New Bills passed before Maryland General Assembly
Maryland voters have let their legislators know that they want solutions to global warming. The Maryland general assembly passed two major pieces of legislation during the 2007 session. The Clean Cars Act will reduce pollution from vehicles and the Stormwater Management Act will control stormwater runoff by requiring developers to use environmental design.
There were a number of other important bills passed during this session, including HB 942, which creates the Maryland Green Building Council in the Department of General Services. The bill instructs the Council to “provide recommendations concerning the most cost-effective green building technologies that the state might consider requiring in the construction of state facilities, including consideration of the additional cost associated with the various technologies.”
Another important bill that passed was HB 590, which provides a “subtraction modification under the Maryland income tax for specified amounts received as a grant under a specified program; exempting from the State property tax real property that is a solar energy device installed to heat or cool a dwelling, generate electricity to be used in the dwelling, or provide hot water for use in the dwelling, and applying portions of the Act to specified tax years.”
Thanks to the Maryland League of Conservation Voters for the information and links provided here.