HB 331

Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program

Sponsor: Jen Terrasa (District 13)Committee: Environment and TransportationSubject: EnvironmentStatus: Hearing 2/11 at 1:00 p.m. (Environment and Transportation) and Hearing canceled (Economic Matters) (as of Sep 4, 2026)

What this bill does

Official synopsis

Establishing the Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program to increase the reuse and recycling of beverage containers and reduce the litter, pollution, and costs associated with beverage containers; prohibiting a producer from selling, offering for sale, or distributing in or importing into the State a redeemable beverage container unless the producer is registered with the Department of the Environment, pays a certain fee, and is part of a beverage container stewardship organization; etc.

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Analysis reads the bill text, the fiscal note, and the witness list. It is generated by Claude and reviewed by nobody, so check the source documents before you rely on it.

Testimony (124)

MGA witness list

FAV 96FavorableFWA 7Favorable with amendmentsUNF 17UnfavorableINFO 4Information only

Position	Witness	Organization	Testimony
FAV	Sherard, Trey	Anacostia Riverkeeper	Written (PDF)
FAV	Williams, Christopher	Anacostia Watershed Society	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Swanson, Taylor	Assateague Coastal Trust	Written (PDF)
FAV	Brown, Jim	Audubon Mid-Atlantic	Written (PDF)
FAV	Snyder, Abigaillobbyist	Baltimore Jewish Council	Written (PDF)
FAV	Awasthi, Raj	BetterPlanet4Kids	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Volpitta, Alice	Blue Water Baltimore	Written (PDF)
FAV	Stegman, Matt	Chesapeake Bay Foundation	Written (PDF)
FAV	Hernandez, Awilda	City of Bowie	Written (PDF)
FAV	Myers, Carrie	City of Brunswick	Written (PDF)
FAV	Sewell, George	City of Frederick	Written (PDF)
FAV	Benitez, Mayor Celina	City of Mount Rainier	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Demiray, Sonia	Climate Communications Coalition	Position only
FAV	McGilvray, Laurie	Climate Justice Wing of the Maryland Legislative Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	Hession, Melody	Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA	Position only
FAV	Terrasa, Jen	Delegate, MD General Assembly	Written (PDF)
FAV	Hardy, Katherine	Democratic Women's Club of Worcester County	Written (PDF)
FAV	Stewart, Frances	Elders Climate Action Maryland	Position only
FAV	George, Tim	Greenbelt City	Position only
FAV	N/A, Healthy Climate Maryland	Healthy Climate Maryland	Written (PDF)
FAV	Organization, HoCo Climate Action	HoCo Climate Action	Position only
FAV	Heiderman, Garvey	Hobbit Restaurant	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Jung, Deb	Howard County Council	Written (PDF)
FAV	Walsh, Liz	Howard County Council - District 1	Written (PDF)
FAV	Konny, Crystal	Indivisible Howard County	Written (PDF)
FAV	Awimbo, Annalobbyist	Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake	Written (PDF)
FAV	Rives, Kelli	Jewish Community Relations Council of Howard County	Written (PDF)
FAV	Blair, Peterlobbyist	Just Zero	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Hoglund, Hollis	Laurel for the Patuxent	Written (PDF)
FAV	Hunter, Caseylobbyist	League of Women Voters of Maryland	Written (PDF)
FAV	Webster, Phil	Legislative body for the Unitarian Universalist faith, C/O Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis	Written (PDF)
FAV	Feighner, Liz	Less Plastic Please	Written (PDF)
FAV	Feighner, Liz	Liz Feighner, self	Position only
FAV	Howard, Curt	MD-IWLA	Written (PDF)
FAV	Crump, Patrick	MEPPN	Written (PDF)
FAV	Zelaya, Michellelobbyist	Maryland Catholic Conference	Written (PDF)
FAV	Simon, Robert	Maryland Catholics for Our Common Home	Written (PDF)
FAV	Tucker, Walter	Maryland Episcopal Public Policy Network	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Plante, Cecilia	Maryland Legislative Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	Hoffman, Kirsten	Maryland Native Plant Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	Schwarz, Kurt	Maryland Ornithological Society	Written (PDF)
FAV	Ainsworth, Martha	Maryland Sierra Club	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Themelis, Nina	Mayor's Office of Government Relations	Written (PDF)
FAV	Turnbull, Lindsey	Montgomery County Commission for Women	Written (PDF)
FAV	Stewart, Kate	Montgomery County Council	Written (PDF)
FAV	Elrich, Marc	Montgomery County Government	Written (PDF)
FAV	James, Neely	Mother's Cantina	Written (PDF)
FAV	Ostdahl, Maggielobbyist	National Aquarium	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Mansour, Erinn Camp	Patapsco Friends Meeting	Written (PDF)
FAV	Cooney, Bente	Plastic Free QAC	Written (PDF)
FAV	Boies, Sharon	Protect Our Streams	Written (PDF)
FAV	Richards, Annie	ShoreRivers	Position only
FAV	Valdivia, Kathleen	St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church	Written (PDF)
FAV	Gove, Matt	Surfrider Foundation Maryland	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Henger, Jerome	The Aluminum Association	Written (PDF)
FAV	Gordon, Miriam	The Story of Stuff Project	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Detchon, Reid	Third Act Maryland	Written (PDF)
FAV	Richards, Giselle	Town of Cheverly	Written (PDF)
FAV	Doordan, Kellylobbyist	Trash Free Maryland	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	McNair, Lee	Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice Ministry	Position only

