Following a challenging 2025 Maryland General Assembly session, Sen. Brian Feldman (D-Dist. 15) says one of the biggest struggles for lawmakers was adjusting to changes at the federal level – including the mass firings of thousands of federal workers.
“Just last month, Maryland lost more than 2,600 federal jobs … and this has a ripple effect,” Feldman, who represents Potomac, said at a Monday morning legislative breakfast held by the Committee for Montgomery at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville.
The Committee for Montgomery is a coalition of local leaders from across various sectors — including business, education and civic associations — that advocate for the General Assembly to prioritize issues and causes considered vital for Montgomery County.
Feldman was joined by Del. Julie Palakovich Carr (D-Dist. 17), who leads the county’s House delegation and represents Rockville and Gaithersburg, and Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Dist. 18), who represents Silver Spring, to discuss the highs and lows of this year’s legislative session, which ended April 7. They talked about a range of issues, from budget shortfalls to education policy to increased public safety measures.
Feldman said one of the proposed federal policies he is concerned about would decrease eligibility for residents on Medicare and Medicaid.
“We’ll either have to figure out how to come up with a billion dollars [to support people] or cut 300,000 folks off the Medicaid extension [program],” Feldman said.
The three legislators agreed that dealing with the state’s $3 billion budget deficit defined the legislative session. The legislature did not finalize its $67.3 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2026 until the final hours of the session.
“This was a very, very challenging state budget,” Feldman said. “Things aren’t getting any better.”
Feldman pointed to the state’s bond credit rating being downgraded from AAA to AA last month by Moody’s, a rating agency. However, Feldman said there may be some good news – Fitch and Standard and Poor’s, the other major bond rating agencies, maintained the state’s AAA status in their assessments. That means that when the state sells bonds to fund projects, it may have to pay higher interest rates on the borrowed cash.
“The implications of that Moody’s downgrade may not be as material as [we] thought it was when that was first announced,” Feldman said.
Feldman said another piece of “good news” is that under new tax policies passed by the General Assembly this year, an estimated 94% of Marylanders will see no increase in their state income tax bills or will receive a tax cut.
“We raised taxes … but we made our tax code fairer [to middle- and low-income residents],” Palakovich Carr said.
Despite the challenges, Waldstreicher noted that the Montgomery County delegation has built a reputation for being leaders in Annapolis, as several legislators have taken on roles as committee chairs and other prominent leadership positions.
“Montgomery County is a force to be reckoned with in Annapolis,” Waldstreicher said.
Other legislative wins for county lawmakers included a first-of-its-kind abortion fund bill sponsored by Del. Lesley Lopez (D-Dist. 39), and Eric’s ID Law, sponsored by Sen. Will Smith (D-Dist. 20) and Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Dist. 20), which will allow Maryland residents with certain hidden disabilities to “opt-in” to have the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) place a special symbol on their driver’s licenses or other state identification cards.
Legislation named for Davis Martinez, a Silver Spring man who was murdered in Chevy Chase while working his job as a parole officer in May 2024, and sponsored by Del. Jared Solomon (D-Dist. 18), will require greater oversight and safety protocols for public correctional facilities and workplace protections for parole officers and other public safety workers.
Another bill sponsored by the entire Montgomery County delegation and will allow for speed monitoring camera systems to be placed on certain state highways in the county that are considered “high-risk” for vehicle crashes.
Funding the Blueprint
One significant financial stressor that lawmakers faced was providing mandated funding for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s 2021 education reform bill. The Blueprint creates new standards for school systems in the state and allocates some funding to jurisdictions to implement those changes. The Blueprint is slated to increase education funding by $3.8 billion each year over the next 10 years.
“That is a big price-tag item,” Feldman said. “That’s going to be a big discussion we’ll be having for the next several years.”
Palakovich Carr said despite budget challenges, the county delegation was able to secure more than $65 million in funding for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) for fiscal year 2026. Palakovich Carr said it’s important to make investments in the school system to improve academic outcomes. For example, she pointed to Maryland being ranked 40th in the country in fourth-grade reading proficiency.
“It was really important to be making the quality changes, making the investments in education,” Palakovich Carr. “Now we have seen reading scores increase.”
Palakovich Carr said the state needs to address teacher shortages as part of the effort to improve educational outcomes.
“We still don’t have enough teachers. We don’t graduate enough education majors out of colleges here in Maryland who meet the needs,” she said.
Other challenges, successes
Feldman, who chairs the state Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, said he has been focusing on streamlining energy policy as his committee’s top priority. He said the state needs to focus on increasing energy production.
“We currently import 40% of our power. We do not produce enough in-state generation,” Feldman said. “That means we need more transmission lines … demand for energy continues to increase, whether it’s more [electric vehicles], electrifying buildings, electrifying homes, data centers coming to the state. So demand for energy is going this way, and our supply for energy is going the other way.”
Feldman said he is passionate about simplifying the state permitting process for new energy plants. Maryland was ranked last in the state by Moody’s for ease of this permitting process.
Waldstreicher touted the legislature’s efforts to address hate crimes and improve public safety, including passage of a bill that makes the theft of a firearm a felony.
“So many of our minority communities are under attack,” Waldstreicher said. “We will spare no expense to make sure Montgomery County residents stay safe.”
Waldstreicher said he also wants to expand the state’s U visa program, which grants legal status to undocumented immigrants who are victims of violent crimes. Montgomery County expanded its U visa eligibility policy in February. Waldstreicher also said that new state legislation will require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to follow stricter procedures to obtain resident records in Maryland.
“[ICE] cannot go willy-nilly into our state records,” Waldstreicher said. “They must request these.”
