Maryland's communities, especially Black and Brown ones, affected by harmful transit policies moved one more step closer to getting a state policy that could correct years of neglect.

General Assembly members voted 32 to 15 to pass The Transit Equitable Bill on Friday, March 25 through the Senate. Maryland Delegate Shelia Ruth and Sen. Jill P. Carter worked together on the bill, and it earned support from some environmental activists.

The bill: “Requiring that equity be considered when State transportation plans, reports, and goals are developed; altering the membership of the advisory committee on State transportation goals; requiring the Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Maryland Transportation Administration, to conduct a transit equity analyses and consult with certain communities before announcing any reduction or cancellation of a capital expansion project in the construction program of the Consolidated Transportation Program.”

As of Tuesday, Ruth said, the bill passed its second reading in the Senate on Tuesday and should have gotten a third read on Wednesday.

“If the [Transit Equity Bill] is enacted, it will help to ensure that Black and brown communities, low-income communities, and disabled riders have transportation systems designed to benefit them, bringing better access to jobs, schools, and shopping, cleaner air, and encouraging economic development in those communities,” said Ruth.

Many justice-centered organizations - CASA, Progressive Maryland, CHISPA, and Interfaith Power & Light - held a press conference in front of the Maryland State House on Friday to strongly encourage state politicians to push forward with The Transit Equity Bill. 

At that press conference, Ruth said transportation is not just about getting from one place to another.  She said highways that are intentionally built through Black and Brown communities significantly contribute to neighborhood pollution, leading to life-threatening outcomes.

“It has a potential for great benefit or great harm to communities,” Ruth explained. “We know the communities that get the [great] benefit aren’t, generally, the black and brown communities. Those… frontline communities often [receive] the harm of poor transportation decisions. Transit can make a big difference in people's lives, bringing access to jobs, and other community benefits of transit-oriented development, but it also helps to bring clean air.” 

Ruth thanked the crowd for their advocacy for the bill.

Samuel Jordan, president of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, said we must minimize emissions by reducing the number of vehicles,  but build public transportation that is able to carry more people. 

“The transit equity movement is also a climate change movement response movement and an environmental [justice] movement,” said Jordan. “When we talk about change and equity, we want to make it clear also that when Hogan canceled the [construction of] the redline, he was showing his allegiance to a history of segregation and division in public transportation.” 

Echoing her colleagues and activists, Sen. Jill Carter said, “we need to end ‘transportation apartheid’, especially in places like Baltimore City.” Carter used that phrase to highlight how bad transit policy has limited Black and Brown people’s access to certain kinds of resources. Carter thanked Jordan, and Ruth for their work on this bill, saying that she was happy to co-sponsor it.

Activists, scholars, and interfaith leaders also encouraged politicians to push forward the Climate Action Now Bill (SB528), Energy Efficiency Bill, and Environmental Justice Screening. (All three bills have passed through the Senate since Friday). However, the Climate Action Now Bill was amended and now was sent back to the Senate to vote on those amendments.

During the press conference, Sandra Lovo, a resident of Brooklyn, Baltimore and CASA activist, shared her experience living in a neighborhood with the worst air quality in the state of Maryland. Brooklyn houses an incinerator that burns the state’s trash. The Baltimore Sun reported that the incinerator is responsible for the city’s air pollution. Residents have developed chronic respiratory illnesses due to that. Her son has a severe form of asthma.

“After surviving a natural disaster in the country,” said Lovo, who immigrated from El Salvador 19 years ago, “I unknowingly moved to a place that is a toxic environmental disaster.”

“May God gives us the power to pass legislation for front line communities at the front of this issue,” said.

Dr. Sacoby Wilson, a public health professor at the University of Maryland in College Park, according to the Washington Informer, said: “Baltimore City has the most heat-related morbidity deaths than any other city in Maryland because of impervious surfaces. He stressed trees help with stormwater management, mental health, and property values.”

Laurie-Anne Sayles, the first Black council person elected to the Gaithersburg City Council, was present. Sayles said, “climate legislation moving forward this session should prioritize the most impacted communities.” In short, Sayles said we must pay attention to pipelines in Western Maryland, concentrated power plants in Prince George’s and Calvert Counties, pollution on the Eastern Shore, and PFAS in Montgomery County drinking water.

“Legislation that does not include racial justice will not sufficiently address the disproportionate impact of climate change on our most vulnerable communities,” said Sayles, who is also running for Montgomery County Council At-Large. “Under our constitution, they should have fundamental human rights to live in safer, cleaner, and more sustainable environments. We can and must do better for our communities across Maryland.”