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Committee narrows climate payment bill into a study of greenhouse‑gas costs
Summary
Economic Matters members amended House Bill 128 to remove most program provisions and require a study, to be completed by Dec. 1, 2026, on the assessed costs of greenhouse‑gas emissions and related mitigation costs.
The Economic Matters Committee advanced House Bill 128 after approving an amendment that stripped most programmatic provisions and replaced them with a required study.
As amended, the bill would require the comptroller, in consultation with the Department of Commerce and the Maryland Department of the Environment, to report to the General Assembly by Dec. 1, 2026, on the total assessed cost of greenhouse‑gas emissions. The study must summarize cost‑driving effects of covered emissions, calculate costs already incurred and projected for the state and its residents, calculate costs of related mitigation efforts, and include an economic analysis of whether certain costs would be passed to taxpayers.
Committee members described the amendment as turning the measure into a study bill and moved the amendment without debate. The amendment and the bill as amended were approved on voice vote and a subsequent roll call; the committee clerk recorded the vote and announced the bill moved.
The committee also discussed that the amendment altered the bill by striking the original program text and inserting study and reporting requirements. No fiscal appropriation or fund‑establishment details remained in the amended text recorded in the transcript.
