Maryland lawmakers will return to Annapolis on Tuesday for a special session to elect a new speaker of the House of Delegates, two weeks after former Speaker Adrienne A. Jones resigned from the post.
Gov. Wes Moore called the session on Dec. 9 through an executive order, just weeks before the General Assembly is set to reconvene on Jan. 14 for the 2026 Legislative Session. His order leaves the door open for lawmakers to “consider other business,” which many Maryland lawmakers believe to mean veto overrides.
What won’t be discussed is redistricting, a debate that has raised concerns among state Republicans about potentially eliminating the state’s lone Republican congressional district.
Here is what lawmakers and observers can expect from Tuesday’s proceedings.
A new House speaker
Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, a Democrat who represents Prince George’s County, has emerged as the consensus choice for House speaker among House Democrats, with several potential challengers dropping out just a few days after signaling interest in the position.
The House Democratic Caucus is expected to privately nominate a speaker candidate on the House floor at 10 a.m. Tuesday. At noon, members of both the House and the Senate will meet for the special session, where the House will elect a new speaker.
Electing a new speaker could trigger a reshuffling of House leadership and committee assignments. Peña-Melnyk currently chairs the Health and Government Operations Committee, one of the chamber’s most influential panels. Any changes to committee leadership are expected to be announced after the speaker vote or in the days leading up to the regular session.
Veto overrides
Following the election of a new speaker, both chambers will consider bills the governor vetoed during the previous session, which they are legally obligated to do under state law. Lawmakers will decide which vetoes to override and which to let stand. The Baltimore Sun obtained a list Monday of the 12 veto overrides the House plans to weigh. The Senate also will consider overriding all 23 vetoed bills, according to a separate list that The Sun obtained shortly after Moore announced a special session.
Among them is the Maryland Reparations Commission Bill, one of the most high-profile bills in the 2025 Legislative Session, which many lawmakers have signaled will be a top-line priority Tuesday. In May, Moore vetoed legislation that would have launched a two-year study in which a state commission would determine whether the state should provide reparations to Marylanders impacted by the state’s history of slavery and inequality.
The veto sparked immediate backlash from the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, which includes Peña-Melnyk.
Moore, who is Maryland’s first Black governor and the only Black governor in the country, wrote in his veto letter that he supported the work of the bill’s proponents but he does not believe it’s the right “time for another study.”
A source familiar with Senate Democratic leadership’s plans told The Sun Monday that Democrats also intend to override Moore’s veto of the RENEW Act. The bill mandates Comptroller Brooke Lierman, in coordination with the Department of the Environment and the Department of Commerce, to conduct a study on the cost of greenhouse gas emissions in the state by Dec. 1, 2026. The study would be funded by $500,000 from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF) and an additional $100,000 from Maryland’s general funds.
Although Moore vetoed the bill last session, he and Lierman last week announced that her office would use existing state funding, the $500,000 from SEIF, to conduct the study, according to the announcement. Still, the source said a veto override is needed to ensure the RENEW Act’s goals are carried out, because the comptroller’s office operates independently of the General Assembly, meaning the announcement does not guarantee the study will happen.
A veto override gives the RENEW Act “teeth,” this source said, adding that while “the governor’s funding is super helpful,” the Senate “overriding [Moore’s veto] just makes [the study] official and mandates the report.”
The General Assembly is also poised to override Moore’s veto of the Data Center Impact Analysis and Report Bill, which would have commissioned a $502,000 study on the impacts of data centers on Maryland’s economy, environment and energy grid, aiming to guide future zoning laws about these centers.
The bill had broad support when it was passed in April, but Moore said he wanted to focus on vetoing bills that called for labor-intensive studies — a rationale that some lawmakers said they understood, even if they didn’t agree.
In a display of unity rare for Maryland legislators on energy issues, a growing bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and advocates has since denounced Moore’s veto as a critical mistake.
Redistricting is off the table — for now
As far as redistricting is concerned, the General Assembly will not take up the issue Tuesday. Lawmakers recently told The Sun that redistricting talks would be premature, given that Moore’s redistricting commission hasn’t officially made a recommendation yet on whether to redraw the state’s maps. The commission’s final public listening session took place on Friday.
And although a poll from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County found that Marylanders care about the cost of living more than redistricting, and that more opposed redistricting than not, Republican leadership doesn’t plan on speaking on the issue.
“I can’t predict what some of our more excitable folks may choose to say,” House Minority Leader Jason Buckel said in a text message Monday to The Sun. “But it certainly isn’t the focus of tomorrow’s work, and clearly isn’t the priority for Marylanders.”
Have a news tip? Contact Mennatalla Ibrahim at mibrahim@baltsun.com or Tinashe Chingarande tchingarande@baltsun.com or on Signal as Tnae.19.
from Baltimore Sun https://ift.tt/qxN7goM
via IFTTT
