PGCPS committee reviews Annapolis bills, MEA grants and PSC EV pilot docket affecting school climate work

Prince George's County Public Schools’ Climate Change Action Plan ad hoc committee heard a briefing March 5 on bills in Annapolis and a Maryland Public Service Commission regulatory docket that could affect school energy projects, electric school buses and solar installations.

Joseph Chikuda presented the legislative update for the committee, enumerating bills that staff are tracking and in some cases preparing to support. Chikuda said the Renew Act (listed in the presentation as SB149 / HB128) would place a fee on fossil-fuel companies and could direct funds toward school-related programs such as electric school bus funding and heat-pump grants. He also described bills that would require energy-reporting from local education agencies (SB818 / HB66), establish “solar-canopy-ready” parking requirements for new or substantially renovated schools (listed in the report as HP61), and refiled proposals on safe routes to walk to school and school seat belts (SB526 / HB811 and the school seat-belt bills). Chikuda also flagged HB540 (Green School Stewardship Act) and SB134 / HB42 (food-waste diversion grants) as measures the committee should watch.

Why it matters: committee members and staff said the state-level measures and grant programs are the most actionable near term, because federal funding appears uncertain. Director Dorothy Morrison and staff told the committee they are prioritizing state grants and philanthropic opportunities for near-term projects such as data collection, dashboards, solar planning and electric-bus pilots.

Committee members discussed individual bills and a recent, rapidly advancing Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day bill (listed in the presentation as SB1003 / HB493). Committee member Tim Mayer reported that the Ruby Bridges bill ‘‘made it unanimously through the subcommittee with a favorable recommendation, and then just today made it through the full ways and means committee with a favorable recommendation.’’

Regulatory docket and utilities: staff also raised Maryland Public Service Commission Case No. 9478, the Phase 2 EV pilot dockets for Pepco, BGE and SMECO. Chikuda told the committee that the dockets include proposals for utility EV pilot programs and that ‘‘comments are due on the 28th and hearings are on April 9,’’ and urged school transportation staff to review the filings for medium- and heavy-duty charging plans, distribution upgrades and proposed rate structures that could affect electric school-bus charging.

Grants and deadlines: Director Morrison and program staff briefed the committee on active and imminent grant opportunities. Morrison said PGCPS is applying for the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) decarbonizing-school grants (for energy data and planning) and the MEA Electric School Bus program, which she reported has approximately $17 million in the current round and a per-LEA cap of about $3 million. Staff said they expect multiple MEA deadlines at the end of the month and asked the committee to be prepared to provide letters of support or to direct staff to submit comment letters on regulatory dockets when appropriate.

How the district will respond: the board’s Policy and Governance committee is vetting positions and, when a bill is clearly aligned with CCAP objectives, staff said the committee can issue a letter of support without a full board vote. Staff also said they are in contact with the governor’s office and pursuing philanthropic partners to supplement state funding.

What remains unresolved: most of the bills discussed remained in committee as of the briefing and committee members were asked to review language and advise staff on whether to seek formal board positions. The PSC docket is accepting written comments and will hold hearings; staff encouraged school transportation and facilities teams to submit technical comments while the docket remains open.

Ending: staff said they will circulate an annotated list of the bills discussed, the current committee assignments, and deadlines for grant applications and regulatory comments so committee members can follow up outside the meeting.