“The MDLCVEF’s list enhancement program provides CBF with the critical information we need to better qualify our member list and identify potential activists. It’s a very valuable tool.”

-Terry Cummings, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Issues

Session Opens

The 2010 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session opened January 13th. Over the next three months more than 2000 bills will be considered, including the State's budget. Negotiating a budget is always a big task but it is rarely such a huge challenge.

With your help, the Maryland LCV Education Fund has fought hard to achieve a seat at the table. Now we need to exercise our collective voice and keep the values of a clean, safe and productive environment front and center as legislators make tough decisions. The economy is on all our minds, but we are the ones to remind our legislators that good environmental policy is good economic policy.

During the session we will be fighting for the following priorities:

* Protecting the Green Infrastructure Budget

* Smarter Transportation Choices for Maryland

* Watershed Protection and Restoration Act

2010 Legislative Environmenal Priorities

Protecting the Green Infrastructure Budget

This session, Governor Martin O'Malley and the Legislature will spend most of the session grappling with a projected $1-2 billion additional budget cuts. Given this serious economic situation, your voice is vital to ensure the protection of critical environmental programs and agencies that invest in our economy and our environment.

Smarter Transportation Choices for Maryland

Our transportation system is fundamentally broken. Our policies are not in line with our values when we continue to build more roads that add to our greenhouse gases, keep us in our cars and affect our way of life. We need transportation dollars to be spent in ways that create jobs, improve public health and improve the environment. We need a better, safer, cleaner way to get where we need to go.

Watershed Protection and Restoration Act

When it rains, stormwater pollution runs from our parking lots, rooftops, and other hard surfaces, washing out streambeds and choking all life in our waters. The backlog of green infrastructure repairs caused by stormwater runoff exceeds $20 billion statewide. This bill will require counties to implement a stormwater user charge on impervious surfaces. This will create a dedicated revenue stream and hundreds of jobs in Maryland repairing the damage done by runoff from existing properties.

2010 Environmental Summit

16th Annual Environmental Summit
January 26th, 2010
5:00 — 8:00 p.m.
Key Auditorium, St. John’s College, Annapolis

Come to Annapolis and hear from top legislative leaders and advocates about 2010 environmental legislation. Do your part for the environment and our communities! Join us and lobby for good environmental policy.

For more information or to register visit: www.cbf.org/2010mels or contact Pete Johnson at 410-280-9855. Please car pool if possible. Park in the Navy Stadium lot and take the shuttle to the State House. St. John’s is one block from the State House on College Avenue