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Senator backs codification of four interjurisdictional watersheds; affordable‑housing advocates say bill could add ambiguity and burden
Summary
Senator Mary Washington told the House Environment and Transportation Committee on March 26 that Senate Bill 42 will codify existing regulatory designations for four interjurisdictional, flood‑prone watersheds—Carroll Creek, Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls and Herring Run—and explicitly include their headwaters and tributaries to improve clarity in watershed management.
Senator Mary Washington told the House Environment and Transportation Committee on March 26 that Senate Bill 42 would clarify and reaffirm existing interjurisdictional watershed designations for four flood‑prone waterways in the Baltimore region — Carroll Creek, Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls and Herring Run — and would explicitly include their headwaters and tributaries in statute.
“SB 42 does not create any new designations or impose any new regulatory burdens,” Washington said, citing current regulatory language and Maryland code (she referenced Maryland Environment Article 5‑503 and COMAR 26.17.02.07) and saying the bill moves the regulatory description into statute for clarity and continuity.
Tom Cole, representing the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, asked the committee for an unfavorable report. He said MDE and his members read the bill as creating new definitions and regulatory requirements that could slow projects, impose costs and create uncertainty. Cole identified a potential fiscal impact noted by MDE—a new staff position to write regulations—and raised concern that projects already underway, including Red Maple Place (a low‑income housing project that has been in litigation), could be frozen while new regulations are promulgated.
Washington said the bill’s intent is to ensure flood vulnerability is formally recognized when siting development in flood‑prone urban watersheds, and that she had consulted with local housing partners to avoid unintended consequences; she emphasized she would not support legislation intended to block affordable housing. “These goals are not in conflict,” she said.
Committee members asked whether these four watersheds are the only interjurisdictional waterways and why they were selected. Washington replied that they were originally designated long ago and that MDE could designate additional watersheds by regulation if appropriate.
No formal committee vote on SB 42 is recorded in the transcript. The hearing included detailed testimony both for the bill’s clarification language and opposing testimony that the measure could generate new regulatory obligations or at least ambiguity requiring subsequent rulemaking.
