The Maryland Wire: Morning Briefing
Executive Digest & Key Actions
1. Board of Public Works & State Procurement
$17M Middle Branch Resiliency Grant Approved: The Board of Public Works (BPW) approved a $17,000,000 Bay Restoration Fund / Comprehensive Flood Management Grant Summary to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for the Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative at Smith Cove (stormwater management and living shoreline installation).
Local Capital Grants Approved: BPW authorized $1.208M in Program Open Space / Community Parks Funding for St. Mary’s County projects (including splash pad upgrades at Nicolet Park and Leonard Hall Park).
State Loan Modifications: Action approved for a $3.5M Rental Housing Works Program loan for the acquisition/rehabilitation of Weinberg Woods (72 elderly rental units on Clarks Lane, Baltimore).
2. Fiscal & Capital Budget Tracking
Capital Debt Affordability Recommendation Set at $1.75B: The Capital Debt Affordability Committee (CDAC), chaired by State Treasurer Dereck E. Davis, held its final meeting and voted unanimously to recommend a $1.75 Billion General Obligation Bond Limit for FY 2028. Budget Secretary Marc Weissmann noted the recommendation balances critical state capital priorities against long-term debt capacity.
3. Executive Orders & Regulatory Enforcement
Agricultural Fuel Emergency Order: Governor Wes Moore’s Executive Relief Order provides emergency relief on diesel fuel transportation restrictions to support the agricultural and forestry sectors during the peak fall harvest season. Relief measures will remain monitored through December 31.
Energy Storage Procurement Round 1 Results: The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) announced awards under the Next Generation Energy Act, awarding 440 MW / 1,760 MWh Battery Storage Capacity. The round fell short of the 800 MW ceiling target due to applicant withdrawals; the PSC plans to open the second bidding round by January 1, 2027.
4. Statutorily Active Laws (October Enforcement Window)
HB 635 (Child Care Background Checks): Mandates enhanced criminal history checks for incoming child care facility staff, with MSDE tasked with delivering structural process recommendations (as highlighted in Patch’s October Law Overview).
Tenant Screening Transparency: Landlords are now required to provide standard disclosure documentation from the Department of Housing and Community Development regarding criteria used for tenant selection or denial.
Handgun Permit Renewal Timelines (SB 331 / HB 94): Under SB 331 Statutory Revisions (detailed in Patch State Legislation Reporting), wear-and-carry handgun permits for retired law enforcement officers now standardize to a 5-year cycle expiring on the last day of the permit holder’s birth month.
Verification Checklist & Immediate Next Steps
BPW Agenda Follow-up: Verify itemized state contract postings on eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA) for downstream engineering and construction procurement tied to the $17M Smith Cove resilient infrastructure award.
Lobbyist Renewal Portal Monitoring: Track late-month filings via the State Ethics Commission (MSEC) portal ahead of the formal November 1 registration window transition.
PSC Docket Review: Access PSC records on the $0.0698/month residential cost impact parameters established for the newly awarded energy storage contracts.
Harris and Schwartz face off in Cambridge: diesel prices, Trump, and the Eastern Shore's representation
Rep. Andy Harris — Maryland’s lone House Republican and Freedom Caucus chair — and Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz, the former consumer-rights advocate who quit his job last year to run, met Tuesday night at the Chesapeake Grove Intergenerational Center in Cambridge for their 1st District forum, streamed on Queen Anne’s County Television, WHCP Radio and Radio Chesapeake’s YouTube channel. Schwartz has hammered Harris on gas prices, tariffs and the war in Iran; Harris has accused Annapolis Democrats of trying to “steal the Eastern Shore” through Question 3 — and the redistricting question looms over both, with a UMBC poll finding 53% of likely voters opposed. Maryland Matters’ October 14 report billed it as a heated debate, with the two clashing over diesel and finding common ground on redistricting.
