Maryland Legislative Session Update

In partnership with Bike Maryland

The Maryland State Legislative session began on Wednesday, January 8th. Alongside Bike Maryland and allies across the state, WABA has already been hard at work promoting bike-friendly and road safety bills. Check out a running list of our priorities for the 2025 session. (Note: this is a working document and will be updated as things move, so bookmark it and keep checking back.)

We will be keeping a close eye on opportunities for you to speak out in support of these and other opportunities that will improve biking and make the roads safer for all road users.

Something you can do right now: Register for the 2025 Bike Maryland Symposium on Tuesday, February 11th in Annapolis, Maryland. The Bike Maryland Symposium is a day-long gathering in Annapolis for community members to gather from across the state to hear from experts, share feedback with policymakers, and network with other bicyclists. The event is free! Registration is required and spots are nearly full. Learn more and register here.

Learn more about traffic safety and bike-related legislation:

Join Bike Maryland for a virtual webinar covering legislative priorities on January 23rd. Register for the event.

In December, WABA also previewed the 2025 Maryland Legislative session. Check out a recording of the discussion here, and click here if you’d like to view our presentation slides. You can create an account and track bills with an account at MyMGA. Many thanks to State Senator Jeff Waldstreicher, vice chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, who joined us to talk about the 2025 legislative and budget outlooks and to field questions.

Blanket this map before January 31st: Use this online tool to tell MDOT about your experience biking and walking in Maryland. MDOT SHA will use the data gathered to prioritize Context Driven Safety improvements (generally bike and ped infrastructure). Later in the planning process, there will be opportunities to continue to shape the future of the state’s roadways. Read MDOT’s press release.

More about Maryland Legislation

WABA develops and advocates for state legislation to make bicycling in Maryland safer and more accessible and for state funding to expand Maryland’s bicycle network, working directly with legislators and Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) leadership and as part of the Bike Maryland coalition. We also work on broader road-safety, transit, and environmental legislation and funding, typically as part of larger statewide coalitions. The annual Maryland legislative session runs from January to April, but our work developing legislation starts the preceding summer.

We’re thrilled that several bills we worked on or supported were enacted in 2024, directing an MDOT Vision Zero Coordinator and public review process; the Better Bus Service Act, allowing bus-lane enforcement cameras (with bikes allowed); authorizing stop-sign cameras near schools in Prince George's County; and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act, addressing penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane.

Our 2024 advocacy included unsuccessful efforts that we will likely pursue in future years. (It often takes years to pass a bill. ) These include a Great Maryland Trails Act, an E-bike Rebate and Voucher Program bill, and a bill addressing maintenance responsibility for sidewalks and bike paths along state roads. Another topic on our list for 2025 is contributory negligence, a prejudicial statute that says that if a crash victim is even only 1% at fault, then they are liable and may not recover (full) costs and damages from the party largely at fault.

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.