By Karla Raettig, Executive Director

As the environmental watchdog in the state of Maryland, I’m proud to present to you our 2018 Environmental Scorecard. The annual report highlights the environmental voting record of all 188 legislators in Maryland.

The 2018 Session was a complicated year for the environment in the Maryland General Assembly. On the one hand, legislators passed several bills of environmental importance and in multiple cases the environment was a bipartisan concern.

How did your legislator score in Annapolis? Check out our interactive scorecard here and send your legislator a message>>

While those bills were important, leaders in the General Assembly failed to vote on many top environmental priorities. This inaction short changes Marylanders from truly understanding where our elected officials stand on these particular top environmental issues and further disenfranchises voters in this key election year.

In more frustrating news, we saw long-time environmental champions fail to support environmental priorities, or refuse to bring them up for a vote. In particular, we are especially concerned at the shelving of top environmental legislation, such as the Styrofoam ban.

These bills are supported by you, and strong community-led coalitions with broad legislative support that key leaders in legislative committees refused a vote on. See how your legislator scored here>>

Once our elected officials return to Annapolis in January, we at Maryland LCV will be there to hold them accountable for their actions, or inactions.

The full Scorecard is available online and includes records of votes cast on the floor of the House and Senate and in committees, along with past voting records.

Go to http://scorecard.mdlcv.org to see the 2018 Scorecard, our interactive map, and follow #MDLCVScore on social media.

Thank you for being a conservation voter.