By Maryland Department of Commerce
When Maryland Governor Wes Moore took office in early 2023, he laid out an ambitious plan to make the state’s economy stronger and more competitive while also bringing new opportunity and investment to underserved communities:
“We do not have to choose between a competitive economy and an equitable one,” Gov. Moore said during his inaugural address. “Maryland can reward entrepreneurs who take bold risks… and provide stability for families in need. This can be the best state in America to be an employer and an employee.”
In the months that followed, the administration of Gov. Moore and Lt. Governor Aruna Miller has taken aggressive steps to build a robust economy that offers more pathways to work, wages and wealth for all Marylanders.
During the 2023 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed all 10 of the governor’s legislative proposals on a bipartisan basis, which included accelerating an increase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour starting in 2024 – a move that will increase wages for approximately 163,000 workers and benefit 120,000 children in Maryland.
Lawmakers also approved the SERVE Act, one of Gov. Moore’s signature proposals, which creates a service year that helps recent high school graduates transition into the workforce by providing career development training. And the passage of the Innovation Economy Infrastructure Act established a new grant program within the Maryland Department of Commerce that provides matching funds to companies in key strategic industries—like biotechnology, quantum computing, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity—to pay for infrastructure development.
“These innovative programs will help provide industries with the resources they need to startup and grow,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson. “We’ll be able to build on our existing strengths and enhance Maryland’s ecosystem of innovation and economic growth.”
Expanding access to broadband internet throughout the state has been another administration priority. This summer, Gov. Moore announced $267 million in federal funding would go to expanding broadband infrastructure across the state, and launched a new campaign to close the digital divide by ensuring high-speed internet is both accessible and affordable.
“The internet is one of the most important pathways to prosperity in the 21st century; it is how we build new connections between people and businesses and is one of the best tools you can give someone to help them climb a rung on the economic ladder,” said Gov. Moore. “We are meeting this once-in-a-generation moment, ensuring that no Marylander is left behind in the internet age.”
Gov. Moore announced in June that Maryland was also relaunching plans to build the Red Line, a proposed east-west transit line across Baltimore City. The Red Line proposal sought to improve transit efficiency and increase access to work and activity centers before being canceled by the previous administration in 2015. The governor’s historic action will help provide connections to existing transit and other transportation modes, offer more commuter choices, and support economic development and community revitalization.
“As a transportation engineer by trade, I know the extraordinary value transit options bring to communities,” said Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller. “Transit options create pathways for people to go from where they live to where the opportunities are, but for a huge swath of Baltimoreans, those pathways and those opportunities have been limited. The Moore-Miller administration is changing that by kickstarting the Red Line – a project that will transform Baltimore City into a model for what a fully-integrated transit network looks like.”
Maryland has also taken steps to support the state’s small businesses and entrepreneurs entering the new market for adult-use, recreational cannabis, which became legal on July 1. A few weeks before, the Maryland Department of Commerce began accepting applications for its Cannabis Business Assistance Fund, which the administration believes will help social equity businesses compete in the growing industry. The first round of funds was focused on helping cover licensing costs for processors and growers as well as dispensaries. Future rounds are expected to support cannabis-related programs at Maryland Historically Black Colleges and Universities and business incubators.
While the Moore-Miller administration has spent its first months launching bold new solutions to major challenges facing the state, the Maryland Department of Commerce and its economic development partners have continued working to attract new business investment and retain existing companies as they grow and create new jobs.
Some of the major recent wins include Home Chef, which is bringing a new manufacturing and distribution center to Baltimore City with plans to create 500 new jobs; Floor & Decor, which is adding a second distribution center at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County and adding 165 new jobs; Vegetable and Butcher, which is relocating its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Prince George’s County and creating 184 new jobs; and Hahn’s of Westminster, which is expanding in Carroll County and planning to double its workforce in the region.
And to continue to strengthen Maryland’s economy into the future, Gov. Moore established the new Maryland Economic Council to guide the state’s economic development in future. The council will develop strategies to use Maryland’s assets and resources to spur innovation and growth, while also helping to eliminate the racial wealth gap and ensuring that communities of color aren’t left behind.
“The Maryland Economic Council will help build the robust economic strategy our state needs and our state deserves,” said Gov. Moore. “For this to be Maryland’s decade, we must invest in the infrastructure, technology, and workforce to grow the industries that will dominate the next half century of the world economy.”
