Speaking Out Faithfully for
Our Common Home
2024 Legislative Briefing

Zoom Link for Today's Event:
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We are gearing up for the 2024 legislative session, which will run from January 10th to April 8th. Join us for our virtual briefing on February 4th at 2 PM to discuss the bills, policies, and initiatives that Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake and Interfaith Power and Light DMV (MD.DC.NoVA) will champion throughout the legislative session. 

We'll discuss:

• Impact of Environmental Permits and State Agency Actions - This legislation will give the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) the authority to approve, alter, or deny a permit based on an environmental justic (EJ) score, and assessment of other permits and the underlying sociodemographic characteristics of the community. HB 1200 that passed in 2022 required an EJ score be included in the applications for section 1-601 permits. This 2024 Environmental Permits and State Agency Actions bill builds on this requirement to grant MDE authority to take action based on this information.
  
  
• Empower - Since 2008, the EmPOWER program in Maryland has saved ratepayers $4 billion on energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This 2024 legislation proposes to make adjustments to EmPOWER to set clear GHG reduction goals, enable incentives for switching to electric heating and appliances, and enact consumer guardrails that direct utilities to deliver savings to ratepayers through in-home improvements.
  
  
• Whole Watersheds Protection Act- This legislation proposes a coordinated approach that maximizes return on investment from conservation funding sources in order to accelerate watershed health. This legislation will provide the direction, authority – and funding - needed to ensure this coordinated approach is informed by science and data. The bill will establish a pilot program to identify up to 5 impaired watersheds across Maryland. Watersheds selected for the program will be subject to a comprehensive planning and permitting process bringing together all relevant stakeholders to improve water quality on an expedited timeline using a variety of practices. The goal of the program is to rapidly (on a 5-7 year timeline) remove selected watersheds from the impaired waterways list.
  

Meet our speakers:

DELEGATE LORIG CHARKOUDIAN, Ph.D. represents District 20 in Montgomery County in the Maryland General Assembly, where she serves on the Economic Matters Committee and is chair of the Unemployment Insurance Oversight Subcommittee. She is a strong advocate for legislation promoting environmental justice, consumer protections, economic justice, and criminal justice reform. Some of Delegate Charkoudian's past legislation include building sustainable food systems, expanding the clean energy economy, and ensuring equity in our energy policies. In addition to her role as Delegate, Lorig is the executive director of the Community Mediation Maryland. She received her PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and has been honored three times as Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Maryland Daily Record.

Other speakers will highlight important points about the priority bills:
- Jose Coronado-Flores: Environmental Permits and State Agency Actions
- Joelle Novey: Empower
- Matt Stegman: Whole Watersheds
                                - Baltimore City District 4 Council Member Mark Conway

With gratitude to our grassroots partners:

Beloved DMV Environmental Justice Collective
Creation Care Ministry of the Del-MD Synod of the ELCA
Jewish Climate Action Network DMV
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland

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Hope to see you there!