Showing 60 of 124

Organizations on record

American Beverage AssociationUNF 1

Anacostia RiverkeeperFAV 1

Anacostia Watershed SocietyFAV 1

Assateague Coastal TrustFAV 1

Audubon Mid-AtlanticFAV 1

Baltimore Jewish CouncilFAV 1

Beer InstituteUNF 1

BetterPlanet4KidsFAV 1

Blue Water BaltimoreFAV 1

Can Manufacturers InstituteFWA 1

Chesapeake Bay FoundationFAV 1

City of BowieFAV 1

City of BrunswickFAV 1

City of FrederickFAV 1

City of Mount RainierFAV 1

Climate Communications CoalitionFAV 1

Climate Justice Wing of the Maryland Legislative CoalitionFAV 1

ConstelliumFWA 1

Cornerstone Government AffairsUNF 1

Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCAFAV 1

Delegate, MD General AssemblyFAV 1

Democratic Women's Club of Worcester CountyFAV 1

Elders Climate Action MarylandFAV 1

Glass Packaging InstituteFWA 1

Greenbelt CityFAV 1

Healthy Climate MarylandFAV 1

Hobbit RestaurantFAV 1

HoCo Climate ActionFAV 1

Howard County CouncilFAV 1

Howard County Council - District 1FAV 1

Indivisible Howard CountyFAV 1

Interfaith Partners for the ChesapeakeFAV 1

Jewish Community Relations Council of Howard CountyFAV 1

Just ZeroFAV 1

Laurel for the PatuxentFAV 1

League of Women Voters of MarylandFAV 1

Legislative body for the Unitarian Universalist faith, C/O Unitarian Universalist Church of AnnapolisFAV 1

Less Plastic PleaseFAV 1

Liz Feighner, selfFAV 1

M-NCPPC - Senior Government AnalystINFO 1

Manis Canning & AssociatesUNF 1

Maryland Association of Counties (MACo)UNF 1

Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction ProgramFWA 1

Maryland Catholic ConferenceFAV 1

Maryland Catholics for Our Common HomeFAV 1

Maryland Chamber of CommerceUNF 1

Maryland Department of the EnvironmentINFO 1

Maryland Environmental ServiceINFO 1

Maryland Episcopal Public Policy NetworkFAV 1

Maryland Legislative CoalitionFAV 1

Maryland Native Plant CoalitionFAV 1

Maryland Ornithological SocietyFAV 1

Maryland Recycling NetworkUNF 1

Maryland Retailers AllianceUNF 1

Maryland Sierra ClubFAV 1

Mayor and City Council of LaurelFWA 1

Mayor's Office of Government RelationsFAV 1

Md State Licensed Beverage AssociationUNF 1

MD-IWLAFAV 1

MEPPNFAV 1

Montgomery County Commission for WomenFAV 1

Montgomery County CouncilFAV 1

Montgomery County GovernmentFAV 1

Mother's CantinaFAV 1

National AquariumFAV 1

Patapsco Friends MeetingFAV 1

Plastic Free QACFAV 1

Primo Brands Corp.FWA 1

Prince Georges Chamber of CommerceUNF 1

Protect Our StreamsFAV 1

Restaurant Association of MarylandUNF 1

ShoreRiversFAV 1

St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic ChurchFAV 1

Surfrider Foundation MarylandFAV 1

The Aluminum AssociationFAV 1

The Story of Stuff ProjectFAV 1

Third Act MarylandFAV 1

Town of CheverlyFAV 1

Trash Free MarylandFAV 1

Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice MinistryFAV 1

Vibrant Gardening LLCFAV 1

Waterfront Partnership of BaltimoreFAV 1

Waterkeepers ChesapeakeFAV 1

Wild Ones Nation's Capital Region ChapterFAV 1

WMUNF 1

WMDA/CARUNF 1

YearFAV 1

Registered lobbyists who testified

FAVSnyder, AbigailBaltimore Jewish CouncilRegistered for: Baltimore Jewish Council

FAVAwimbo, AnnaInterfaith Partners for the ChesapeakeRegistered for: Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake

FAVBlair, PeterJust ZeroRegistered for: Just Zero

FAVHunter, CaseyLeague of Women Voters of MarylandRegistered for: League of Women Voters of Maryland

FAVZelaya, MichelleMaryland Catholic ConferenceRegistered for: Maryland Catholic Conference

FAVOstdahl, MaggieNational AquariumRegistered for: National Aquarium

FAVDoordan, KellyTrash Free MarylandRegistered for: Trash Free Maryland

FAVDeLong, AshtonRegistered for: MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society; Maryland Neurosurgical Society, Inc.

FAVRanson, EmilyRegistered for: Clean Water Action

UNFHarvey, TiffanyCornerstone Government AffairsRegistered for: Allied Universal; Baltimore Orioles; CPower; Capital One; Choptank Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Comcast Cable Communications LLC…

UNFWiggins, GrasonMaryland Chamber of CommerceRegistered for: Maryland Chamber of Commerce; United Way of Central Maryland, Inc.; Madison Marquette Property Investments LLC; Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund; Family Tree, The; OVG Facilities…

UNFPrice, SarahMaryland Retailers AllianceRegistered for: Maryland Retailers Alliance; Maryland Retailers Association

UNFThompson, MelvinRestaurant Association of MarylandRegistered for: Restaurant Association of Maryland

FWABellamy, LorenzoMaryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction ProgramRegistered for: ACLU of Maryland; Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding; American Forest & Paper Association; Americans for Patient Access; Avaya, Inc.; Bellamy Genn Group, LLC…

FWABellamy, LorenzoRegistered for: ACLU of Maryland; Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding; American Forest & Paper Association; Americans for Patient Access; Avaya, Inc.; Bellamy Genn Group, LLC…