it’s anticipated that the growth in the data center industry will put the greatest strain on the power grid.

Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-Frederick) and Del. Brian M. Crosby (D-St. Mary’s), the vice chair of the Economic Matters Committee, have introduced legislation that would require the state to study the economic, environmental and energy impacts of data centers in the state. But during a hearing on the bill last week, Crosby conceded that while ideally data center projects would be paused while the study is under way, the legislation would not stop the ongoing development of data centers in the state.

“If we’re going to get into this game and into this business, it’s probably worth it to wait for what the full impact is going to be, but that’s not really reality,” he said. “The train in many ways has left the station and it’s not coming back.”

A separate study on the impact of data centers nationally was released last week by a consortium of Maryland and national environmental groups and research organizations.

The report shows that between 2021-2024, the number of centers in the U.S. roughly doubled from 2,667 to 5,381, and it identified at least 17 fossil fuel-generated power plants nationwide that have delayed their anticipated closures or are at risk of being kept open longer due to the rising electricity demand for data centers.

“Maryland would be wise to learn from other states’ experiences, where too much of the rush to build data centers is being driven by hype, bad policy and inefficient applications of AI and cryptocurrency technology,” said Emily Scarr, senior adviser with the Maryland PIRG Foundation. “To protect our pocketbooks, the natural world and the quality of our lives, Maryland needs a different approach to data centers.”

A proposed high-voltage transmission line from a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania that would run through Maryland and connect to a data center hub in Northern Virginia has sparked outrage in Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties. Several bills have been introduced in the legislature to mitigate the impact of the project — though the ultimate say on the proposal rests with the Public Service Commission.

‘Those who have denied or diminished the science should pick up the tab’

A proliferation of data centers in Maryland would run counter to the state’s ambitious mandates to reduce carbon emissions over the next several years. The state is scrambling for ways to pay for the necessary climate initiatives, which are estimated to cost at least $10 billion.

Last week, the Economic Matters Committee held a hearing on a bill that would allow the state to set up a superfund to make fossil fuel companies pay for environmental degradation in the state over the past several decades. Bill sponsors and advocates envision that the measure could generate enough revenue to cover a good bit of the state’s climate needs.

“We think that it’s only fair that those who have denied or diminished the science should pick up the tab of those who have suffered from the damage,” said the Rev. Ken Phelps of the Maryland Episcopal Public Policy Network, who testified in favor of the measure.

A similar bill stalled last year — though comparable legislation has now become law in New York and Vermont. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute have already sued to block the Vermont law.

How many of these energy and climate bills under consideration in Annapolis this session become law is very much an open question. Lawmakers do not have much time to digest some very complex concepts.

“We have a lot of bills coming in but we won’t have a lot of bills coming out,” Wilson predicted.

Charkoudian believes, however, that there will be significant progress.

“I’ve always thought that energy is a multiyear conversation,” she said. “But I think there are decisions that will be made this year that will put us on a path to 100% clean energy.”

By: Josh Kurtz – January 27, 2025 7:02 am

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

When a reporter framed a question Thursday with a line often used by Gov. Wes Moore (D) — that the state can’t simply cut its way to prosperity — Sen. Justin Ready (R-Carroll and Frederick) laughed out loud.

That was essentially the message from House and Senate Republicans on the Moore administration’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget: Despite billions in reported tax cuts and program reductions, the plan “is still a massive tax-and-spend budget,” they said.

“I don’t think you can say we’re cutting,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany). “Any attempt to couch this as a tax-cut budget is simply inaccurate.”

He was backed by about 20 GOP legislators who gathered to criticize the administration’s $67.3 billion budget, in a respectful but pointed 30-minute session that complained about spending mandates and new revenue increases.

The budget has already been criticized by some Democratic legislative leaders, who worry that it cuts too deeply, particularly with delays and deferrals in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the sweeping 10-year education reform plan now in its third year.

The back-and-forth comes amid projections that the state faces as much as a $3 billion deficit in fiscal 2026, and that the structural deficit could nearly double in a matter of years without action.

Against that backdrop, Moore last week unveiled a budget that he said was carefully balanced to achieve a “growth agenda.” The goal is to jump-start the sluggish state economy, which Moore said has been holding back the budget. Only by growing the economy will the state achieve the stable, long-term growth that will help reduce structural deficits, the administration argues.

Moore said his budget includes about $2 billion a year in spending cuts and operating efficiencies and about $1 billion in new revenues.

