Economic relief a focus for Maryland Senate, House leaders following Key Bridge collapse

As recovery begins following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, General Assembly leadership said they will introduce emergency legislation to provide economic relief to small businesses and displaced workers at the Port of Baltimore and triage trade loss to other ports.

The announcement came at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday through a post Senate President Bill Ferguson, a South Baltimore Democrat and sponsor of the emergency bill, made on X. House Judiciary Committee Chair Luke Clippinger, who is also a South Baltimore Democrat and the bill’s co-sponsor, said they decided to actively pursue the legislation around 10 p.m. Tuesday — less than 24 hours after the bridge crumbled into the Patapsco River, leaving one individual unscathed, one severely injured, two confirmed dead, and four presumed dead.

Though they are members of different chambers, Clippinger and Ferguson both represent Maryland’s 46th legislative district, which encompasses the Port of Baltimore and one end of the bridge.

“It’s a state of shock,” Clippinger said. “Saturday morning, I literally took my walk down to Fort McHenry and there was the bridge and a working port and everything else, and now it’s not there.”

The legislation is still being drafted. Once drafting is complete, Clippinger and Ferguson have until 12:01 a.m. on April 9 to whisk the emergency bill to Gov. Wes Moore’s desk.

Because this is an emergency bill, it would go into effect as soon as Moore, a Democrat, gives it his signature.

At a news conference Wednesday evening, Moore said he has not gone through the bill in detail, but said his administration will work in coordination with the legislature, the Maryland congressional delegation and the White House as the state moves forward.

Though feedback is still being sought from Moore’s administration, the White House and other members of the General Assembly, Ferguson was able to lay out the bill’s three-pronged approach to alleviate the inevitable financial strain caused by the port’s closure: income relief for port workers who receive W-2 tax forms; similar relief for independent contractors and small businesses that work at the port; and funding for port industries to prevent them from permanently diverting their business to other ports.

According to Ferguson, preventing permanent business loss to ports in Norfolk, Philadelphia and Wilmington is “one of the biggest challenges.”

“There is going to have to be some diversion to other nearby ports,” he said. “But we want to make sure that there’s funding available that port industries have access to that we’ll be able to make sure that that business doesn’t move to another port.”

While some business can be shuffled over to Tradepoint Atlantic at Sparrows Point, the bridge’s debris has choked off most port access for vessels.

“The challenge, of course, is that we’ve lost Seagirt. We’ve lost the places in Locust Point and Fairfield because they’re all behind the bridge,” said Clippinger. “And so, you know, Tradepoint is great but, at the same time, it’s not going to be quite enough to move the kind of flow that we’re going to need to get through.”

Between $100 million to $200 million of value sails in and out of the port daily, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said at a White House press briefing Wednesday afternoon.

Ferguson said they intend for the legislation to give authority to Moore to access the more than $2 billion in the state’s rainy day fund “for when it is raining and pouring.”

“I think no one can imagine the Key Bridge being in the water right now,” Ferguson said. “This is as rainy as it gets.”

Because the bill is still being drafted, details regarding the cap for the amount of money that Moore can allocate were not available Wednesday.

Buttigieg told reporters that, as of Wednesday, work is still taking place at the Port of Baltimore. But government officials worry about how soon it will disappear.

“They’re likely working right now, but that work won’t last long,” Buttigieg said of the port’s longshoremen. “That’s our main concern.”

According to Ferguson, the port generates $3 billion in personal income annually.

The Senate president has spoken with Maryland Department of Labor Secretary Portia Wu, who he said had already been contemplating how unemployment insurance can be utilized to keep households afloat.

Both lawmakers said they’ve received phone calls from constituents who say the bridge’s collapse and resulting closure of the port will devastate local families.

Ferguson said he spoke to the owner of a trucking company that generates 70% of its daily business through the Port of Baltimore. The business owner told Ferguson he was afraid to leave his office because he didn’t know how to face his employees because his business had effectively shut down, and he’s not sure what will happen to them.

“This is the real, personal impact for business owners, for workers, for families,” he said.