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Votes at a glance: committee approves slate of departmental bills on MVA rules, speed monitoring, DNR grants and MDE enforcement
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Summary
The House Environment and Transportation Committee approved a series of departmental and local bills on Friday, March 13, including repeal of a color-photo requirement for MVA IDs (HB248), authorization for speed monitoring on safety corridors (HB256), DNR community participation and climate resilience grant provisions (HB254), and expanded MDE enforcement authorities related to water and dam safety (HB250). Several measures passed with named members recorded in opposition.
A batch of departmental and local bills were approved by the House Environment and Transportation Committee during its Friday, March 13 session.
Brief summaries and committee actions (as recorded in the transcript):
• HB248 — Repeal color-photo requirement for MVA IDs: Presented by Chair Lewis; subcommittee recommended favorable; no amendments; moved and passed on voice vote.
• HB251 — Repeal notarized bill of sale requirement for certain used vehicles to MVA: Presented by Chair Lewis; subcommittee recommended favorable; moved and passed on voice vote.
• HB256 — Authorize State Highway Administration (SHA) speed monitoring systems on federal safety corridors: Presented by Chair Lewis; bill authorizes SHA and authorized local governments to place and use speed monitoring systems on safety corridor segments; moved and passed on voice vote with several members recorded in opposition (Delegates Jacobs, Baker, Grammer, Anderson, Naraki).
• HB668 — St. Mary's County local bill prohibiting standing in designated roadways: Presented by Chair Lewis; subcommittee amendments added SHA consultation and signage approval; amendments and bill passed on voice vote.
• HB1113 — Prohibit stopping/standing/parking in bus stop zones; enforcement via bus obstruction monitoring system: Presented by Chair Lewis; two amendments adopted (including definition of 'bus stop zone' and striking exceptions); bill passed with several members recorded in opposition (Delegates Baker, Grammer, Anderson, Naraki).
• HB247 — Variance standards under Chesapeake/Atlantic coastal critical area program: Presented by Chair Boyce (the transcript uses both 'Boyse' and 'Boyce' in different places for the same speaker); subcommittee amendments clarified applicability and signage; amendments passed and bill moved and passed with recorded oppositions listed in the transcript.
• HB947 — Blue catfish gillnet program under Department of Natural Resources: Presented by Chair Boyce; creates a gillnet program for the invasive blue catfish as part of a pilot and subjects the program to pilot reporting requirements; amended bill passed and cosponsors were added.
• HB254 — DNR community participation, climate resilience grant fund, and shore erosion loan modifications: Presented by Chair Boyce; bill requires DNR to facilitate community participation in project planning, establishes a DNR-administered climate resilience grant fund, and modifies the shore erosion loan fund (including removal of some funding limits and authorization of partial loan forgiveness); subcommittee recommendation was favorable and the bill passed with several members recorded in opposition.
• HB250 — MDE administrative penalties and administrative orders for water/ dam safety: Presented by Chair Stein; amendments revised the short title and removed wetlands enforcement language, added procedural steps before penalties for certain dam owners and required consideration of violator cooperation; amended bill moved and passed with several recorded oppositions.
• HB1071 — Stormwater regulations for agritourism and Montgomery County review: Presented by Chair Stein; requires MDE stormwater regs to consider agritourism best practices and asks Montgomery County and its Soil Conservation District, in consultation with MDE, to review local stormwater review processes; amendments were adopted and the amended bill passed with recorded oppositions.
• HB1116 — Subcommittee-favored local bill: Presented by Chair Stein; no amendments and the bill passed on voice vote.
Where the transcript records opposition, the members are listed in the record (for example, Delegates Jacobs, Baker, Grammer, Anderson, Naraki and Morgan are named at various points as recorded in opposition on different bills). The transcript shows voice votes for most items and does not include full roll-call tallies in the excerpt.
After finishing the voting list, the committee announced a short recess and planned to return at 1:25 p.m.
Note on transcript spelling: the transcript alternates between 'Chair Boyse' and 'Chair Boyce' while referring to the same speaker; the article uses 'Chair Boyce' and notes the transcript inconsistency.