The cuts include $200 million from the Developmental Disabilities Administration, $110 million from the University System of Maryland and $50 million in general government operating efficiencies, among others.

Democratic lawmakers have said funding for the Blueprint has been secured for the next two years and insist that it should not be on the table, but the administration, due in part to pressure from local governments and school boards, has deferred some parts of the plan — a move assailed by education groups and declared dead on arrival by House Democrats.

The plan calls for cuts to the corporate tax rate, offset by closing loopholes in the corporate tax structure,  and a restructuring of the tax code to result in income tax reductions for about two-thirds of Maryland taxpayers. The governor claimed that close to 90% of Marylanders would either see their income taxes go down or remain flat, while those earning $500,000 and more would see a higher tax rate.

The budget also calls for a range of other taxes, on sports betting and cannabis sales, and fees, like a proposed 75-cent fee for retail deliveries, among other potential charges.

But the Republicans’ analysis of the budget lowers the cuts to about $1.3 billion and raises the level of new revenues to the same, while classifying about $800 million in supposed savings as just redirected funds. Ready called the budget “a tale of what’s been said versus what has actually been proposed.”

While they acknowledged lowered taxes in the governor’s plan, they said many those were not actual cuts in spending but just a reduction in the rate of growth. And they said any savings are more than offset by higher taxes elsewhere, harping in particular on a proposal to tack on a 75-cent fee for every retail delivery from services like Amazon or DoorDash.

“Every Marylander will pay some sort of additional tax and fee under this budget – every Marylander,” said Ready.

That was echoed by House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick).

“The biggest complaint we get is that it’s too expensive to live here,” Pippy said. “We’ve just got to be straight with Marylanders … We’re making Maryland more unaffordable.”

Republicans complained that the state is still tied to too much spending, citing the Blueprint and proposed spending on climate change initiatives as areas that could be cut.

The GOP lawmakers all gave credit to Moore for his position that part of the solution is to grow the state’s overall economy and spur private job growth.

“We’re happy that Gov. Moore is one of the first Democrats I’ve seen, at least in my 11 years here, who at least acknowledges that we just can’t create more and more and more and more spending forever,” Buckel said. “He at least acknowledges that private sector job creation is key to Maryland’s economic future.”

But they all also said he is not going far enough.

“His idea of growing the economy is taxpayers paying more so we can find a way to invest their money,” Ready said.

The GOP press event came several hours after breakfast with the governor that they described as a pleasant, friendly event.

“It was a very polite and very friendly breakfast,” Buckel said. “We had good conservations about the picture of the state and where we want things to go, and I think we share that goal of increased private-sector growth.

“He undertands that our perspective is not tax and fee increases, our perspective is, you have to have some level of real cuts, you have to phase things out,” he said.

But Buckel is also a realist: With Democratic super-majorities in the House and Senate, he knows there is only so much Republicans can do except try to get taxpayers motivated and argue their case to Democratic lawmakers.

“We’re going to be there until sine die [the final day of the session] having those conversations,” he said.

Incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to make enforcement of immigration laws — including the threat of mass deportations — a priority during the next four years. In Maryland, 76% of those surveyed in a poll by Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media said they would support requiring local governments to cooperate with federal efforts.

Gonzales surveyed 811 registered voters who said they are likely to vote in the next election. The poll asked voters about cooperation with enforcement of immigration laws, the job performance of President Joe Biden as well as views on Trump, and the direction of the country.

The poll, conducted between Dec. 27-Jan. 4, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.

A poll released Tuesday asked voters about Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) job performance and other issues including the use of taxes to resolve the budget deficit and a potential match-up for governor between Moore and Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan.

In Wednesday’s poll results, support for requiring local cooperation with federal law enforcement came from across the political spectrum.

Maryland Republicans were by far the largest bloc with 96% saying they would support such a requirement. Among indepedent voters, 77% also said they would support cooperation.

In Maryland, registered Democrats hold a roughly 2-1 registration advantage over Republicans. In the Gonzales poll, 65% said they would support required cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Maryland voters like Biden, dislike Trump

The poll also asked voters about the job performance of both President Joe Biden and former President Trump, who will be sworn in to his second term on Jan 20.

In the poll, 55% said they approved of the job done by Biden, statistically flat compared to results in a September Gonzales poll when roughly 53% said they approved of Biden’s efforts.

