Posted on 04/08/25
| News Source: WBAL TV
Annapolis, MD - April 8, 2025 - The Maryland General Assembly is preparing for a fall special session to address federal funding freezes and workforce purges.
On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore held his first bill-signing ceremony of Session 2025, a day after the session ended.
State leaders discussed the creation of a new, 26-member, bipartisan joint committee to monitor federal government actions and potential impacts on the state. The panel will be tasked with providing timely updates, so lawmakers are prepared to respond as necessary.
"As we've seen chaos unfold just south of us in Washington, D.C., in Annapolis, we move differently," Moore said.
A trigger built in to the state's fiscal year 2026 budget would bring lawmakers back to Annapolis for a special session — possibly in October — to address federal actions that reduce state funds by $1 billion.
"This bipartisan, bicameral effort will strengthen our state's ability to respond and engage with actions taken at the federal level, and to work very closely to the administration on how to navigate the world ahead," said Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-District 46. "This new committee is about one thing: It is to ensure Marylanders are not caught off guard in this interim."
The Joint Federal Action Oversight Committee will track federal policy in real time and evaluate how the decisions are affecting Maryland. The goal is to coordinate swift strategic responses with the governor and executive agencies.
"Every indication is we are going to have a very challenging year, two years, maybe more, ahead of us because the federal government, right now, is knocking the legs out of Maryland's economy," said House Majority Leader David Moon, D-District 20.
The federal oversight committee comes as 11 News has learned that reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Maryland are frozen. When catastrophe strikes, the Maryland Department of Emergency Management steps up. Its arsenal of resources includes drawing down rebuilding money from FEMA, but since March 31, federal funds are nowhere to be found.
"At a time when we're watching thousands of federal workers being laid off because of an ideology; at a time when the livelihoods of many Marylanders are being put at risk in the name of so-called efficiency; at a time when the White House seems more interested in carving out space for billionaire tax cuts than helping regular people, Maryland is mobilizing in support of our workers and in support of our middle-class families," Moore said.
Emergency management officials are now going through all the grants to determine what other initiatives are impacted.
A half-dozen members of the new committee are Republicans, and Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, R-District 36, said he's concerned about job losses in the public and private sectors.
'Some of these cuts could hurt the private sector as well, especially in areas like the Patuxent River, in our technology corridor. So, I think it is important to try to provide some kind of insight into what's going on there, and then maybe help members of the commission to see the Republican view and make sure some of these business stay and operate," Hershey said.
The committee will also engage with local governments and community organizations to gauge impacts of federal actions.