The Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) was established in 2012 to give students “real life” experience and provide Maryland communities access to the University of Maryland’s expertise in fields ranging from health care, planning, real estate finance, environmentalism, information technology, and more.

Students address issues like municipal service provision and management, economic development, environmental shifts, park and streetscape design, transportation operations, and more in their coursework. Projects have included the cost-effectiveness of LED streetlights and implementation plan, an examination of micro-mobility and safe routes to school, the feasibility of expanding a local airport, and other real, practical projects with an emphasis on scheduling, best practices, implementation, and monitoring.

This Friday, March 22, is World Water Day.  Celebrate by reading up on how you can protect the streams and waterways that run through your community.

Protect Local Waterways is a new award-winning web resource on how local leaders can help support the economy, public health, education, and infrastructure while protecting their communities' environmental assets. Created by local officials for local officials, this website includes an extensive learning library spanning 11 environmental topics. From understanding the benefits of trees to building community buy-in on environmental behaviors, this learning library is the perfect place to start. Take action today to secure fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water for your municipality. Visit our website.  

This week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $3.33 billion in grant awards for 132 projects through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity discretionary grant programs as part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. The funding is for communities that were cut off by transportation infrastructure years ago that left many neighborhoods without direct access to opportunities such as schools, places to worship, medical offices, and jobs.

The Department of Transportation is awarding 72 Planning grants, 52 Capital Construction grants, and 8 Regional Planning grants.

View MML's positions on legislation introduced in the General Assembly.

Each week the MML legislative committee, made up of elected municipal leaders and municipal staff, reviews General Assembly bills that have impact on the operations of municipal government. Check back as new bills are added to the list each week.

Now that we are more than halfway through the General Assembly session, bills are starting to move. Below are a few transportation-related bills, supported by MML, all of which have already received favorable reports by their respective committees and passed out of their chamber of origin. 

HB 43 - This bill is slightly amended from the version initially introduced and now includes a few additional guardrails. It now allows local governments to designate roads under their jurisdiction as roads on which golf carts may operate, under certain conditions; the road must be 30 MPH or lower and the golf cart must operate only between dawn and dusk unless it has State Highway Administration (SHA) approved lights, drive on the far right of the lane, and contain no more passengers than there are seats. This new authority would allow a new and unique transportation option to local governments.