District One County Council Candidate, Andrew Friedson, returned to Annapolis today to testify in strong support of the Senate Bill 277, the Maryland Metro Funding Act. He joined a panel of regional leaders that included Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, Montgomery County Council President Hans Riemer, and other local elected leaders during a bill hearing in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Brian Feldman (D-15), proposes dedicated funding of $125 million annually to fund Metro maintenance and safety projects paid from the Transportation Trust Fund and contingent upon commensurate funding from similar efforts currently being deliberated in Virginia and DC. Friedson also submitted testimony in support of the companion bill in the House sponsored by Delegates Marc Korman (D-16) and Erek Barron (D-24).

Friedson’s full testimony is below:

TESTIMONY OF ANDREW FRIEDSON

SUPPORT: SB 277 Maryland Metro Funding Act
Senate Budget & Taxation Committee
Annapolis, MD
February 14th, 2018

Chairman Kasemeyer, Vice Chairman Madaleno, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today in strong support of Senate Bill 277. Metro is the backbone of the Greater Washington area’s regional economy, and I applaud Senator Feldman, along with Delegates Korman and Barron who sponsored the House version, for their leadership in finally addressing this transportation funding challenge that has persisted for more than four decades.

As a lifelong Montgomery County resident and a candidate for Montgomery County Council in District One, which represents southwestern Montgomery County including Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Medical Center (NIH), Grosvenor and White Flint, I understand Metro’s importance to supporting a strong economy, protecting a healthy environment, enhancing quality of life, and relieving traffic congestion. Metro’s challenges are a top concern for the voters I speak to every day and for every individual business and trade group in our region. Amazon demonstrated this by indicating that a reliable public transit system was one of the four major criteria that would determine their selection for HQ2. If Maryland truly is “open for business,” we need to make sure that workers and customers can reliably travel back and forth safely and reliably each day.

We cannot afford to continue to allow Metro to remain the only transit system of its kind that is not supported by a dedicated funding source. It’s not sustainable and it’s not acceptable, and it has contributed to a system that was once a national model to fall into disrepair over the years. The only way to get Metro back on a safe, reliable, and accountable path is to provide a guaranteed, bondable funding source to create stability and provide an opportunity for long-term planning. Maryland’s dedicated funding would be contingent on Virginia and D.C. following suit, so it will protect taxpayers while sending a strong message to our regional counterparts that we are serious about fixing Metro’s challenges, and we are willing to commit resources long-term.

Passage of the Maryland Metro Funding Act represents a crucial step towards getting Metro on a safe, reliable, and accountable track, which is why I strongly support it and why I respectfully request the Committee’s favorable report on Senate Bill 277.

 

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