As the General Assembly moves towards a final vote on the state budget, environmentalists have become alarmed over a recently-inserted amendment that they believe guts and delays an innovative program to curb pollution in buildings and help ratepayers reduce their utility bills. “Climate Solutions Now was carefully crafted legislation,” said Jeremy P. Baker, Jones’ chief of staff. “The General Assembly’s budget language simply ensures the regulatory process faithfully follows the letter and intent of that law.” While conceding that the amendment may delay full implementation of the building standards by several months, Jones’ aides believe a less hurried regulatory process will produce a more thoroughly vetted rule and allow for more public input. The 2022 climate bill does not require the state to hit 20 percent carbon reduction goals for the building sector until 2030, which, in the view of Jones’ advisers, should give MDE plenty of time to catch up.
Our position: The Maryland Chamber applauds this amendment, as it promotes a more deliberative, thorough and transparent regulatory process to ensure accurate and effective regulations. Under the regulations, the draft energy use intensity (EUI) standards are not enforceable until 2030. This gives MDE ample time to complete the required benchmarking, as mandated by the Climate Solutions Now Act, to use actual data to set the EUI standards — ensuring that the regulations are accurate, while avoiding imposing significant costs on impacted building owners.
