Dear Fellow Landscape Architecture Professionals,
Happy New Year! As we reflect on another year of advocacy efforts, we’d like to update you on the ongoing work of the ASLA Maryland Advocacy Committee and highlight important issues for the 2025 legislative session.
Ongoing Advocacy Activities
Monitoring Legislation: Each legislative session, we actively track hundreds of bills that could influence our profession, helping to foresee potential impacts on the value of our work and restrictions that may arise in the future. You can find an overview of last year’s session here.
Identifying Opportunities: We identify legislative bills that could create new opportunities for landscape architecture firms, ensuring our profession is positioned to benefit from key initiatives.
Collaboration with Allied Professionals: Through our participation in the Maryland Design Council, which includes architects, engineers, surveyors, interior designers, and landscape architects, we remain aligned with the goals of our allied professionals, providing a unified front on legislative issues.
Continuing Education: Our efforts to expand continuing education options have made it easier for landscape architects to access valuable learning opportunities. Recent changes to the Continuing Professional Competency (CPC) regulations, which went into effect last May, now allow a wider range of approved activities, including professional development work and authorship, in addition to traditional coursework.
Promoting Landscape Architecture: We organize site visits and ribbon-cutting events for completed landscape architecture projects, showcasing our profession’s value to legislators and the public. In 2019, the chapter toured Eager Park with Senator Ben Cardin.
Annual Advocacy Day: Maryland ASLA members meet with congressional offices to advocate for our profession, highlight our impact on critical issues, and support national legislation. Read last year’s recap here.
Licensure Sunset: In 2023, we successfully extended the licensure sunset to 2034, ensuring the continued professional licensure of landscape architects in Maryland.
Looking Ahead: 2025 Legislative Session
As we enter the 2025 legislative session, our advocacy efforts will focus on several key issues:
Playing Defense: We anticipate reviewing thousands of house and senate bills, addressing potential threats to our profession while also seizing opportunities to protect and grow our impact.
Protecting Budgets: Efforts will be made to defend budgets for essential agencies such as MDOT, DNR, MDE, and more, ensuring that programs vital to our work are preserved amid budget reductions and revenue enhancements.
Sales Tax on Professional Services: This issue will be critical, particularly in the first week of March. We will continue to work against any proposed sales tax on professional services that could harm the financial stability of landscape architecture practices. Stay tuned for more information on this issue.
Climate Legislation: With Governor Moore’s Executive Order on climate goals, we will ensure landscape architects play an active role in climate initiatives related to clean energy, clean transportation, and environmental justice.
Emeritus Legislation: We are exploring potential updates to the landscape architecture statute, including Emeritus legislation as part of a larger omnibus bill.
Transportation and Land Use: We will advocate for the role of landscape architecture in addressing transportation issues, afforestation, land use, and emerging fields like agrivoltaics.
Flood Management and Watershed Projects: We’ll work to ensure that new laws regarding flood management and environmental standards place landscape architects at the forefront of restoration efforts.
We will also continue our collaborative efforts on the Maryland Design Council and with other stakeholders to ensure our profession’s voice is heard on these critical issues.
Support Our Advocacy Efforts
Our advocacy work relies on the support of our members and the expertise of our political allies. These partnerships allow us to monitor legislation, engage with policymakers, and ensure the voice of landscape architects is heard at both the state and national levels.
If you or your firm is interested in supporting these efforts, please consider joining our Circle of Support. Contributions directly fund the resources needed to protect and advance the profession of landscape architecture in Maryland. You can learn more about the Circle of Support and our other sponsorship opportunities on our website.
Thank you for your continued support of our profession and the Advocacy Committee’s work. If you’re interested in getting involved, please don’t hesitate to contact me or Dr. Christopher Ellis directly—your participation truly makes a difference. Together, we can safeguard and advance landscape architecture in Maryland and beyond.
Michael Pullano, PLA, ASLA
President, ASLA Maryland
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