Climate Change and the 2024 Session

Top Priority Bills

HB 864 - Reform EmPOWER - PASSED

• Since 2008, the EmPOWER program, Maryland's home energy efficiency program run by the utilities and DHCD, has saved ratepayers more than $4 billion on energy bills and reduced Maryland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the equivalent of 9.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Through incentives and rebates for home energy audits, weatherization, and efficient appliances, EmPOWER reduces energy consumption, lowering utility bills while minimizing peak demand.

• To date, however, the program has not adequately worked to reduce harmful GHG emissions and has not delivered for low-income Marylanders. In 2022 the legislature passed a bill to set clear goals for DHCD on the low income program. It’s critical that the legislature make adjustments to EmPOWER in 2024 to set clear GHG reduction goals, enable incentives for switching to electric heating and appliances, and enact consumer guardrails that direct utilities to deliver savings to ratepayers through in-home improvements.

• EmPOWER Maryland’s primary goal is to conserve energy through in-home energy efficiency improvements through incentives and rebates for energy audits, weatherization, and efficient appliances. The utilities can also meet their goals through behavior change strategies and use of front-of-meter technologies (i.e., grid efficiency).

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HB 24/SB 96 - Climate and Environmental Equity Act

• Through lack of historic oversight on preventing the aggregation of polluting industries and facilities in specific places, MD natural habitats and underserved populations are overexposed to pollution. 

• This legislation will give the Maryland Department of the Environment the authority to approve, alter, or deny a permit based on an EJ score, and assessment of other permits and the underlying sociodemographic characteristics of the community. HB 1200 that passed in 2022 required an EJ score be included in the applications for section 1-601 permits. The Climate & Environmental Equity Act builds on this requirement to grant MDE authority to take action based on this information.

HB 516 - Climate Change and Environmental Justice Act

• The CCEJ establishes two types of fossil fuel fees charged to polluters such as oil companies, that include a polluter pays, no-pass through provision:

  • Non-transportation Fuel Fee (building heat) starting at $30/ton CO2, ⁃ increases $5/ton per year, and is capped at $75/ton until the target is met; and

  • Transportation Fuel Fee (gas) starting at $25/ton CO2, increases $3/ton per year, and is capped at $52/ton until the target is met.

• The CCEJ shall include policies to mitigate inequities that could arise from the implementation of the fee. Two funds will be created with the revenue generated from the greenhouse gas pollution fees collected:

  • the Household and Employer Benefit Fund that will direct 50% of the revenue to protect low- and moderate-income households (LMI) and energy-intensive trade-exposed employers in the State from financial harm because of this policy; and

  • the Climate Crisis Infrastructure Fund that shall invest 50% of the fund in projects that are directly located within and provide meaningful benefits to environmental justice communities. This fund will also provide technical assistance, capacity, and planning tools to county and municipal governments to develop local Climate Action Plans and investment proposals. Due consideration shall be given to counties and municipalities containing environmental justice populations.

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Other Priority Bills 

HB 1438 / SB 958 - Responding to Emergency Needs from Extreme Weather (RENEW) Act 

The RENEW Act provides $900,000 million a year in new funding for Maryland to be used for both climate adaptation and mitigation 40% of the money is required to be invested into overburdened communities, with specific funding allocations for programs closing public health disparities, low income energy bill assistance, and low income energy efficiency program. The RENEW Act would also provide funding for the currently unfunded Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities

• The funding will all come from a one time assessment on the 40 largest international fossil fuels companies. This cost cannot be passed on, and this is not a price on carbon. A price on carbon would affect all companies and would be proportional to sales. 

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HB 397/SB 570 Public Utilities – Thermal Energy Network Systems – Authorization and Establishment (Working for Accessible Renewable Maryland Thermal Heat (WARMTH) Act) - PASSED

This legislation would require each gas company to develop a plan for a pilot Thermal Energy Network System (TENS) in disadvantaged communities. TENS provides efficient, affordable, and reliable clean energy heating and cooling to entire neighborhoods through a shared network of water pipes that transfer heat in and out of buildings. These distributed energy heating and cooling systems are one of the most promising climate solutions available to ensure a safe, equitable, and just transition away from fossil fuels in buildings.

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SB 1023 / HB 1279 - Maryland Building Performance Standards – Fossil Fuel Use, Energy Conservation, and Electric– and Solar–Ready Standards (Better Buildings Act of 2024)

• This bill would require all new homes and buildings in the state to be built to produce zero scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions – basically all-electric. This was a provision in the Climate Solutions Now Act that was dropped out in the Senate bill in favor of a grid capacity study, which will be complete in December and is largely positive. Requiring electric or other zero-emissions construction is a critical step in meeting Maryland’s greenhouse gas targets. This effort expands on the possibility of MDE enacting regulations to set a high bar for appliance fuel emissions standards, as regs would not cover non-vented appliances.

HB 1435 / SB 783 - Solar Siting and Incentives (Brighter Tomorrow Act) - PASSED

• Maryland has committed to significant advancement in solar development through both the broad emissions reduction goals of the Climate Solutions Now Act, as well as the specific carve-outs for solar energy (14.5%) in the 2019 Clean Energy Jobs Act. The state is nowhere close to achieving those goals. The twin challenges that have impeded progress include financial challenges and market instability of solar development, especially in the rooftop solar industry, as well as concerns about siting for the projects, especially on agricultural lands.

• The policy recommendations to address this issue comes in two parts. which work in tandem and in concert.

  • Supporting recommendations from the Solar Incentives Task Force which will provide a holistic package of incentives for solar deployment that aims to make solar projects on already developed lands (including parking lots, rooftops, brownfields, etc.) more affordable, in order to reduce the pressure of development on openspace and agricultural lands.

  • In order to meet our solar carve-out, we will need to have development on agricultural lands, as well as already developed property, however working with open space, water, and agricultural advocates, as well as the Maryland Association of Counties and solar developers, this proposal will mandate that all counties identify a percentage of their lands that are appropriate for solar development of projects at least 5mwh,

HB 1101 / SB 653 - Standing - Environmental and Natural Resources Protection Proceedings (Clean Water Justice Act of 2024) - PASSED

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Community Environmental Protection Act of 2024

This bill would address two legal deficiencies that hinder access to environmental justice in Maryland: 

• Maryland’s environmental laws do not provide a cause of action allowing a concerned Marylander to sue in state court for a violation of our state laws. 

• Even if a public enforcement right were to be created by statute, Maryland’s common law standards governing who has standing to sue (can demonstrate harm) in state court is substantially more stringent than the federal standing doctrine one.