What key issues will be taken up in the 2026 MD General Assembly?

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Here’s a look at some of the key issues lawmakers will face during the 90-day legislative session in Maryland that opens Wednesday.

Lawmakers look to regulate utility companies, PJM

As ratepayers grow more exasperated with each hike of their utility bills, Maryland lawmakers are making plans to ease the pinch on their wallets during the 2026 legislative session through data center, utility company and grid regulation.

“People are frustrated — and frustrated at utilities, specifically — for driving up the cost of energy, both for the delivery of energy and for their role in delivering up the cost of transmission of energy and energy, itself,” said Emily Scarr, a senior advisor at Maryland PIRG.

Jamie DeMarco, the principal of the energy lobbying firm DeMarco Advocacy, said that the General Assembly “took tremendous strides” in 2025 to reduce energy costs, but, while the state is beginning to see the benefits of that legislation, “it is taking time to take effect.”

Last year, legislative leadership put together a package of bills in an attempt to address rising energy costs and Maryland.

RELATED: MD leaders outline 2026 priorities, signal disagreement on redistricting

This year, Del. Lorig Charkoudian, D-Montgomery, plans to sponsor a bill to create competitive procurement for utility-scale solar projects, like solar farms, using money that’s already been collected for the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard, “so ratepayers won’t see an increase on their bill,” she said.

Sen. Katie Fry Hester, D-Howard and Montgomery, said she has been working with a bipartisan coalition of more than 50 legislators representing states on PJM’s grid to push for reforms to how it manages large load connections. She is considering sponsoring a bill to incentivize data centers to build their own power sources and not guarantee that they will have firm power service, or won’t experience blackouts, until they bring their own energy capacity to the table. Hester is hoping that lawmakers from other states on the grid will follow suit to form an interstate compact.

– Hannah Gaskill

As state faces budget deficit, abuse cases against DJS loom

There are more than 10,000 people suing the Department of Juvenile Services under the Child Victims Act, the 2023 state law that ended the statute of limitations on lawsuits against the institutions that employed alleged abusers. DJS is facing more abuse lawsuits than any other state agency. (Doe’s lawsuit also names MDH and the two private institutions as defendants.)

Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland General Assembly last year managed to plug a $3.3 billion budget hole through a combination of tax increases and cuts to staff and programming. But, early in the session, the Department of Legislative Services warned lawmakers of “enormous liability” — potentially billions of dollars — from these lawsuits.

The DLS staffer last January said the state was negotiating a settlement with plaintiffs’ lawyers, according to Maryland Matters. Those talks did not yield a solution. Instead, the legislature amended the Child Victims Act, cutting by more than half the damages that both private and governmental defendants would have to pay survivors.

The law forced a flood of lawsuits in the month between its passage and the deadline after which damages were reduced.

This session, lawmakers are facing a $1.2 billion deficit and have vowed not to increase taxes.

Most sources expect a DJS settlement eventually, because the cost to the state of paying each victim after a jury trial — not to mention the cost of litigation — is likely to be much more than the state would pay in a global settlement. But that is likely at least a year away. While a nine- or ten-figure bill may be looming, it won’t be the General Assembly’s top focus during the upcoming legislative session.

For now, there are no settlement negotiations, according to plaintiffs’ lawyers.

– Ian Round

Juvenile justice reform poised for debate in 2026 session

Susan Leviton, Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Maryland School of Law, opened the presentation of the Maryland Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging & Best Practices, Processes and System Coordination Workgroup. The recommendations, delivered at the Commission’s October meeting, followed the workgroup’s detailed review of the state’s failure to comply with the Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, with a particular focus on the practice of holding minors in adult jails.

Working with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, Judiciary representatives and county stakeholders, the workgroup identified statutory, systemic and operational gaps that contribute to the violations. The report notes that charging minors as adults for crimes like murder, rape and robbery hasn’t been shown to improve public safety, does not provide added community protection and disproportionately impacts children of color.

According to Sen. Will Smith, D-Montgomery County, commission member and chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Maryland records more JJDPA infractions than any other state.

Changes enacted in 2024 expanded the list of offenses that place Maryland youth under adult jurisdiction. Today, there are 33 offenses that automatically send Maryland children to an adult detention center upon arrest. However, 85% of the youth automatically charged as adults ultimately return to juvenile court or have their cases dismissed. Many of those children whose cases are dismissed or transferred to juvenile court spend weeks or even months in adult facilities before their cases are resolved.

The workgroup’s recommendations don’t propose eliminating auto charging. Instead, they call for all cases involving minors to begin in juvenile court. Judges would retain discretion to transfer certain cases to adult criminal court. These changes, the workgroup stated, reflect national best practices, and if implemented, would bring Maryland closer to federal compliance.