Source: Maryland Matters
The magic-wand question that wins retainers (via The Maryland Wire)
Barry’s latest “Be the Expert” piece is sales craft for the government-relations world: don’t pitch the prospect on what you do — ask what keeps them up at night. His tool is the magic-wand question: send “Bill” back to his office and ask what he’d change with one wave of the wand, because the answer forces him to name the problem — and with lobbyists, that problem will be in your wheelhouse. Then apply the 20-80 rule (20 percent you asking, 80 percent them answering) and Barry’s law: “Nobody Really Cares” — about your track record, anyway. Solve her problem and she writes the retainer check. Free preview; the full drill-down is paid.
Source: The Maryland Wire
Moore orders DJS to stand up youth auto-theft pilots in Baltimore and Montgomery County
About two weeks after a Baltimore motorcyclist was killed by a car allegedly driven by a 12-year-old, Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday he’s had enough: in a directive to Department of Juvenile Services chief Betsy Fox Tolentino, Moore ordered a multiagency pilot in Baltimore City and Montgomery County — the two jurisdictions seeing the biggest jumps in stolen cars this year — plus a “specialized early intervention pathway” aimed at kids under 13 who display concerning behaviors but can’t be charged for most crimes, coordinating the child, their family, social services providers and law enforcement.
Source: Maryland Matters
Press groups to Moore: stop icing out Sinclair reporters
A coalition of press-rights organizations led by the Freedom of the Press Foundation sent Gov. Wes Moore a letter on October 13 demanding he stop routing routine inquiries from Sinclair-owned outlets into a legal-review black hole amid his personal defamation fight with Sinclair chairman David Smith. FPF chief of advocacy Seth Stern called it “petty and ridiculous” for a governor to have state agencies stonewall outlets because he’s mad at their owner — and needled Moore for posturing as a press-freedom defender against the Trump White House while inviting, in Stern’s words, “well-deserved accusations of hypocrisy.”
Source: Freedom of the Press Foundation
Moore and Cox, same stage: BUILD presses both on housing and vacants
Gov. Wes Moore and Republican challenger Dan Cox shared a stage Monday night — not a debate, but a forum where faith and community leaders with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development pressed both gubernatorial candidates on housing, the economy and vacant properties, per Jeff Abel’s WBFF reporting in Maryland Reporter’s October 13 roundup. With early voting opening October 22 and the UMBC poll showing Moore up 51 to 24, every shared stage counts.
Source: Maryland Reporter
Kim Ross fundraiser tonight: White Marsh, 6 p.m.”
Del. Kim Ross (D-District 8, Baltimore County) hosts her fundraiser tonight, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Casa Mia’s, 8601 Honeygo Blvd. in White Marsh; tickets run $100 to $6,000 to “Kim Ross for Maryland” — contact goldstein@martinlauer.com or 410-366-1500. Ross, appointed in March 2025 after Carl Jackson moved to the Senate and fresh off leading the June primary field, sits on the House Health Committee.
Source: https://mdlobbyist.com/fundraiser-events/delegate-kim-ross/details here.
The Incredible Kim Ross
Kim Ross didn’t wait for an invitation. When Carl Jackson moved to the state Senate in early 2025, the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee — where Ross had served as communications director — turned to one of its own. Governor Wes Moore appointed her to the House of Delegates on March 3, 2025. Of course it didn’t hurt that Maryland’s Greek Uncle Clem Kaikis supported Kim strongly to the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee and the Governor. Seventeen months later, she didn’t just hold the seat. She led the entire Democratic primary field in District 8.
Ross brought a working communicator’s resume to Annapolis. A B.A. in English from North Carolina Central University, a master’s in strategic communications from University of Maryland Global Campus, and a graduate certificate from NYU. Years as a financial news manager, a public relations account executive, an editor and communications manager for the National Association for Public Health Statistics, and a senior communications manager for the Association of Public Health Laboratories. She knows how words move people, because she’s spent her career doing it.
In the House she sits on the Health Committee, with assignments spanning health facilities, insurance, and maternal, infant, and child health — and she holds a seat in the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. Moore had already tapped her once before, for the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Baltimore County. The Daily Record named her one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women in 2024 and again in 2026.
Tonight she hosts a fundraiser at Casa Mia’s in White Marsh — a freshman delegate who has earned her seat twice over, and a woman doing the job well.