County Council seeks public input on bill to screen police applicants for ties to ICE

Plus: Vote expected on Capital Crescent Trail upgrade funds; opportunity to weigh in on revised gun law

June 8, 2026 6:30 p.m.

The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a proposal to screen all applicants to the county police department for involvement in recent federal immigration enforcement efforts.

The council also plans to hold a public hearing on suggested revisions to the county’s firearm wear-and-carry restrictions and take a vote on funding for the final steps of the Capital Crescent Trail project.

The council will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stella Werner Council Office Building in Rockville for its first regular business meeting since May 21, when members met to approve the fiscal year 2027 county operating budget and six-year capital improvements plan.

Here’s what to expect:

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Public hearing on Continued Excellence in Public Service Act

At approximately 1:30 p.m., the council will hold a public hearing on the proposed Continued Excellence in Public Service Act, which would require the county police department to ask applicants about prior law enforcement work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies.

The goal of the bill, sponsored by Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large), is to weed out applicants who “intentionally violated an individual’s constitutional rights” while enforcing immigration law on or after Jan. 21, 2025 — President Donald Trump’s first full day in office.

The council’s Public Safety Committee is scheduled to review Glass’ bill on July 20. If adopted by the full council, the Continued Excellence in Public Service Act would be Glass’ second immigration-related bill to pass in recent months.

The first was the ICE Out Act, which took effect April 30. It prohibits the county from issuing permits needed to build and operate privately owned immigration detention facilities. ICE Stands for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Vote on additional money for Capital Crescent Trail

At 9:30 a.m., the council is expected to vote on a supplemental appropriation of more than $4.8 million to the county’s fiscal year 2026 capital budget to complete planned improvements to the Capital Crescent Trail.

The 11-mile trail, which runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, has been partially closed since 2017 to allow for the ongoing construction of the Purple Line and to make upgrades to the trail and realign it with the route of the upcoming light-rail line.

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Planned upgrades to the Capital Crescent Trail include creating a 12-foot-wide paved section with 2-foot buffers, adding new landscaping and establishing access points to the trail in local neighborhoods, according to the Purple Line website.

A senior project director with the Purple Line told Bethesda Today in an interview last month that officials are “pushing” for a late 2027 opening of the light-rail line, which will run 16 miles from New Carrollton to Bethesda.

According to a council staff report, the supplemental appropriation would primarily fund the connection from 47th Street through Elm Street Urban Park in Chevy Chase to the trail.

The additional money would allow the trail upgrades to be completed in tandem with the final stages of the Purple Line, according to the staff report. If the council does not approve the supplemental appropriation, the trail will not be ready in time for the opening of the Purple Line.

Comments on gun law

Also scheduled for around 1:30 p.m., the council will hold a public hearing on possible revisions to an existing law limiting where people can carry guns in the county.

Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7) introduced the proposed changes following a Supreme Court of Maryland decision earlier this year to uphold only some of the county’s restrictions on firearms within 100 yards of certain “places of public assembly.”

That decision says the county does not have the authority to regulate guns in proximity to other places outlined in the existing law, such as government-owned property and “gatherings of individuals” exercising their right to protest.

Luedtke’s bill would also align the county’s existing law with the state’s definition of an illegal ghost gun. Councilmember Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) is co-sponsoring the proposal.

According to the state Supreme Court, whether an amended version of the county’s gun law could be considered constitutional “will depend on the scope of the amended law and evidence concerning its effects.”

The council’s Public Safety Committee is expected to review Luedtke’s bill on June 15.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine