Lawmakers approved bills to study the cost of climate change and the impact of data centers, and establish a new energy planning office for the state, just some of the slew of veto overrides handed to the governor Tuesday.
The vetoes came during a one-day special session that also saw the General Assembly override Gov. Wes Moore’s veto of a bill creating a reparations study commission and the House make history by electing Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) as speaker, the first Afro-Latina to hold the position.
By the end of the day, the General Assembly had overridden more than a dozen vetoes of bills ranging from creation of a workgroup to boost health care cybersecurity, to developing a technology and social media resource guide for youth and increasing state funds to help schools purchase locally grown food.
One override came even though Moore made a last-minute reversal Friday and announced he would fund a climate change study that was in the bill he vetoed. The study will assess the costs of mitigating the effects of climate change in the state, but it will also evaluate whether large fossil fuel companies should be compellee to foot some of the bill. The bill, as originally introduced was named the RENEW Act — for Responding to Emergency Needs From Extreme Weather.
“I am really grateful that the governor and the comptroller decided to go ahead with the study. It is absolutely the right thing to do,” said bill sponsor Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D- Howard & Montgomery) in an interview Friday. “The RENEW Act is a ratepayer protection bill. It’s based on the premise that if you make a mess, you clean it up.”
But Hester noted some uncertainties about the memorandum of understanding announced by the governor last week. For instance, it apportioned an initial $270,000 for the study in fiscal 2026, but required the comptroller’s office, which is performing the study, to request additional funds as needed in fiscal 2027. The vetoed bill, by comparison, allots $500,000 for the study all at once.
“The RENEW Act calls for the $500,000. It ensures full completion,” Hester said. “No other state has done this work for less than $500K.”
In the House, Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) said the veto should be sustained, because the bill sends the wrong message to fossil fuel companies.
“We’re telling them: ‘Screw off. Maryland doesn’t like you. We don’t want you. We’re going to search for ways to hurt you,’” Buckel said. “And that’s not a symbol and a sign in today’s times that we should be sending.”
Climate groups, who were infuriated by Moore’s veto in May, were buoyed by Tuesday’s news.
Brittany Baker, Maryland director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund dubbed Tuesday “a great day for the fight against climate change in Maryland.”
Maryland now joins other states, including Vermont and New York, that have passed similar legislation to study climate change costs with the goal of making fossil fuel energy companies chip in.
As the RENEW study — due next December — gets rolling, so, too, will a new study on the “likely environmental, energy, and economic impacts” of data center development in Maryland.
Sen. Charles Sydnor (D-Baltimore County) called for an override of the governor’s veto of the data center study bill. He cited a new data center proposal in Woodlawn, in his district, which has drawn concerns from his constituents.
“The experts are adamant that across the country, and here in Maryland, we are currently rushing to approve data center projects through a poorly planned, chaotic process that lacks a foolproof and regulatory framework to protect our communities from harm,” Sydnor said. “Naturally, my constituents responded with deep concern, fear and even outrage.”
The study — to be performed by the Department of the Environment, the Maryland Energy Administration and the University of Maryland School of Business, in coordination with the Department of Legislative Services — is due on Sept. 1, 2026.
“My constituents are entitled to answers, not false promises. Providing those answers starts with a comprehensive study,” Sydnor said.
The data center bill received bipartisan support in the Senate, where an override passed unanimously.
Sen. William G. Folden (R-Frederick) said Tuesday was “one of the few times” he would stand with Democrats from his county like Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-Frederick), who sponsored the data center study. Frederick County has a data center campus under development, he noted, with homes and a school in close proximity.
“This is a very real impact. Frederick County is the first that has really started to develop our data center platforms, and right now we’re looking at a 2,200-acre parcel,” Folden said.
House Republicans, however, were split on overriding the data center veto. Del. Brian Chisholm (R-Anne Arundel) said the data center study would be a waste of taxpayer dollars and that the economic boost from new data centers is needed as soon as possible.
“Yes, data centers may be a problem for us,” Chisholm said. “Are they going to be a problem because they have the ability to bring thousands of jobs, thousands of opportunities and real economic growth? No, that’s not the problem. The problem is we do not have enough supply.”
Ultimately, the veto was overridden 111-24.
Tuesday’s veto overrides also revived a bill to create a Strategic Energy Planning Office, to produce forecasts about the regional electricity grid and its impact on Maryland.
“Affordability is like the defining issue for Maryland families, and energy costs are … the growing part of that pressure,” said Hester, the bill’s sponsor. “SB 909, gives the state a way to plan responsibly, avoid costly emergencies and make decisions based on shared data rather than siloed reactions.”
In the House and Senate, some Republicans opposed the creation of the new energy office, which was a part of the energy package passed by General Assembly leadership in the spring.
“If this is truly about energy resource adequacy and planning, then there would be a few more players in the game,” Del. Wayne A. Hartman (R-Wicomico and Worcester) said. “If we were real about this, we would include representatives of fossil fuels and the nuclear industry.”
The new office must collaborate with the Maryland Energy Administration, the Maryland Public Service Commission, the Power Plant Research Program, the Maryland Clean Energy Center and the Maryland Department of the Environment.