The historic election of Joseline Peña-Melnyk as speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates took center stage at a legislative roundup hosted by the College Park City Council and state District 21 representatives on May 13.
At the meeting, Peña-Melnyk, Sen. Jim Rosapepe and Delegate Mary Lehman detailed a sweeping array of newly passed legislation affecting energy costs, labor rights and road improvements.
Peña-Melnyk highlighted an omnibus bill designed to combat rising utility costs by bundling several energy measures together. The legislation is expected to save ratepayers at least $150 a year on their electric bills.
Among its provisions, the law stops gas and electric companies from billing ratepayers for most employee bonuses and limits how much utilities can charge customers to cover supervisor compensation. Data centers, which have driven a surge in electricity demand across the state, will now be required to cover the costs of their own energy infrastructure upgrades rather than passing those costs to Maryland ratepayers.
Also bundled into the law is a transparency measure authored by Lehman. It mandates that utility companies include explicit notices on customer bills whenever they file with the Public Service Commission for a potential rate increase, along with information on how customers can object.
Lehman also shared updates on new state laws that affect university towns.
She highlighted two bills that grant collective bargaining rights to graduate assistants and non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Maryland (UMD), capping off a 15-year legislative push. She noted that UMD had been one of only two schools in the Big Ten conference that did not allow graduate assistants to collectively bargain.
“To all of this, I say it’s about time,” Lehman said.
Lehman also detailed another bill that links voting access and public transportation.
The law targets barriers for students, seniors and non-drivers who have trouble getting to polling places for early voting. It requires city- and county-funded buses whose fixed routes pass within a half mile of an early voting center to stop at the front door of the voting facility during voting hours.
Lehman also highlighted a new law protecting nearly 20,000 contiguous acres of undeveloped land at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and the Patuxent Research Refuge.
Under the statute, if the federal government ever tries to sell or transfer the land, local zoning authorities will not be allowed to rezone it for commercial, residential or industrial development. The law aims to restrict use of the land to agriculture and environmental conservation.
The delegation addressed immigration and law enforcement oversight, noting a new measure that bans most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from wearing face masks while on duty in the state. Another measure prohibits local jurisdictions from participating in federal 287(g) contract programs, which previously allowed local jail and police forces to be deputized to enforce federal immigration laws.
Lehman called bills for pedestrian safety, education funding and environmental protection legislative victories.
Rosapepe noted that funding for improvements to the North College Park stretch of Route 1 came through this year.
“This is the second year in a row that we’ve got money in the transportation budget to proceed with planning for Phases 2 and 3,” he said, noting that the State Highway Administration is planning a public meeting with the city in the coming months to discuss planning ideas.
The state has also made substantial investments to establish College Park as the quantum capital of the country, an initiative Rosapepe said would bring “all kinds of opportunities” to the city.
During the meeting, College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir called Peña-Melnyk’s path to leadership a “fascinating story.”
Peña-Melnyk, a former College Park city councilmember, recounted her childhood in the Dominican Republic. She described growing up in a tiny wooden house with a metal roof that leaked raindrops into pots and pans.
“When you grow up that way, you know there’s just something about the drive inside of you,” Peña-Melnyk said. “I didn’t come to warm the seat, right? I came to make a difference.”
Rosapepe said the election of Peña-Melnyk, the second woman and the first immigrant to hold the position, was the most important thing that happened in Annapolis during the legislative session, which ended in April.
He noted she is the only House speaker in Maryland history who has walked every street in College Park. Peña-Melnyk lives in the city’s College Park Woods neighborhood.
“She knows College Park intimately, as we all know,” Rosapepe said.