Ways and Means Committee holds hearings on housing preservation, election transparency, curbside voting, split-rate taxes, transfer tax and deepfakes

An Annapolis hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee on February (date not specified) drew panels of advocates, local officials and industry groups for a series of bill presentations and public testimonies on housing preservation, election administration, property tax tools and technology-driven election fraud.

Delegate Kirill (Korman) presented House Bill 390, the Affordable Housing Payment in Lieu of Taxes Expansion Act, saying the measure would allow counties to use PILOT (payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑taxes) agreements to preserve “naturally occurring affordable housing” as well as newly built or substantially rehabilitated properties. “We cannot afford to lose that housing stock,” Robert Goldman, president of Montgomery Housing Partnership, told the committee in support. The sponsor said the bill as filed sets a 50% affordability threshold but that he planned an amendment to lower the standard to 30% while allowing counties to set higher thresholds locally.

Supporters including Melissa Bonde, senior director for Enterprise Community Partners, and county officials said the change is intended to give local governments a tool to acquire or support at‑risk properties that don’t require immediate large‑scale rehabilitation but are vulnerable to market conversion. Kevin Canally of the Maryland Association of Counties told the committee the bill “closes a loophole” and asked for a favorable report.

The committee also heard House Bill 412, the Local Board of Elections Transparency Act. Sponsor testimony described requirements to post meeting agendas and written materials 48 hours before meetings, livestream open meetings and maintain an archive of recordings for five years, and to require live streams for canvass meetings during elections. Morgan Drayton of Common Cause Maryland, Rebecca Snyder of the Maryland‑Delaware‑D.C. Press Association and Nancy Soering of the League of Women Voters all…