About Us

Legicate is a commitment to connect legislators and their staff, those responsible for

designing and implementing policy, with solid economic foundations. Providing legislators

with fundamental economic knowledge is key to building legislative competency to better

understand how to develop policy with a greater benefit to cost ratio and increase

efficiency of fiscal efforts in Maryland.

By building a self-paced online curriculum that builds economic foundations first, and then

extends them to areas of critical need for politicians such as understanding the regional

competitive advantages of Maryland, how to estimate the intended and unintended

consequences from legislation, how to develop policy by analyzing from the outcome back

to the policy (the pin to the tee box) rather than hitting blindly, and the responsibility of

undoing legislation that fails to provide a productive outcome, Legislators will have the

tools and knowledge necessary to be better advocates for their constituents and more

effective policymakers.

Legicate, in partnership with Towson University’s Economics Department and the

Division for Strategic Partnerships and Applied Research, are working together to

design a curriculum that addresses the need for economic competency in the

legislative process. Based on this curriculum, the team will develop and administer a

series of online educational modules outlining economic concepts, methods, and

tools to help Legislators better understand the economic impacts of legislative

policies. By educating policymakers on the economic and social impacts of

legislation, they will be able to better anticipate and estimate the outcomes and costs

associated with proposed legislation.

The disconnect between elected officials responsible for creating policy and their

constituents is growing. This divide is complicated, and results from many interconnected

issues including but not limited to the fact that many politicians and voters lack the

economic training to recognize the complex ways in which policy impacts our state. The

intention of legislators is to solve problems by enacting new legislation, however, given the

complexities of both the economic and social systems, anticipating potential negative

impacts of legislation is difficult. And while we cannot solve all problems, we can help

build legislative competency in economics and economic decision making to help close

the gap.

Knowledge on these complexities of policy’s impact on the economy is particularly

pressing right now as reports indicate a stagnant local economy for 2026 and that within

five years Maryland will not have sufficient revenue to cover even 85% of its expenses.

These issues are not solely the outcome of current spending but rather unexpected costs,

externalities and unintended consequences from prior legislation – from Medicare to

infrastructure, public education, childcare subsidies, and everything in between. And this

is not a partisan issue but rather one for which we all share both the culpability and

responsibility to do better. Through better understanding we can more strategically and

responsibly make decisions regarding legislation to improve the lives of all those living in

Maryland. Legicate will aid Legislators in providing what they intend to; purposeful,

effective and efficient policy that has a positive impact on the citizens of Maryland.