The Maryland General Assembly hosted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who came to Annapolis to discuss redistricting with Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-District 46).
“I appreciated the opportunity to share my perspective,” Jeffries said. “He shared his perspective and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
Ferguson, who originally said “all options were on the table” to stand up to the Trump administration, has stood resolutely opposed to redistricting in past months.
“I appreciated the meeting with Leader Jeffries in the majority that most members in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus do not support moving forward with mid-cycle redistricting that will backfire in our state courts and lose Democrats in Congress,” Ferguson said in a statement on Feb. 18.
The House of Delegates passed redistricting by a margin of 99-37 in early February, but the bill does not yet have a planned hearing in the State Senate. Multiple Senate Democrats, including Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-District 19), are opposed to the proposed plan.
“There’s an opportunity cost to this issue, because the time that we’re spending debating district lines should more wisely be spent on jobs, economic development, the climate crisis, civil rights, voting rights, health care, education and our budget challenges,” Kagan told Maryland Matters. “There are so many public policy issues in front of us. At some point, this feels like a risky distraction.”
Ferguson has frequently invoked the potential for a redraw to be struck down by court action, garnering the support of some Senate Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-District 36).
“I think that there are a number of Senate Democrats that would like this to be over and would like to just see a vote called and we move forward now again, I’ll defer to the Senate President for how he’s like to handle that but we’ve certainly let him know that if he needs three votes in the rules committee he has them,” Hershey said in an interview with WMAR.
Ferguson has publicly stated that the redistricting plan does not have the support to pass in the Senate.
“For the umpteenth time, in the Senate, we generally do not bring things to the floor that don’t have the votes to pass,” said Ferguson in a press conference on Feb. 20. “Even if this were a realistic possibility, the window of opportunity closed months ago. We know that to be the case because we know what prior redistricting case studies have shown.”
The legislative maps introduced following the 2020 census were thrown out by a judge, forcing the legislature to redraw them. The current maps were signed into law following that judge’s decision.
“It takes at least three to four months for a trial-level court to play out, and then whatever decision happens likely leads to an appeal,” he said. “The filing deadline is next week. We are not going to wait until June to reopen a filing deadline for new maps, new precincts, new local boards.”
Governor’s Housing Agenda Moves Forward
Gov. Wes Moore is prioritizing new housing construction and fast development to reduce housing costs for Marylanders, a package of bills that has begun moving through Annapolis.
Hugo Cantu, a lobbyist who works with the Apartment Owners and Building Association (AOBA), said that a 2022 study shown 40% of development costs are tied directly to governmental regulation.
“Here we are supporting a policy that increases the supply of housing. We thank the governor for his leadership on this bill,” said Cantu during bill testimony. “The multifamily industry is very weak right now. Housing is being decimated in Prince George’s and Montgomery, operating costs are continuing to rise, and local regulations are scaring investors away.”
Amy Tomasso, the vice president of policy and partnerships of Ivory Innovations, is also in support of the governor’s housing agenda.
“Regulations and red tape have an outsized impact on housing affordability, adding unnecessary cost and time to new developments or making them infeasible in the first place,” Tomasso told The Informer. “Cities have a lot of control over how quickly a project moves through development approvals, so policies that streamline the procedural side of permitting and approvals are a big win for predictability, efficiency, and ultimately cost reduction–and states like Maryland can help jumpstart this policy conversation or provide model regulations.”
She is excited to see the changes that these bills will have on new construction and lowering housing costs.
“While governments cannot directly control the price of land, they can reform land use laws that maintain the most expensive development patterns: large homes on large lots with ample parking,” she continued. “Supply-side policies that reduce minimum lot size, reduce parking requirements, encourage housing near transit, promote infill, and gently increase density in appropriate places can help shift markets to be more friendly to smaller, more affordable starter homes.”