BALTIMORE —Lobbyists and advocates looking to wield their influence with Maryland officials — with a record $58 million behind them — saw both wins and losses this year in Annapolis.

For the viewing public, it’s sometimes difficult to discern one from the other.

The Baltimore Sun analyzed data from thousands of new lobbying disclosures, reviewed other public records and interviewed individuals to understand where lobbyists and advocates tried to put their fingers on the scale in the months before and during the 90-day session that ended in April.

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce, for instance, spent $713,000 — the second-most out of nearly 1,400 organizations — in a proactive effort to increase its team of lobbyists and public messaging focused on a range of issues. By the end, 14 of the 60 bills it supported became law, and the 80 bills it opposed had a 93% “kill rate,” according to a post-session report that the group produced and that was shared with The Sun.

Here are some of the policies the Chamber and other business interests worked on this year — from the $67 billion state budget and the ensuing tax debate to the failed effort to get alcohol in grocery stores.

Budget and taxes

The state budget always spurs an avalanche of lobbying. The $3.3 billion hole in it this year meant something else entirely.

Nearly every decision — from education reform to vehicle registration fee increases to the future of local development projects — came back to the budget, forcing everyone to rally for their cause.

Taxes often dominated the discussion, and the biggest lobbyists saw mixed results.

A 75-cent fee on online retail deliveries that was lobbied against by groups like Amazon and DoorDash was killed. A corporate tax rule known as “combined reporting” that progressive advocates said would end longtime loopholes was shelved after lobbying from the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

A broad 2.5% sales tax on business-to-business services that was introduced and quickly fast-tracked in March was also met with fierce opposition, both from the Chamber and from progressive economic groups who said the costs would devastate businesses and have regressive impacts on consumers.

The final — and narrower — version of that idea was a 3% sales tax on certain data and IT services that the Chamber also opposed but that ultimately passed into law.

Dozens of other adjustments both large and small were made to Gov. Wes Moore’s original budget plan, finding allies among both lawmakers and special interests — from the restoration of enterprise zone tax credits that a variety of businesses sought, to the reduction of a proposed 1-cent fee on mined materials that a trade group representing utility contractors sought to eliminate.

Moving closer to alcohol in grocery stores?

Another business group, the Maryland Retailers Alliance, became the third-largest lobbying entity this year, with total expenses of $625,190.

Cailey Locklair, its president and top lobbyist, said retailers’ top priority was a success — the creation of a new felony-level “organized retail theft” crime for property with an aggregate value of more than $1,500.

Two other high-profile goals gained little traction.

One aimed to adjust the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, which lawmakers passed in 2024 to limit the amount of personal data that companies can collect. Locklair said the law went too far, severely limiting how retailers can target ads to potential customers.

The other was the repeal of Maryland’s ban on beer, wine and liquor being sold in supermarkets and other retail establishments. All four of the new lobbyists hired by the Retailers Alliance this year, in their disclosures to the State Ethics Commission that showed they were collectively paid $119,000, only listed those bills as their focus.

Moore said in December he supported the change and indicated he was confident lawmakers would send him a bill. Senate President Bill Ferguson soon dampened those expectations, saying in an interview with The Sun in January that it was “not something that we’re going to be spending a lot of brain power trying to figure out.”

Legislation in both chambers never received even an initial committee vote. Locklair acknowledged the “very strong lobby on the other side” — referring to groups like the Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association, whose $144,000 in lobbying expenses was about $36,000 more than the previous year. But the support from the governor and increased conversation this year was a good sign, she said.

“Absolutely we will be bringing it back,” Locklair said. “I think there’s a lot of momentum on this and a lot of positive conversations taking place.”

Building energy performance standards

Another key area of concern for all kinds of businesses was an update to Maryland’s landmark Climate Solutions Now Act from 2022.

The change dealt with the implementation of emissions rules — known as “building energy performance standards,” or BEPS — for certain large commercial and residential buildings. The law requires the Maryland Department of the Environment to develop standards for the buildings to achieve a 20% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (compared to 2025 levels) and net-zero emissions by 2040.

House Bill 49, which passed into law without Moore’s signature, altered the requirements for those regulations, added a reporting fee for building owners when they report their emission data to the state and made changes to the types of buildings covered.

Chamber spokeswoman Abbi Ludwig said it was one of the group’s top three priorities after hearing concerns from businesses about the cost to retrofit buildings. The Retailers Alliance, in written testimony, called new compliance fees that the bill proposed a “slap in the face to business owners who are making a serious and extremely costly effort to comply with the law.”

Amendments eventually stripped out those additional compliance fees and set the reporting fee at $100 annually.

Changes proposed by Johns Hopkins — the fourth-largest lobbying entity in the state — and others also added hospitals to the list of exempted buildings, as well as emissions from steam and backup generators used for healthcare facilities.

Moore let the bill become law while opposing other provisions in the bill that require his administration to further study emissions-reduction efforts related to buildings.

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