Maryland’s General Assembly adjourned its regular session at midnight on Monday, April 7.
This was in many ways an extraordinary session, as many of the legislators themselves have commented. A great deal of the legislature’s time and energy this session was consumed by the budget. Late last year, budget predictions indicated that Maryland would face a $3 billion deficit for fiscal year 2026. Then the new federal Administration was sworn in and uncertainty surrounding the availability of federal funds for a vast array of programs administered by the state, plus the economic impact of the firings of many thousands of Maryland-based federal workers, compounded the problem. In the end, the legislature, which is required by the state Constitution to pass a balanced budget, passed a budget balanced with $2 billion in spending cuts and $1.6 billion in new taxes and fees.
In a stunning and unanticipated eleventh hour development, legislators zeroed out funding in the budget for the Maryland Racetrack Operating Authority, thus effectively repealing the portions of the 2023 statute that created the MTROA. As initially conceived, MTROA was intended to oversee the transition of the industry from a privately run sport into an industry largely managed by the state, including the closure of Laurel Park and the major renovation of Pimlico. In a striking example of “legislating via budget making,” the legislature dissolved MTROA, and gave oversight of the Pimlico renovations and construction of a training center at Shamrock Farm in Woodbine to the Maryland Stadium Authority. Day to day racing operations will be conducted by a new nonprofit that will take the name of the Maryland Jockey Club and will be under the auspices of the existing Maryland Economic Development Commission.
Click through to the Government Relations column in the May Equiery for more information about how the final budget affects horses and agriculture in general, and about the many other pieces of legislation that affect the Maryland horse industry.