ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Montgomery County Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a bill that would bar many county departments from hiring people who worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection on or after Oct. 1, 2025, one of seven bills on a crowded agenda that also includes the long-awaited decision on the future of the Dickerson trash incinerator.
The council’s Nov. 9 meeting notice lists votes expected on Expedited Bill 29-26, the “Community Trust in County Employees Act,” and on bills to add citizenship and immigration status to the county’s fair housing law, require landlords to accept money orders and certified checks, loosen rules for renting out accessory dwelling units, and make short-term rental websites verify a county license before listing a property. The meeting agenda puts the incinerator vote at 10 a.m.
What the hiring bill would do
Under the bill as introduced, 17 “direct services” agencies, including the police, fire and rescue, corrections, health and human services, transportation, permitting and the public libraries, could not hire a “restricted applicant” into a “sensitive position,” which the bill defines as a job with regular public contact or decision-making authority over public resources. A restricted applicant is anyone employed by ICE or CBP on or after Oct. 1, 2025, or anyone employed or contracted by the federal government after that date and assigned to help enforce immigration law, with an exception for assignments that ended within six months, according to the council staff report. As an expedited bill, it would take effect as soon as it becomes law.
The lead sponsor, Councilmember Kristin Mink, and co-sponsor Will Jawando say the measure is meant to rebuild immigrant residents’ trust in county services. “It is common sense to assure residents that County social workers, librarians, police officers, grant managers, and more have not been part of these unconstitutional, discriminatory federal actions,” Mink said when the bill was introduced in June. A joint committee of the council’s government operations and public safety panels recommends enactment with amendments, the meeting notice says.
The Trump administration has argued in court that state and local limits on cooperation with immigration enforcement are unlawful. When the Justice Department sued Maryland in July over the state’s Community Trust Act, a separate law, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said that “federal immigration officers merely enforce the laws that our Nation’s elected representatives in Congress passed, reflecting the will of We the People.” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the department “will always defend the Constitution and the rule of law.” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown responded that the state law “governs only how Maryland’s own state and local law enforcement resources may be used.” That lawsuit does not address the county hiring bill.
The county’s Office of Management and Budget estimates the bill would cost about $452,619 a year, mostly for three additional human resources specialists to screen applicants, and warned of hiring delays of “several weeks to several months,” the staff report says. The report notes that most testimony at the July 14 public hearing supported the bill, including from the immigrant advocacy group CASA, and that one witness opposed it as a “blanket prohibition” inconsistent with Bill 18-26, a separate proposal that would set up a screening process for certain police applicants.
The incinerator decision
At 10 a.m., the council is expected to choose between two resolutions: one supporting keeping the county’s Resource Recovery Facility in Dickerson open for the long term, and one supporting closing it and trucking the county’s trash to out-of-county landfills. The council has discussed the options with the Department of Environmental Protection at meetings on July 28, Sept. 15, Sept. 29 and Oct. 27, according to the meeting notice. The plant has operated since 1995, and its operator’s contract runs to April 2031, as The Inquisitor reported Sunday.
Housing and rental bills
Bill 38-26, sponsored by Mink with five co-sponsors, would make it illegal for a landlord or real estate agent to discriminate against someone because they or their family are from another country, are in an active immigration proceeding, are undocumented or hold an immigrant visa. It would also let landlords allow early lease termination in certain circumstances.
Bill 40-26, which lists nine co-sponsors, would require landlords to accept money orders and certified checks for rent and other lease charges. The planning and housing committee’s amendments would generally require landlords to accept personal checks, set rules for receipts and require landlords with more than four units in the county to provide a physical location in the county where rent can be paid.
Bill 41-26, from Councilmember Andrew Friedson and Council President Natali Fani-González, would drop the owner-occupancy requirement for renting an accessory dwelling unit and waive permit and license fees for units kept affordable to households earning 65 percent or less of the area median income for at least 10 years. The committee would cap any single owner at two ADU rental licenses.
Bill 42-26, from Councilmember Shebra Evans, would require short-term rental platforms to verify a county license before listing a property, bar them from processing payments for unlicensed rentals and require an annual occupancy report, with an effective date of July 1, 2027, under committee amendments.
The council is also expected to vote on Bill 35-26, which would exempt routine brush management on agricultural land from forest conservation permitting when it follows U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, and Bill 39-26, which would expand the Wheaton Urban District to take in the Wheaton library and recreation center and Wheaton Local Park.
Public hearings at 1:30 p.m. include supplemental appropriations for county immigration legal services and shelters, and a more than $7.2 million school construction budget amendment covering cost increases at the Burtonsville Elementary School replacement project.
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