County attorney outlines 2025 General Assembly priorities, flags bills with potential county impact

The office of the county attorney briefed St. Mary's County commissioners on Jan. 14 about legislation filed for the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session and identified roughly 49 bills the county is tracking for potential operational or fiscal impacts.

County attorney staff said there are 83 days remaining in the session and described the volume of prefiled bills: roughly 500 prefiled measures and about 150 additional filings as of the briefing. The staff memo included bills of particular interest to the county and identified where the county may need to take positions or monitor developments.

Key items flagged by county staff and discussed by commissioners included:

- Judgeship (HB 125): A local bill filed by Delegate Crosby would create a fourth circuit court judgeship for St. Mary's County. County staff prepared a fiscal-information request for the Department of Legislative Services; the county attorney said recurring local costs could include security and staffing associated with an additional courtroom and estimated recurring personnel costs for court security in the range of $400,000 to $500,000 annually, depending on staffing needs. Commissioner comment indicated…