First elected in 2018 to represent Annapolis and southern Anne Arundel County, Senator Sarah Elfreth is the youngest woman ever elected to the Maryland Senate. She is passionately committed to serving her constituents both in the State House and in the community. Sarah worked with colleagues across the aisle and around the State to pass 84 bills - all with bipartisan votes - she sponsored in her first five years in office. These new laws range from implementing the largest investment in Maryland’s State Parks, creating Maryland’s first Office of Statewide Broadband, providing treatment to veterans living with PTSD, expanding critical prenatal care for healthy Maryland mothers, and protecting forests, oysters, and clean water.
Sarah serves on the Budget & Taxation Committee where she Chairs the Subcommittee on Public Safety, Transportation, and Environment Subcommittee and is responsible for balancing and overseeing the budgets of over 20 departments and agencies. As one of two senators representing Maryland on the multi-state Chesapeake Bay Commission, Sarah works with colleagues in Pennsylvania and Virginia to build regional consensus and implement policy solutions to protect and restore the Bay. She also serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Program Open Space & Agricultural Land Preservation and the Joint Committee on the Chesapeake & Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area.
As a member of the Budget committee, Sarah fights to secure tens of millions in funding every year to support local projects and nonprofit organizations serving District 30. These include investments in the Thomas Point Lighthouse, the historic Stanton Center, Wellness House, the Woodland Beach Fire Department, the Brewer Hill Cemetery, Arundel Lodge, Annapolis Maritime Museum, both the Annapolis and Mayo American Legions, and the YWCA.
Sarah graduated, magna cum laude, from Towson University and holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from The Johns Hopkins University. Prior to her time in the Senate, Sarah served as the Director of Government Affairs for the National Aquarium and as Director of University Projects for Margrave Strategies where she focused on economic development in university towns.
Outside of the Senate, Sarah teaches public policy at Towson University’s Honors College and works as a senior advisor on conservation and fisheries management campaigns. Despite receiving the “Baby Senator” trophy in 2019 for joining the chamber as its youngest member, Sarah’s success in passing legislation has earned her numerous “Legislator of the Year” awards from community and statewide groups, including: the Maryland Military Coalition, the Park Rangers, the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, Preservation Maryland, the Maryland Library Association, among others. She lives in downtown Annapolis.
About District 30
Sarah represents District 30 in the Maryland Senate, which includes Annapolis and South County. The District includes: the Annapolis Neck Peninsula, Highland Beach, portions of the Broadneck peninsula, Epping Forest, Heritage Harbour, Edgewater, Londontowne, Mayo, Selby-On-The-Bay, portions of Riva, Galesville, Lothian, Harwood, West River, Shady Side, Churchton, Deale, Tracey’s Landing, and Friendship.
KEY ISSUES
Thank you for your faith in electing me to represent you in the Maryland Senate! It has been an incredible three years serving our community. I've focused on delivering bipartisan legislative solutions, funding for our community's priorities, and stellar constituent services.
As your Senator, I’ve worked with colleagues across the Stat and across the aisle to deliver bipartisan results on your priorities: protecting our Bay, expanding internet access, supporting teachers and parents, supporting small businesses, and keeping our neighborhoods safe. Please visit the "Legislation" page for a summary of the bills I've sponsored that are now law. I’m working every day to serve as your advocate and your voice.
It's the privilege of my life to represent you in the Maryland Senate! Here is a bit about our work and what’s next:
PROTECTing THE BAY
The Bay is our greatest natural resource, our economic engine, and key to our way of life. Sarah is proud to receive a life 100% score from the Maryland League of Conservation Voters for her votes to protect land and water, address climate change, and advance our focus on environmental justice.
What Sarah’s done: As your Senator, Sarah successfully passed bills to increase oyster populations, invest in clean energy jobs and committing Maryland to reaching 50% renewable energy by 2030, build more resilient infrastructure in response to climate change, plant 5 million trees in the next 10 yers; and strengthen the State’s Commission on Environmental Justice. Sarah serves as the Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and is focused on bringing bipartisan, multi-state solutions to improving the Bay’s water quality and meeting our 2025 Watershed Improvement Plan goals.
What’s next: In the 2022 legislative session, Sarah will be championing legislation to: make the largest ever investment in Maryland’s State Parks, bring private sector investment into achieving Bay restoration goals; expand oyster spat production; commit Maryland to preserving 30 percent of our land by 2030; limit the sale and spread of invasive plant species; incentivize rooftop solar on low- and moderate-income housing developments; and limit our exposure to harmful “forever chemicals.” In her second term, Sarah will work to tackle revising the State’s Forest Conservation Act, expanding technical assistance to Maryland’s farmers so they can meet their water quality improvement goals, and increasing protection of our precious wetlands.
