SB 472 Maryland Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Property Tax - Property Adjacent to Rail Stations - Subclasses and Special Rates

SB 472 allows Baltimore City or Maryland counties to establish a special property tax rate for improvements on land within 1 mile of a rail station (including MARC, Metro, or Light Rail stations). This special rate must be lower than or equal to the standard county tax rate and applies only to properties near rail infrastructure. Property owners in these designated areas would pay this reduced rate, while a 50% tax penalty on the special rate's total liability would fund the Transportation Trust Fund. The bill also requires annual reports on the tax rate's impact, including revenue changes and property reuse plans.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2025 Last action Mar 26, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - Property Tax - Improvements to Property Adjacent to Rail Stations - Subclass, Special Rate, and Penalty → Third - Property Tax - Property Adjacent to Rail Stations - Subclasses and Special Rates · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to expand the property tax subclass program for rail station areas from a single subclass to two distinct subclasses (unimproved land and improved property), allowing more flexible tax treatment. The penalty revenue distribution was modified to increase the county's share from 50% to 95% while reducing the transportation trust fund allocation from 50% to 5%. Several formatting and structural changes were made to clarify the bill's progression through the legislative process.

Scope change

The bill now applies to two separate property subclasses instead of one, covering both unimproved land and improvements within 1 mile of rail stations.

SCOPE

Added a second property subclass for improvements to real property located within 1 mile of a rail station, expanding the program from just unimproved land to include both land and improvements.

FISCAL

Changed penalty revenue distribution so counties receive 95% instead of 50%, while the Transportation Trust Fund receives 5% instead of 50%.

DEFINITION

Updated the definition of rail stations to explicitly include Purple Line stations in addition to existing MARC, Metro SubwayLink, Light RailLink, and Metrorail stations.

TECHNICAL

Removed Section 4-201(d) from the list of sections being amended, as it was no longer needed after the bill's progression through the legislative process.

Added committee report status and Senate action dates to reflect the bill's progression through the legislative process.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 23, 2025

How they voted

46–0

Passed

Total votes 46

Feb 23, 2025

D Democratic33

33 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican13

13 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 13, 2025

Committee

Referred Ways and Means Environment and Transportation

lower

Mar 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

Third Reading Passed

upper

Mar 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments {

upper

Mar 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments Report by Budget and Taxation

upper

Feb 23, 2025

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (46-0)

senate

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

First Reading Budget and Taxation

upper

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors