[NFBMD] Legislative Update - Maryland General Assembly Adjourns and NFBMD Largely Successful

[Maryland President]

Hi Friends,

Here's a quick update on the status of our legislative priorities for the
2025 session of the Maryland General Assembly.  The General Assembly
adjourned on Monday, and we have had a lot of success this year.  We still
have work to do in some areas of course, and we've already begun our efforts
here.

 

Blind Home-Owners Property Tax Credit

Both the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate passed the
Blind Home Owners' Property Tax Credit bill (SB-0911 / HB-0910).  We are
waiting to hear the date the Governor will sign the law, and we'll be
bringing a contingent to Annapolis for the bill signing.  Congratulations -
due to your collective activism, the blind home owner property tax credit
will rise from $15,000 to $40,000.  Special thanks go to Ben Danforth who
brought this as a resolution to our Convention in 2023.

 

Maryland Service Animal Program

Both the House and Senate passed the bill that establishes the first ever
grant program to train service animals, including guide dogs, in Maryland.
We'll keep you posted on when the bill signing date will be when Governor
Moore will officially enact the legislation.

 

 

Braille and Tactile Flag Legislation

Both the House and Senate passed the Braille and Tactile Flag legislation
that will require each state-run veteran cemetery to have a tactile or
Braille flag displayed.  We'll let you know when the bill is scheduled for
signing.

 

MTA Medical Recertification Bill

Both the House and Senate passed the bill that takes away the requirement to
provide new medical information when recertifying with MTA for those with
permanent disabilities.  We'll let you know when the bill signing is going
to be.

 

Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

Unfortunately, we did not get the autonomous vehicle legislation we were
supporting out of committee.  Our coalition of organizations is already
working on moving this forward in the 2026 session.  Stay tuned.

 

Accessible Paperless Ballot return

The status of this matter is a bit unclear.  Though we got the legislation
out of the Senate, the House did not take it up.  However, we also got the
language in the Senate version of the budget bill.  We don't yet know if it
made it through to the final budget bill that the General Assembly adopted,
as I haven't had a chance to comb through the entire budget yet.  I'll share
information when I learn what happened.

 

 

Delivery Services Fees

We were successful in advocating for removal of delivery service fees in the
2026 budget bill.  Doubtless we'll see this tax again.

 

Other Matters

We also testified - in writing or orally - on roughly 250 bills this
session.  For the most-part, the General Assembly did what we were hoping
it'd do on these bills.  It is important to get new legislation passed that
ensures our rights are protected and our participation in society preserved.
However, it's more important to defeat bad laws that would curtail our
rights or access.  We were successful in both areas this year.

 

Thank you all for all of your work - it takes each of us.

 

Regards,

Ronza

 

 

 

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back

 

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