– Faye Rivkin

More from Eye on Annapolis: The Daily Record is publishing a series of stories previewing key topics, including the following, that are expected to be tackled by the General Assembly in the weeks leading up to the 2026 session. Energy DJS abuse lawsuits Juvenile Justice Attorney General’s Office Health Care Immigration Budget State Leadership

Brown highlights wins against landlords and Trump

The Maryland Attorney General‘s Office has had a busy year, punctuated by litigation against the Trump administration, lawsuits against slumlords and investigations of police misconduct.

This year saw the conclusion of the first cases brought by two OAG divisions that were either created or empowered during the tenure of Attorney General Anthony Brown. One succeeded; one was dismissed before trial.

The Civil Rights Division, created in 2023, secured a major victory last month in its first case, against an Eastern Shore landlord who demanded sexual favors in exchange for reduced rent. A judge ordered him to pay nearly $2.5 million.

Another housing win came in September, when the OAG’s Consumer Protection Division secured a more-than $11 million settlement with a company that operated a Prince George’s County apartment complex for more than two years without a license while allowing unsafe living conditions. It was the consumer division’s largest-ever settlement in a landlord-tenant case.

Brown’s office also spent the year fighting the Trump administration in court, often preventing or delaying spending cuts. That was enabled by a federal accountability unit for which Brown got $1 million from the General Assembly and Gov. Wes Moore last year.

But the office failed in its first police prosecution after the OAG’s Independent Investigations Division — which investigates police-involved deaths — gained the ability to bring charges. The case, against two Anne Arundel County officers accused of lying about their role in a fatal crash, was dismissed before trial. The judge ruled the state’s case may have been tainted by information it wasn’t allowed to use. The top two IID officials were forced to resign.

– Ian Round

Combating federal cuts to health care is top priority for advocates

With deep federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare set to take effect in the new year, Maryland health care advocates are gearing up to ask the General Assembly for help.

The Maryland Department of Health estimates that the state will lose up to $2.7 billion annually in Medicaid funding – and that 175,000 people will lose Medicaid coverage – when the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act takes effect. Signed into law in July by President Donald Trump, the bill also contains tax cut provisions that will significantly increase the national debt and trigger automatic cuts to Medicare.

On top of all this, Maryland faces a structural deficit of $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2027.

Dan Rabbitt, policy director at Behavioral Health System Baltimore, has no illusions about the challenges faced by his organization, which oversees the public behavioral health system in Baltimore City.

Changes to Medicaid are likely to result in tens of thousands of people in Baltimore losing health coverage, Rabbitt said, pointing to new work requirements and more frequent reenrollment for recipients.

Gene Ransom, CEO of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, emphasized that federal cuts will hurt practitioners as well as patients.

Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Health Care for All coalition, said he had two primary goals for 2026 that are achievable thanks to previous actions by the General Assembly. First, protect Marylanders from the problems coming from Washington and second making sure lower-income residents can afford plans on the state’s insurance marketplace.

– Hope Keller

Maryland’s lawmakers and sheriffs weigh limits on ICE partnerships

Maryland officials can’t control U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but they have some options for limiting the agency’s impact and protecting immigrants’ civil rights.

At the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 14, the General Assembly will again consider ending what are known as 287(g) agreements, through which local law enforcement and detention agencies collaborate with ICE.

And if they choose to do so, Maryland’s Republican sheriffs expect ICE to retaliate.

On the final day of last year’s legislative session, a bill to end these agreements, sponsored by state Del. Nicole Williams, D-Prince George’s, was watered down and passed without its key provisions. The legislature did extend certain protections to immigrants in “sensitive locations” like churches and schools.

But in the past year, Marylanders have seen ICE accelerate its arrests, use more force against civilians and create an atmosphere of fear in the state’s immigrant communities. Reports of ICE renting office space in Hyattsville and the Baltimore area fueled speculation that the agency is planning massive raids like those seen in Chicago and Los Angeles. The majority of immigrants ICE arrested this year have no criminal record, according to The Baltimore Banner.

Now, Williams is sponsoring the bill again, and this time, it has a better shot. Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, has since put his support behind it.

– Ian Round

New taxes are unlikely as leaders look to manage deficit

Maryland lawmakers are preparing to contend with a $1.2 a billion-dollar budget deficit as the state continues to reel from funding cuts to state governments and the federal workforce. But, after a significant increase in taxes and fees seen last session, should residents brace for another hike?

At the close of the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers were under the impression that they had implemented the bulk of revenue-generating measures for the current four-year term. But that was before the state suffered staggering slashes to federal jobs, shrinking funding for social safety net programming and the possibility of thousands of residents losing access to health care.

For the second year in a row, the General Assembly will have to contend with a structural budget deficit, though they have a much smaller hurdle to overcome.

During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers were tasked with tying up a more than $3 billion deficit that was exacerbated by actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. On the session’s final day, the General Assembly sent a budget to Moore balanced by a series of cuts and the introduction or increase in new taxes and fees, including a tax on information technology services, poised to bring in approximately $1.6 billion.

– Hannah Gaskill