A Message from the President and Speaker
About the General Assembly	Contact or find a Legislator
Bill Information and Status	House and Senate Proceedings ( Listen )
Bill Indexes and Profiles	House and Senate Agenda
Hearings ( Schedule ) ( Listen/View )	Budget ( Documents )
Prior Session Information	Department of Legislative Services Website
Roster and List of Committees	Redistricting
Maryland Statutes	Search Site or Search DLS Library Catalog
FAQ	Everything Else

The Maryland General Assembly

The Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days to act on more than 2300 bills including the State's annual budget. The 432nd Session began August 9, 2012 and adjourned August 15, 2012. The General Assembly has 47 Senators and 141 Delegates elected from 47 districts. Legislative information on this website is updated continuously during the Session.

Information is also available through the Department of Legislative Services, the Maryland Manual and Maryland State Government.

If you have general questions, you may e-mail the Department of Legislative Services, Library and Information Services or phone the library at 410-946-5400 (Baltimore or Annapolis), 301-970-5400 (Washington), 1-800-492-7122, ext. 5400/5410 (Other areas), or Text Telephone (TTY): 410-946-5401 (Baltimore or Annapolis) or 301-970-5401 (Washington). TTY users may also use the Maryland Relay Service to contact the General Assembly.

If you have technical questions, contact the Department of Legislative Services, Office of Information Systems.

Contact your Legislators

Find your legislators using a street address.
Send E-Mail to a Legislator

Bill Information and Status

Bill numbers in the following range have been introduced during this legislative session. Information may not be available for all bills in the range.

House Bills 1 - 18

Senate Bills 1 - 22

Chapters and Joint Resolutions

To find a bill by number, enter HB1 for House Bill 1, HJ1 for House Joint Resolution, SS1 for Senate Resolution 1, or CH1 for Chapter 1, etc.

Bill Number:

Bills listed as "The Speaker (By Request of Administration)", "The President (By Request of Administration)" or "Committee Chair (By Request of Department) are bills proposed by the Governor and his agencies and are not proposals of the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, or the respective Committee Chair. They are listed with the official title of a legislator rather than the Governor due to requirements in the Maryland Constitution.

NOTE: Regarding Bond Bills
Bond bills that received funding in the 2012 session were amended into the State's Capital budget (SB 151). Individual bond bills were not acted upon by the legislature, instead the General Assembly amended SB 151 to specifically list the projects it selected for funding. Click here for special information pertaining to 2012 Regular Session Bond Bills.

Daily Synopses (Information about most recently introduced bills and resolutions):

Index
Senate Synopsis
House Synopsis

Daily Status Reports (Complete listing of bills and resolutions in numerical order along with their current status):

Senate Legislation
House Legislation

Bill Indexes

Lists of bills and resolutions are available indexed by Sponsor, Subject, Statute, File Code, or Specific Interest Profile. Indexes include sponsor names, the title, committees assigned to consider the legislation, and current status (where the bill or resolution stands in the legislative process).

Indexes:

Sponsor
One or two Subjects
File Code
Statute
Cross Filed Bills
Legislation Passed by Both Chambers
Reintroductions

Bills listed as "The Speaker (By Request of Administration)", "The President (By Request of Administration)" or "Committee Chair (By Request of Department) are bills proposed by the Governor and his agencies and are not proposals of the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, or the respective Committee Chair. They are listed with the official title of a legislator rather than the Governor due to requirements in the Maryland Constitution.

Bill Profiles

The profile system allows users to submit a file with a list of bill numbers to the website and retrieve a status report for those particular bills. Reports can be created in long or short HTML format or in a plain text format.

Profile Help
Submit Profile

House and Senate Proceedings

The House and Senate hold daily sessions in their respective chambers and a record of the proceedings is available.

Order of Business
SENATE 1. Call to order. 2. Reading of the journal 3. Presentation of petitions, memorials, and other papers. 4. Presentation of orders. 5. Introduction of bills and resolutions. 6. Introduction of Senate Resolutions. 7. Introduction of visitors. 8. Unfinished business. 9. Laid over bills. 10. Reports of standing committees. 11. Reports of select committees. 12. Special orders of the day. 13. Third reading calendars. 14. Adjournment.	HOUSE 1. Call to order. 2. Reading of the journal. 3. Presentation of petitions, memorials, and other papers. 4. Presentation of orders. 5. Introduction of bills and resolutions. 6. Introduction of House Resolutions. 7. Unfinished business. 8. Reports of standing committees. 9. Reports of select committees. 10. Laid over bills. 11. Special orders of the day. 12. Third reading calendars. 13. Introduction of visitors. 14. Adjournment.
Messages from the Chief Executive or the other chamber may be received at any time except when a question is being put, roll is being called, or a report of a conference committee is being received.

Proceedings Index

Senate Proceedings ( Listen )
House Proceedings ( Listen )

Senate Agenda
House Agenda

Hearing Schedules

The General Assembly refers work to various committees, who hold public hearings and examine items thoroughly before recommending to the General Assembly the action it should take. A schedule of upcoming hearings is released weekly, with addenda released as necessary.

Hearing Schedule
Listen and View Committee Hearings
Hearing Calendar

Budget Information

The budget bill is introduced in both chambers. The House will move the bill in the 2013 Regular Session.

Guidelines for applicants seeking State grants through the submission of individual bond bills are available here.

2012 Regular and Special Session information can be found on the Prior Session Information page.

Prior Session Information

Information about the General Assembly's activity is available from the 1996 regular session though the 1st Special Session of 2012.

View Prior Session Information

Redistricting

Maps of existing and proposed redistricting plans before the General Assembly. Population data and other information relating to constitutional and statutory requirements, hearing schedules, and useful links.

View Information

Roster

Roster contains lists of:

• Current and former members of the Maryland General Assembly along with biographical information
• Members belonging to standing, statutory, special, select, and joint and special joint committees
• Members belonging to Task Forces and Commissions
• Delegation information
• Legislative district information

View Roster and List of Committees

Search

You may search for information within Bills, Amendments, Fiscal Notes, Chapters, Joint Resolutions, or Statutes using Google.

You may also search the DLS Library Catalog of publications.

Statutes

Maryland Statutes (What is this?)

Statute Text - as of start of 2012 session (does NOT include enactments from 2012 sessions)
Statute Text - as of start of 2013 session (includes enactments of 2012 sessions, which may or may not be in effect at the time of viewing)
Maryland Code Online (on the Michie/Lexis website)

Everything Else

Department of Legislative Services

The Department of Legislative Services (DLS) is one of the oldest legislative staff agencies in the nation, maintaining a long and proud tradition of providing nonpartisan professional services for the State legislature and the people of Maryland. The Department provides legal, fiscal, committee, research, reference, auditing, administrative, and technological support to the members of the legislature and its committees.

Each of our offices and units makes available additional information, publications, reports, and resources that will better inform and assist you with respect to the Maryland General Assembly. Included is information that is useful to constituents, job seekers, schools, students, businesses, the press, state governmental agencies, and other state legislatures.

Department of Legislative Services

About this site

Conventions used on General Assembly website are as follows:

On the Home Page: Click on bullets that precede topics for further information.
On any other page: Click on photo of State House to return to the General Assembly's Home Page.

Documents available on this site are stored in HTML, RTF, Word, and PDF formats.

To view PDF formatted documents download Adobe Acrobat Reader.
To view RTF files download the file to any word processor that reads this format or use an RTF plug in.

To listen to the Proceedings or Senate Committee Hearings download RealAudio Player.

Photos used at this site courtesy Tom Darden
Site maintained by the Department of Legislative Services, Office of Information Systems.