Trump, unsurprisingly, does not fare so well among blue-state Maryland voters. Of those surveyed, 58% said they disapprove of the once and future president, including 51% who said they “strongly disapprove” of Trump.

The Republican president-elect lost Maryland to Vice President Kamala Harris (D) in November by a nearly 29-point margin.

“The good vibes and mojo he’s been enjoying across the country recently haven’t really found their way here to the Old Line State,” pollster Patrick Gonzales said.

Election drives pessimistic outlook

Marylanders are also more pessimistic about the direction of the country as Trump’s second inauguration draws near.

In the poll, 59% of those surveyed said the country was moving in the wrong direction. In September, one in every two people asked said the country was headed in the right direction.

Gonzales attributed the change to the results of the 2024 election

“The answer is simple: Politics presently in the United States is a sporting event — my team wins, I’m happy; my team loses, I’m sad,” Gonzales said.

by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
January 8, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at Open Bible Church in Cambridge, followed by a memorial service at the church, according to information provided by Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home. Burial will be private.

Colburn, an Eastern Shore native, represented Talbot, Dorchester, Caroline and Wicomico counties as a Republican in the General Assembly for the better part of 30 years.

Former state Sen. Richard Colburn (R-Middle Shore.) Photo courtesy Maryland State Archives.

He served in the House of Delegates from 1983 to 1991, when he lost a GOP primary for Congress to eventual 1st District Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest. He would subsequently lose a 2004 intraparty primary challenge to then-Rep. Gilchrest.

Colburn was elected to the Maryland Senate in 1994 and served from 1995 to 2015, when he was ousted in the Republican primary by former Sen. Adelaide Eckardt, who was herself unseated in an intraparty challenge in 2022 by Sen. Johnny Mautz (R-Middle Shore).

After losing his Senate seat, Colburn was appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to serve as an administrative aide to Maryland Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder, a position he held for eight years. Colburn’s other public service included 24 years as town manager for Federalsburg.

Colburn, a low-profile lawmaker, was a reliable conservative vote who was considered a voice for farmers, watermen and rural interests in the General Assembly.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) remembered Colburn in a social media post as a both a friend and a colleague with a “passion in fighting for our watermen, farmers, Veterans and first responders.” The Maryland Republican Party in a statement called him an “accomplished legislator who fought hard for agriculture, conservative values, bi-partisan governance, and Eastern Shore representation.”

Colburn was born Feb. 9, 1950, in Oxford to Peggy J. and Charles Franklin Colburn Jr. After graduating from Easton High School, he joined the Army, serving in Germany from 1969 to 1972 with the Army Security Agency, a former intelligence branch. He held a top security clearance for the job and was discharged with the rank of sergeant.

He worked as a produce manager and checker at the former A&P grocery on his return to the Shore, before taking the job in Federalsburg and entering politics. He retired from the Department of Agriculture in 2022.

Lawmakers and Gov. Wes Moore (D) are staking out budget positions with less than a month before the start of the 2025 legislative session that will likely revolve around an “enormous” budget problem.

A debate over taxes, the economy and business climate, and education will all dovetail into efforts to solve billions in projected deficits over the next five years.

“I got to tell you, we have some big issues to share, big issues,” House Minority Whip Del. Jesse T. Pippy (R-Frederick) said Friday to county officials attending the Maryland Association of Counties winter conference in Cambridge. “We haven’t seen a budget deficit like this since the Great Recession. We have big discussions on education, which coincides with the budget issues we’re facing.”

House Minority Whip Del. Jesse T. Pippy (R-Frederick). Photo by Bryan P. Sears. 

Layered on top, Pippy said, is “an energy crisis in our state. We’re still dealing with the impact of inflation. At the end of the day, all of these things have impacts on everyday, hardworking Maryland taxpayers. It’s becoming simply unaffordable to live in our great state.”

Moore and lawmakers face a projected $2.7 billion deficit for the coming budget year. By the end of the current five-year projection, that deficit explodes to almost $6 billion — nearly all of the shortfall in the outer years is driven by costs related to implementing the education reforms in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

Latest projections released Thursday by the Board of Revenue Estimates showed only marginal improvement in the outlook for the state’s coffers.

“It’s not going to be filled with putting alcohol in grocery stores, I’ll tell you that,” Pippy said, referencing the governor’s call for lawmakers to pass legislation by the end of the session authorizing the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores and other retail outlets.

