Kumar P. Barve

Kumar Prabhakar Barve (; born September 8, 1958) is an American politician who has served as the chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission since 2026. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing district 17 in Montgomery County, from 1991 to 2023. He was the first Indian-American to be elected to a state legislature in the United States. From 2002 to 2015, Barve served as Majority Leader of the House of Delegates.

His legislative work focused largely on protecting the environment, improving health care, and the promotion of the high-tech industry in Maryland. In 2015, he was appointed to chair the House Environment and Transportation Committee, which oversees transportation, the environment, agriculture, ethics, and housing and real property law. He sponsored both the 1995 Health Access Act that place limits on HMOs for the first time and legislation that created the Technology Development Corporation of Maryland.

He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2016 in Maryland's 8th congressional district, losing the Democratic Primary to the eventual winner, State Senator Jamie Raskin.

Early life and education Barve was born on September 8, 1958, in Schenectady, New York, to a Marathi father Prabhaker B. "Balu" and a Marathi-American mother Neera P. (née Gokhale) Barve. His maternal grandparents moved from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to Schenectady as his grandfather, Shankar Laxman Gokhale was a professor. Shankar Gokhale was born in Wai, Maharashtra.

The Barve family later moved to Maryland, where he attended Paint Branch High School in Silver Spring. In 1980, Barve graduated from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business with a B.S. degree in Accounting.

Legislative career Barve was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1990, finishing third in the contest for district 17's three seats behind incumbents Jennie M. Forehand and Mike Gordon but ahead of four other challengers. As a result of his victory, Barve became the first Indian-American to serve in a state legislature. He took office in January, 1991, and was appointed to the House Economic Matters Committee, which considers legislation related to business and labor policy and regulation.

Barve has also worked extensively on the promotion of technology and of high tech businesses. He authored Maryland's version of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). The Act both affirms the intellectual-property rights of software developers and provides unprecedented consumer protections to purchasers of computer equipment. He sponsored legislation that created the Technology Development Corporation of Maryland, which promotes high-technology business development in Maryland.

In the 2008 presidential election, Barve endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Maryland Public Service Commission On April 6, 2023, Governor Wes Moore announced he would appoint Barve to the Maryland Public Service Commission. He resigned from the Maryland House of Delegates on May 1, 2023. In January 2026, after Maryland Public Service Commission chairman Frederick Hoover announced that he would resign, Barve was named as the chair of the commission.

Personal life In November 2007, Barve was cited by Gaithersburg Police for driving under the influence of alcohol while operating a vehicle. On July 17, 2008, Barve pleaded guilty and received a probation before judgement, and suspension of all but $200 of a $1,000 fine.

In 2008, it was reported that Barve and his wife were inappropriately receiving a Homestead Property Tax Credit on two properties that they had owned separately prior to their marriage. Barve indicated that he had assumed Anne Arundel County would delete the tax credit on the property his wife had owned prior to their marriage once the couple declared his residence in Gaithersburg to be their primary joint residence. While early reports were critical of Barve, the Associate Director of Assessments and Taxation for Maryland later told reporters than nothing improper had taken place, and that such errors had occurred repeatedly in cases where individuals owned homes and then later married. Barve pledged that he would re-pay any money that the couple did not pay earlier due to the error.