Bryan Sears

Gov. Wes Moore (D) issued an executive order Friday that could delay initial penalties for electric vehicle manufacturers who do not meet sales goals under a prescriptive state plan that is supposed to take effect next year.

House and Senate fiscal leaders reached agreement Friday on a compromise budget that includes $1.6 billion in new taxes and ends a one-year experiment with a racing authority tasked with modernizing a storied racetrack and preserving an industry.

The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote Wednesday on an amended version of a bill that could limit the state's financial liability stemming from claims of institutional abuse.

Senate Republicans scored a victory in Monday's budget debate, notching a rare minority win with their amendment that dedicates a new per tire fee to state highways and bridges. It came as the Senate gave preliminary OK to a $67 billion budget.

There are eight days left to the final day of the legislative session and, as usual, most of the big issues are still hanging. But if anyone's panicking, it's not evident. Most big issues are moving, if slowly, and the chambers appear to be talking to each other.

Gov. Wes Moore said the fiscal 2026 budget needs to give a tax break to middle-class taxpayers, but he sidestepped questions on whether the plan currently steaming through the legislature provides meaningful relief.

Attorneys representing hundreds of people with allegations of sexual abuse while in state custody said a late-session attempt to limit financial damages is insulting and likely unconstitutional.

Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel) hangs it up after five terms, Alverne "Chet" Chesterfield joins the State Board of Education, a Maryland Day reminder of what makes the state great, more in political notes.

The Maryland House of Delegates could give its final approval Wednesday to a fiscal 2026 spending plan that includes more than $1 billion in new taxes.

Del. Brian M. Crosby (D-St Mary's) is vice chair of the House Economic Matters Committee as well as the owner of a small IT business. Until last week, that business was based in Maryland, but a proposed tax on IT services drove him to Virginia.