Freedom Caucus Launches 2026 Energy Legislative Platform
The Maryland Freedom Caucus unveiled its 2026 Energy Legislative Platform, led by Delegate Brian Chisholm, calling out Democratic leadership for a year of delay while Marylanders face rising electric bills and growing threats to grid reliability.
“For the last year, we’ve been sounding the alarm and offering solutions,” said Delegate Brian Chisholm, primary sponsor of the Energy Legislative Platform.
“Democrats ignored the warnings, ignored the data, and ignored Maryland families.
Today we’re putting real legislation on the table to reverse the damage.”
The platform builds on the Freedom Caucus’ repeated four-part call to action over the past year:
* Keep power plants open
* Halt the EmPOWER utility tax
* Repeal costly green mandates
* Reclassify nuclear as Tier 1 clean energy
The Freedom Caucus’s legislative package includes:
* HB 66, withdrawing Maryland from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon-tax scheme that drives up electricity costs without guaranteeing reliability
* HB 79, restoring affordability safeguards by requiring climate mandates be implemented only “to the extent economically practicable”
* HB 521, an emergency repeal of the EmPOWER surcharge that appears as a hidden line item on electric and gas bills
The Freedom Caucus released real residential and commercial utility bills showing the direct impact of current policy choices.
Meanwhile, Democratic leadership has advanced HB 1, legislation the Caucus says distracts from the root causes of rising energy costs.
“HB 1 lets Democrats pretend they’re taking on utility companies while leaving their own failed energy mandates untouched,” said Delegate Ryan Nawrocki.
“Capping bonuses doesn’t lower energy costs when Annapolis policies are still shutting down power plants and taxing electricity. This bill is political cover, not energy relief.”
The Maryland Freedom Caucus urged leadership to stop delaying and advance legislation that delivers real affordability and reliability.
“Marylanders don’t need another study,” Chisholm said. “They need their power bills to go down — now.”
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