A Chat With Your Local Delegate

Representing District 15, Montgomery County's largest legislative district, is no small task for Delegate Aruna Miller.

Entering her second full year in Annapolis, Miller spoke with Patch late last week about some of the hot button issues she anticipates in the upcoming session that Darnestown, North Potomac, and Potomac residents should keep their eyes on.

Miller, who resides in Darnestown, noted she pays extra attention to the Pepco situation in the area. The Utility Reliability Act passed in the previous session should help to improve service by fining utility companies like Pepco for service failures.

"I know that many people in the Darnestown, North Potomac, Potomac area wish [the penalties] were much more severe," but you have to recognize the other utility companies in the state who don't have the same issues as Pepco," Miller said.

Miller also said she sees Pepco continuing to cut down trees, but she supports the logic behind it.

"I know some people believe they’ve been far too aggressive, but I believe some of this needs to be done to make sure the power lines aren’t obstructed by trees and whatnot, because that’s one of the major reasons why power keeps going out," she said.

Also on the table for the upcoming session is a vote to increase the Maryland state gas tax to 38.5 cents per gallon, up from 23.5 cents. This increase could help many transportation infrastructure projects by adding an estimated $800 million to the state's transportation trust fund, Miller said.

The state gas tax has not been increased since 1992.

What's happened in the past when there hasn’t been enough money in the operating budget is that the state has taken money out of the transportation trust fund and used it to pay for things that they didn’t have enough money to pay for, according to Miller.

The delegate said she has found more people support the gas tax increase if they can be assured the money will only be used towards transportation projects.

The House of Delegates, Miller said, is working on a proposal to protect the trust fund through a constitutional amendment.

Portions of this money would be invested in improving the transportation infrastructure around the planned Johns Hopkins Science City on Darnestown Road.

Also on the agenda for the session is another vote on marriage equality, which Miller said she expects to pass in its second go around.

"In this past session, there was a lot of controversy over [the marriage equality bill]," she said. "It made it through the Senate at general assembly and it was kind of assumed it would get through the House of Delegates but it didn’t. We were short two or three votes."