Maryland lawmakers will hit a key deadline Monday that kicks off the final stretch of their annual 90-day session and makes much clearer which bills are likely to pass — or fail — before time runs out.
With hundreds of bills in the works, “crossover day” marks the deadline for the House and Senate to pass bills to each other. After Monday, if a bill is still in its first chamber, it will face additional hurdles to be sure of a hearing in the second chamber in the session’s three remaining weeks.
No bills have reached new Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s desk, so lawmakers must work quickly in the coming weeks to pass major legislation — from an expansion of abortion access to the creation of a recreational cannabis industry — as well as smaller bills that are priorities for individual legislators.
Here are some of the bills that made the deadline (winners) and those that appear to have missed the mark (could-be losers?). Those in the latter group may still ultimately pass, but their chances are slimmer.
Winners
Constitutional amendment for abortion access (House Bill 705 and Senate Bill 798): Sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones of Baltimore County and Senate President Bill Ferguson, who represents Baltimore, this bill would allow Marylanders to vote during the 2024 election to enshrine access to reproductive health care, including contraception, fertility treatment and abortion, in the state constitution. Both the Senate and House versions received approval in their chamber of origin. Because the bill would create a ballot question, it does not need to be signed by the governor, though Moore has expressed his support for the amendment.
Restricting access to guns (House Bill 824 and Senate Bill 1): The House and Senate are tackling gun control from different angles following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that rendered Maryland’s concealed-carry license policy unconstitutional. Sponsored by Baltimore representative and House Judiciary Committee Chair Luke Clippinger, the House bill would prohibit certain people from receiving wear-and-carry licenses, including those on supervised probation after being convicted of a crime with a penalty of more than a year in prison, people caught driving while impaired, and those who violate a protective order. The bill of Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Vice Chair Jeff Waldstriecher of Montgomery County seeks to limit where people who have licenses can carry firearms, including barring guns from schools, camps, hospitals, public universities and stadiums. The Senate bill passed March 13 and the House bill passed Thursday.
Child sex abuse statute of limitations (House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 686): In a victory for survivors of child sexual abuse — including the House sponsor, Economic Matters Committee Chair C.T. Wilson of Charles County — this may finally make it to the governor’s desk in 2023. Sponsored in the Senate by Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith of Montgomery County, the legislation would allow those who suffered abuse as children to sue their abusers and the institutions that employed them. This is the fourth iteration of this bill, which didn’t get a Senate vote until this session. It passed the Senate on Thursday; the House version is still in a committee.
Veterans tax cuts (House Bill 554 and Senate Bill 553): One of the governor’s legislative priorities, the Keep Our Heroes Home Act would expand the amount of military retirement income exempt from state taxes. While Moore’s plan would have raised the exemption to $40,000 for all veterans, amendments have scaled that back. Current law that allows veterans 55 and older to exempt $15,000 and those younger to exempt $5,000; the amended bill would simply raise the limits to $20,000 for older veterans and $12,500 for younger ones. The House bill passed March 10 and the Senate version could pass as early as Monday.
Service year option (House Bill 546 and Senate Bill 551): Moore’s signature plan to create a year-of-service program for recent high school graduates passed the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Friday with significant, and very different, amendments. While both bills made it by crossover day, much work is left to close those gaps.
Ballots counting and “curing” (Senate Bill 379 and House Bill 535): The bills would give election workers more time to open and verify — without tallying votes — the avalanches of mail-in ballots they’ve received in recent years. Changes also would allow a voter more time and ways to fix a ballot if, for example, they forgot to sign the oath affirming their identity. The Senate bill passed Tuesday, while the House bill passed March 10.
Minimum wage increase (HB 549 and SB 555): The plan, heavily amended from Moore’s original proposal, would increase the state minimum wage to $15 one year ahead of schedule to begin Jan. 1. The governor campaigned on an earlier increase in the wage, proposing to begin that hike Oct. 1. He also wanted to link the wage to inflation to ensure automatic yearly increases, but lawmakers killed that provision. The Senate bill passed Friday; the House has yet to pass its identical version.
Losers (so far)
Voting Rights Act (House Bill 1104 and Senate Bill 878): Baltimore Democratic Del. Stephanie Smith’s plan to fill in the gaps after the gutting of the federal Civil Rights-era Voting Rights Act is coming up short this session. The bills would specifically prohibit voter intimidation or attempts to interfere with voting, and would have required certain jurisdictions to get preapproval before enacting new local voting rules. It was one of the heftier bills introduced this year and was a first-time bill, two factors that probably contributed to it not passing either chamber yet and likely being off the table this year.
YES Act (House Bill 96 and Senate Bill 93): The Youth Equity and Safety, or “YES Act,” would end the practice of automatically trying children in adult court for certain crimes. Instead, each kid facing charges would enter the justice system through a juvenile court. If a judge deemed the charges severe enough, they could approve a prosecutor’s petition to send the case to adult court. The bill, sponsored by Baltimore Sen. Jill P. Carter and Del. Charlotte Crutchfield of Montgomery County, was heard in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in February and the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month. So far, neither committee has voted to bring the bill to the floor.
529 reform (House Bill 1290 and Senate Bill 959): Bills to reform and move the state college tuition savings agency under the state treasurer’s office have not yet emerged from either chamber, though lawmakers have vowed to move the bills before the end of the session.
Maximum sentences for gun possession (House Bill 481 and Senate Bill 889): Initiated by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, the bills would raise the maximum sentence for illegal possession of a gun from three years to five years. The plan has faced pushback from advocates who say research shows maximum sentences are not effective deterrents to gun crimes. The bills have not advanced past House or Senate committees.
