Transportation Association explains SB 20 and asks delegation to back letter on steadying local transit funding

John DeCluskey, executive director of the Transportation Association of Maryland, briefed the Southern Maryland Delegation on Jan. 24, 2025 about Senate Bill 20, a measure intended to stabilize state support for local transit funding.

DeCluskey said the Transportation Association represents local transit agencies across the state, including those operating in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties. He said local transit agencies provide more than 1,000,000 trips per year in the three counties combined.

DeCluskey told the delegation that state support for local transit from the Transportation Trust Fund was about $107 million in 2015 and has fallen to a statutory floor of $80.5 million today — a decrease of roughly $27 million over the last decade — even as costs such as buses, diesel fuel and electric-bus technology have increased significantly. He said federal guidance suggests a financing split of roughly 50 percent federal, 25 percent state, 25 percent local for operating costs, but that in recent years local and state shares have diverged from that target.

SB 20, DeCluskey said, is designed to prevent further declines in state support for local transit. A letter in support of SB 20 was circulated to delegation members the day before the meeting; the chair said members will be given an opportunity to approve or modify the letter. No formal delegation vote on the letter was recorded at the Jan. 24 meeting.

Ending: Delegation members were asked to review the circulated letter and will be given a chance to approve or amend it in follow-up correspondence.