Supporting small businesses
What Sarah’s done: As your Senator, Sarah has successfully championed legislation the Digital Connectivity Act of 2021, landmark legislation to expand broadband access and connectivity to Maryland households and small businesses. This legislation led CNBC to name Maryland the most-improved state for business in 2021. She sponsored the bill to expand the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which provides counseling and training to small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Maryland. Sarah is a strong supporter of Maryland’s farming community, passing legislation to expand agritourism opportunities so small farms can diversify their revenue. With a background in higher education and economic development, Sarah successfully passed legislation to revitalize the RISE Zone Program, which helps incentivize small businesses and start-ups in areas surrounding Maryland's colleges and universities in order to jumpstart our innovation economy.
Most importantly: During and after 2021’s devastating tornado and subsequent 4-foot flood, Sarah worked with the Governor’s Office and the County to bring $4 million in State relief funding for tornado victims and $650,000 to those impacted by the flood. Sarah worked directly with small businesses from West Street to Deale to ensure they took advantage of these programs and could successfully reopen.
What’s next: In the 2022 legislative session, Sarah will sponsor legislation to: support Maryland’s wineries and breweries; streamline State support to small businesses that are impacted by natural disasters; and bring private sector investment into achieving Bay restoration goals.
Strengthening our public schools & community colleges
As a proud product of public schools, Sarah believes that every child deserves access to a high-quality public education.
What Sarah’s done: As your Senator, Sarah helped to pass the landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation that invests funding in critical early childhood education, increased mental health support, more staff support for young people living in poverty, increased educator salaries to keep experience in the classroom, and more robust pathways for students, post-high school. As a member of the budget subcommittee focused on higher education, Sarah fights every year to expand funding for Maryland’s critical community colleges and university system. She’s championed legislation to make it easier for community college students to transfer to Maryland universities and legislation to protect the integrity and longevity of Maryland’s 529 Save4College program.
What’s next: Sarah is committed to advancing technical and career education to prepare kids for 21st century jobs, expanding affordable and quality childcare, and further supporting greater mental health and social work support in Maryland schools.
Building a stronger quality of life for marylanders
What Sarah’s done: As your Senator, Sarah has championed legislation to invest in Maryland’s incredible public libraries; support our arts institutions with critical capital and operating funding; provide funding for life-saving pre-natal care for Maryland mothers; address “period poverty” by providing menstrual hygiene products in public school bathrooms; and tackle the digital divide by expanding internet access and affordability with the Digital Connectivity Act of 2021. She has worked with colleagues to pass legislation to expand telehealth, increase State support for affordable childcare; invest healthcare resources in communities experiencing health disparities; and build a safer and more reliable public transit system.
What’s next: In the 2022 legislative session, Sarah will champion legislation to make Maryland a more affordable place for seniors, veterans, and first responders to live; provide tax relief to active duty military members and their families; support Marylanders living with Parkinson’s Disease; and make diapers tax-free. She is committed to expanding healthcare coverage and access to more Marylanders and building the mental and behavioral health provider network.
Keeping our communities safe
Everyone in our community deserves to feel safe. Sarah’s work to deliver the largest public safety budget in Maryland history is why she’s been endorsed by the fire fighters, police, and park rangers.
What Sarah’s done: In her first year in the Senate, Sarah championed legislation to increase the State’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to the City of Annapolis - thus increasing critical funding to support the City’s police, fire, and emergency services. Sarah successfully sponsored legislation funding the testing of rape kits throughout Maryland and worked with colleagues to pass legislation mandating the testing of every rape kit in the State, which will hopefully bring justice to countless survivors. She proudly voted for legislation to expand crisis response teams across Maryland. Sarah voted to close a dangerous loophole in Maryland’s gun background check system. After working with stakeholders across Maryland, Sarah voted to increase accountability and transparency in policing in order to build greater trust in our communities. Sarah meets regularly with Annapolis and Anne Arundel Police, Fire, and Emergency Management teams to better work together to keep our communities safe.
What’s next: In the 2022 legislative session, Sarah will sponsor legislation to expand income tax and property tax credits to police, fire,, and first responders so they can better afford to live in our District and Maryland. She will cosponsor legislation get “ghost guns” off the streets and will continue to find ways to reduce everyday gun violence.
Saving Taxpayer Dollars & Creating a More Transparent Government
As a member of the Senate’s Budget & Taxation Committee, it’s Sarah’s job to ensure Maryland passes a balanced, responsible budget that reflects our State’s priorities. Even with this balanced budget, Sarah always works to find efficiencies and build greater transparency for Marylanders.
What Sarah’s done: As your Senator, Sarah championed successful legislation to: save taxpayers $3 million annually of waste, fraud, and abuse in Maryland’s critically important 529 Save4College Program; ensure the public had more ability to weigh in on potential budget cuts before the Board of Public Works; mandate stronger reporting and accountability of the spending of Anne Arundel County’s hotel tax revenues; and require the Department of Environment and the Department of Natural Resources to publish data to the public concerning violations of environmental and conservation laws.
What’s next: Sarah will continue working to make Maryland’s government more transparent and accountable to its citizens.