Council introduces tax relief, tech and housing bills; enacts carryout-bag ban and procurement trafficking rule

The Montgomery County Council used its Feb. 11 legislative session to introduce several bills on tax relief, technology oversight, housing and consumer protections, and to adopt two measures on final reading: a procurement provision tied to human-trafficking compliance and a prohibition on plastic carryout bags with an updated effective date.

Introductions

- Bill 3–25, Homeowners Tax Credit (HOTC) county supplemental amendments: The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee introduced a draft to expand eligibility for the county supplemental to the state-administered Homeowners Tax Credit, raising maximum income and net-worth thresholds and increasing the property-assessed-value eligibility so more households on limited or fixed incomes can qualify. Council President Kate Stewart and committee members emphasized that the proposal uses the state-administered system to ease implementation and target relief. Councilmember Andrew Friedson, who led a senior tax-credit effort last year, and several council colleagues supported adding co-sponsors.

- Bill 4–25, Administration: Public-Safety Technology Acquisition and Use: Sponsored by Council President Stewart and Councilmember Mink, the bill would require community outreach, published regulations and public review before the county acquires or changes use of surveillance-capable technologies. The bill grew from prior discussions about a drone-as-first-responder program; sponsors said they worked with the Montgomery County Police Department, the ACLU of Maryland and community groups.

- Bill 5–25, Demolition Tax for Affordable Housing Production: Councilmember Mink introduced a demolition tax that would direct revenue to the Montgomery Housing Initiative Fund (HIF) to support production of affordable housing through the county’s Housing Opportunity Commission financing tools. Sponsors cited an estimated revenue potential of roughly $4,000,000 annually to bolster long-term housing production.

- Bill 6–25, Consumer Protection: Defective Tenancies as Deceptive Trade Practices: The bill would remove a current exemption that prevents landlords from being subject to the county’s consumer-protection law, enabling the Office of Consumer Protection and the county attorney to pursue repeated bad-actor landlords with stronger legal remedies and reduce the burden on tenants to pursue individual court actions.

Final readings and votes

- Procurement and human trafficking: The council enacted on final reading a contracts-and-procurement bill that requires certifications of compliance with human-trafficking laws in procurement bids and clarifies enforcement and debarment language. The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee recommended enactment with amendments developed with the county attorney and procurement office. A roll-call vote was recorded in favor of enactment; all council members present voted yes (see Votes at a glance).

- Carryout-bag prohibition and fee (Bring-Your-Own bag bill): The Transportation and Environment Committee recommended enactment with technical amendments. The bill bans single-use plastic carryout bags and raises the paper-bag fee from 5¢ to 10¢ per bag, splitting the fee so retailers retain 5¢ and 5¢ is allocated to the Water Quality Protection Charge Fund. SNAP and WIC recipients are exempt from the fee. Councilmember Balcom moved to delay the bill’s effective date from July 1, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026; Councilmember Friedson seconded the amendment and the council approved it unanimously. The council then voted on final enactment; the roll call recorded unanimous yes votes.

Votes at a glance

- Procurement and human trafficking (final reading): outcome — enacted (committee recommended enactment with amendments). Roll-call entries recorded the following yes votes: Lukey; Mink; Sales; Friedson; Glass; Katz; Albanos; Balcom; Truando; Stewart.

- Paper carryout bag prohibition (final reading, as amended to change effective date): outcome — enacted with amendment. Council amended the effective date to Jan. 1, 2026 (mover: Councilmember Balcom; second: Councilmember Friedson). Final passage was moved by Councilmember Glass and seconded by Councilmember Lukey; roll call recorded unanimous yes votes including Lukey, Mink, Sales, Friedson, Glass, Katz, Albanos, Fanny Gonzales, Balcom, Gerando and Stewart as recorded in the meeting minutes.

What’s next

Introduced bills were referred to the relevant committees: the homeowners-tax-credit bill has a public hearing scheduled for March 4, 2025; the public-safety technology and affordable-housing/demolition-tax bills are scheduled for March 18, 2025; and the consumer-protection bill is scheduled for March 4, 2025. Committee work sessions and additional staff reports will inform further council deliberations.