By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
The 2026 Maryland General Assembly begins their next term on Jan. 14. Ahead of the assembly’s opening day, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) released several key legislative priorities he plans to put forth during the new session.
Moore shared this year’s legislative agenda at venues across the state, using locations symbolic of his priorities to connect with Marylanders. His legislative priorities focus on transportation, housing, major funding for law enforcement, and enhancing access to vaccines and state regulation.
Major public safety investment
In College Park, Md., Moore unveiled a historic investment of over $124.1 million to support law enforcement in the state of Maryland in the governor’s 2027 fiscal year (FY) budget. This means there is a $2.3 million increase over last year’s.
“That is the highest level of funding in our state’s history,” said Moore. “These are real resources for local police departments all throughout the state of Maryland. This funding will support overtime patrols, specialized enforcement efforts and the equipment officers need to make sure they are doing their jobs safely and that they can get home to their families.”
Moore emphasized that his administration will not “pick sides,” but invest in both law enforcement and rehabilitative methods to address crime.
“We have built an all-the-above approach to public safety and this approach is backed by data, not by emotional splurges,” said Moore. “This is backed by data and built on three core pillars: Provide the resources and the support that law enforcement needs, build stronger, more vibrant communities that leave no one behind and coordinate all aspects of government and community to make sure that our streets are safer.”
K-12 education
In Frederick, Md., Moore announced about $10.2 billion for K-12 public education within his proposed FY 2027 budget to help close achievement gaps, support areas within the state with high-poverty and diversifying the teacher workforce.
The governor’s education budget includes funding to launch the new Academic Excellence Program, which supports math and literacy coaches in schools. The proposed budget would invest in modernizing school facilities and increase the Concentration of Poverty grant program by 16 percent from last year.
These investments represent a nearly 17 percent increase in overall K-12 funding since the start of the Moore-Miller Administration. According to senior administration officials, about $120 million of the $374 million funding increase is required, and the remaining $254 million is discretionary funding.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an initiative aims to enhance the quality of Maryland’s schools, mandating the increase of education funding by $3.8 billion over a ten year period.
Vax Act Bill
Moore, via a press release on Jan. 8, unveiled his Vax Act, which grants the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health the authority to issue independent recommendations for immunizations, screenings and preventive services.
In a background call on the bill, senior administration officials explained that this legislation stemmed from the endless changes at the federal level around vaccine policy that have dramatically altered vaccine recommendations for children. Specifically, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Jan. 5 choice to decrease the number of recommended routine vaccines for children from 17 to 11.
Moore echoed that the main purpose of the Vax Act is to say that Maryland is going to separate from federal guidelines, claiming that the 47th president’s administration does not follow the science.
“What the bill is going to do is make sure that we’re following science and not conspiracy theories,” said Moore. “The legislation that I introduced is making sure that we are decoupling from federal guidelines, and making sure that Marylanders are Gonna have guidelines that we can actually scientifically stand by.”
This legislation will build on work that has already been done in recent years to maintain and improve Maryland residents’ access to vaccines.
When asked about the proposed funding and legislative initiatives and the impact it could have on the state’s estimated $1.2 billion deficit, Moore said his administration will prioritize what is most important.
“We’re going to be fiscally smart and disciplined to make sure that we are focusing on the funding of initiatives and programs that we know have quantitative impact,” said Moore. “From both the short term and a long term perspective, we’ve got to do two things. When it comes to the Maryland state budget. We’ve got to both control the spend and we’ve got to increase the top line.”
Moore said the state has had an ongoing challenge when it comes to structural deficits.
“We were spending, but we weren’t growing,” said Moore. “In the past 21 years, 18 Maryland budgets needed cuts in order to balance.”
He believes this can be done in part by diversifying the state’s economy to reduce reliance on federal support, a goal reflected in his legislative priorities.