MD Legislative Recap and Budget Defense for Birds

Thanks to advocacy from Audubon members and many partners, Maryland lawmakers retained most funding for core conservation and environmental programs, amid significant budget challenges.  

The news comes at the end of Maryland’s 90-day legislative session, during which Audubon Mid-Atlantic provided testimony on 29 bills and at five budget hearings, advocating for birds and the places they need. Throughout the session, our members took action via postcards, phone calls, emails, and lawmaker meetings. Thank you for your support of Maryland’s environment and the birds that rely on our unique landscapes! 

The theme of this year’s session was the state budgets, including a $1.5 billion shortfall that meant the environmental community was on defense – fighting for environmental and conservation funding. Even with those budget headwinds, we did see wins for birds.  

The Department of Natural Resources, the Department of the Environment, and the Department of Agriculture all saw slight year-over-year increases in their annual budgets.  

Additionally, funding for Program Open Space, a core conservation program, remained largely untouched, and the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays Trust Fund remained adequately funded, ensuring critical conservation work can continue even in this fiscally challenging period.  

Bills that passed supporting birds in Maryland: 

Audubon, our partners, and our network of advocates helped to advance these important bills this year in Annapolis. The following bills have passed the legislature and are expected to be signed into law by the Governor: 

• The Jack Cover Vernal Pool Wetlands Protection Act of 2026 (HB701/SB523) requires the Department of Natural Resources to identify vernal pools in Maryland and maintain a list of their locations. This is a critical step in protecting vital pieces of bird habitat in the state. 

• Endangered Species and Habitat Protections (HB578/SB431) gives the state of Maryland additional powers to protect rare, threatened, and endangered species amid federal rollbacks of bedrock conservation programs. While Audubon was disheartened to see the migratory bird provisions of this bill amended out due to opposition from industry, this bill increases protections for birds and bird habitat.  

• Increased Tree of Heaven Regulations (HB35/SB266) gives local municipalities the authority to regulate the highly invasive Tree of Heaven - incentivizing their removal and preventing their planting. 

• Transit Oriented Development (HB894/SB389) automatically designates state-owned lands near transit stations to be incentivized for development. Encouraging development near transit on already disturbed land prevents sprawl and preserves intact habitat across the state. 

• Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Land-use Protections (HB1267) states that counties may require land that is currently part of Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge to remain open space if the federal government should ever sell the land. 

• The Supporting Inclusive Community Adaptation Act (HB254) establishes a special fund for increased resources for community engagement to support ecological restoration projects to be administered by the Department of Natural Resources. 

• Investments in a new Gwynns Falls State Partnership Park in the state budget for 2027 include $2.28 million dollars to support the planning and creation of a state park in Baltimore’s Gwynns Falls Leakin Park. 

Bills that did not pass: 

• The Bottle Bill – A bill establishing a program to set up a container deposit program, incentivizing the return, and reuse of beverage containers, encouraging recycling, and reducing plastic waste. 

• CHERISH Act – A bill aimed at restricting pollution in overburdened communities by adding environmental justice parameters to certain heavy polluting industries’ permitting process. 

• Climate and Transportation Alignment Act – This bill would have required highway expansion projects to quantify their climate impact and make corresponding investments in active transportation or public transit – thus reducing negative impacts of pollution and habitat loss from highway development.  

Though they did not pass this session, we’ll continue to fight for the following bills in future years to protect bird habitat and human communities throughout Maryland. 

Please send a note to your state representative and senator thanking them for their hard work this legislative session!