House Majority Leader Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) told county leaders a year ago that it was time to “pull up some grown-up pants and do something” or face the potential for drastic reductions.

“My message is pretty much exactly the same, that we need to roll up our sleeves, do the hard work, make the tough decisions and not kick a can down the road,” Moon said. “It is my hope that whatever this conversation is, it is one that is looking at the out years, and not just a short-term Band-Aid fix to this problem.”

Budget deficits in Maryland are not rare. Lawmakers are frequently reminded by budget analysts that the state’s ongoing expenses typically increase by about 5% annually. Ongoing projected revenues grow by about 3%.

But in the past, fiscal leaders in the legislature have often taken a one-year-at-a-time approach that leaves wiggle room for the following year.

Moon said he believes the legislature is “swimming” toward a change in dealing with the issue.

The leader of the House Democrats called for a focus on housing, energy, and child care policies, as well as addressing stagnant population growth in the state. He called for six-year plans on each, with benchmarks to monitor progress toward growing the state’s economy.

House Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery), told county leaders that House Democrats have “a very high bar’ when it comes to making changes to education reforms. Photo by Bryan P. Sears. 

House Democrats proposed a $1.3 billion revenue package in the 2024 session that they said would address ongoing budget issues. That plan was rejected by the Senate and by Moore.

Both the governor and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore) continue to say they have a “high bar” on the need for broad-based tax proposals.

Last month, Ferguson said “everything is on the table” when it comes to resolving the budget problem, but stopped short of voicing support for broadly increasing taxes.

Some have talked about the potential for making changes in how education reforms are implemented.

On Thursday, Moore warned counties of the difficult budget decisions to come. In an address to MACo, he said he does not favor cuts alone. Instead, he hopes to implement reforms to make the state more business friendly, though he did not provide specifics. He also called for reforms to the Blueprint.

Republicans and many county leaders – Democrats and Republicans — would also like to see changes as they attempt to absorb the share of the costs passed on to their budgets.

Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) said it’s important “the governor to take a look at that and say simply some things that we can’t afford within the Blueprint. And I do think that we will stretch that (implementation) out.”

Moon said Democrats in the House have a “very high bar for changes to the Blueprint.”

by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
December 13, 2024

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

Using nautical language inspired by the State House’s proximity to the Naval Academy, Moore described the “two storms” state and local governments are confronting.

“I know we are facing steep challenges,” Moore said, according to prepared remarks provided by his office. “Maryland is in the path of two storms: First, we face an historic budget crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. And second, we are about to swear in a new administration in Washington, D.C., that casts uncertainty on our future.”

Moore blamed the state’s looming $2.7 billion budget shortfall on the “sugar high” of federal largesse doled out to help states deal with the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, along with sluggish financial growth. The state’s ongoing, complex education reform plan, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, also continues to strain government resources.

“We need to grow,” Moore said. “It’s the key to securing Maryland’s future. Anyone who thinks we can just cut our way to greater prosperity isn’t being honest. Anyone who thinks we can just tax our way to greater prosperity is not being honest. Now is the time for us to make the hard choices that will help us build a durable economy – one that is business-friendly and invests in growth.”

Moore proposed jump-starting the state economy in different ways. He said he would issue an executive order – “the most sweeping economic executive action I have taken since being sworn in” – to make Maryland more business-friendly by cutting red tape on permitting; prioritizing three sectors of the economy, life sciences, I.T., and aerospace and defense, taking advantage of the resources that already exist in the state; and better coordinating with local jurisdictions on economic development strategies.

Moore also said he would introduce a bill in the upcoming General Assembly session to increase the state’s housing supply and said he would seek some alterations to the way the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is being implemented. While calling the education reform plan “a central piece of our education strategy,” he proposed pausing a provision of the Blueprint providing teachers with more “collaborative time” out of the classroom.

But he vowed to help school districts build out their pipelines for recruiting teachers and said that pausing the “collaborative time” contained in the Blueprint would give school districts more time to recruit and retain teachers.

“Growth is the most powerful tool we have in our toolbox,” Moore said. “But it is not – and cannot be – the only one. We are in a moment of profound consequence, and we are willing to use every tool in our toolbox if it means getting Maryland’s fiscal health on track.

“There will be choices in our new budget that some of you will not like. Quite frankly, there will be choices in our new budget that I don’t particularly like,” he said. “But we need to make hard choices now if we want to unleash our full potential as a state and lay the foundation for a brighter future.”