CCMD - 2021 legislative tracker.xlsx


1			Common Cause Maryland Legislative Tracker
2			Check out our review of the 90-day legislative session!
3			Check out our 2021 legislative priorities!
4		Final Bill Status	Position	SB	Senate Sponsor	HB	House Sponsor	Bill Summary	Senate Bill Status	House Bill Status	Read Our Testimony	Take Action!

5	Access to Voting
6	Value My Vote Act	PASSED	FAV	SB 224	Sen. West	HB 222	Del. Wilkins	Requires the SBE and DPSCS work in partnership to ensure eligible incarcerated voters have access to voting and voting information. SB 525 requires that a secure drop box be made available at Baltimore City facility.	Passed in Senate EHE and JPR. Headed to third reader.	Passed third reader in the House. Headed to third reader in the Senate.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
7	Special Elections to Fill Legislative Vacancies	DIED IN THE HOUSE	FAV	SB 6	Sen. Lam	HB 265	Del. Moon	Requires a special election to fill legislative vacancies if vacancy occurs more than fifty five days prior to the filing deadline for the statewide election.	Passed third reader w/ unanimous support! Now in House W&M	In W&M.	click here	contact your Delegates!
8	Election Law - Early Voting Centers - Hours of Operation	PASSED	FAV	SB 596	Sen. Washington	HB 206	Del. Washington	Establishes an earlier opening time for early voting centers during gubernatorial general elections, providing Marylanders maximum opportunity to participate in the democratic process and helping to increase turnout during midterm elections.	Passed third reader in the Senate and House. Headed to the Governor's desk	Passed third reader in the House.	click here
9	Mail-in Voting Enhancement Act	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV			HB 1047	Del. Wilkins	Aims to modernize the mail-in voting process by allowing for: secure and accessible drop boxes, improved ballot tracking, ballot curing. Bill has been amended and now includes improved ballot tracking, process for curing, and preprocessing of mail-in ballots.		Passed third reader in the House. Passed third reader in the Senate. In original chamber.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
10	Permanent Absentee List	PASSED	FAV	SB 683	Sen. Kramer	HB 1048	Del. Wilkins	Would provide eligible voters seeking to use the mail-in voting process the opportunity to opt into a permanent list where ballots are automatically for each election. Bill has been amended to also include drop boxes, requires ballot request forms be sent to voters in 2022 and 2024 primary, and improves usability of mail materials.		Passed third reader in the House and Senate! Headed to the Governor's desk	click here	contact your lawmakers!
11	Student Voter & Military Empowerment Act	PASSED	FAV	SB 283	Sen. Elfreth	HB 156	Del Luedtke	Aims to increase access to voter information and the overall participation of MD students in our elections.	Passed third reader in the Senate and House. Headed to the Governor's desk.	Passed third reader in the House.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
12	Mail-in Voting - Design of Materials, Assistance, etc.	NO ACTION	FAV			HB 1345	Del. Kaiser	Would require improved mail-in voting materials.		Amended onto HB 1047	click here
13	Election Law - Early Voting Centers	PASSED	FAV			HB 745	Del. Luedtke	Establishes equitable formula for determining number of accessible early voting centers in a jurisdiction		Passed third reader in the House and Senate. Headed to the Governor's desk.	click here
14	Montgomery County - RCV	NO ACTION	FAV			HB 767	MoCo Delegation	Would authorize Montgomery County to adopt a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) or Approval Voting method.		In W&M	click here
15	Election Law - Risk Limiting Audits Workgroup	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV			HB 759	Del. Kaiser	Establishes work group to draft plan to conduct a specified risk-limiting audit prior to 2022 statewide election. Bill amended onto SB 632.		Passed third reader in the House. Not in Senate EHE.	click here
16	Accomodations for Voters in Need of Assistance	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV			HB 247	Del. Guyton	Require a chief election judge make reasonable accommodations to ensure that disabled voters and others needing assistance are able to vote without discomfort.  HB 245 is similar bill, but no actio taken by W&M.		Passed third reader. Now in Senate EHE.	click here
17	Local Elections - County Commissioner and County Boards of Education - District Voting	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV			HB 655	Del. Crosby	Creates a fair voting process in MD counties that have commissioner forms of government, requiring that county commissioners who currently are elected to represent a specific district in their county be chosen by voters within their district instead of being chosen by all voters in their county.		Passed third reader. Now in Senate EHE.
18			*Please note the election bills listed above only reflect our priorities. We are also working on many others. If you don't see one listed, please reach out and we will provide you with information on our position.
19	Transparency & Accountability
20	Equitable Access to Records Act	PASSED	FAV	SB 449	Sen. Kagan	HB 183	Del. Lierman	Builds on the successful implementation of the PIA Compliance Board and Ombuds program.	Passed third reader with unanimous support in the House.	Passed third reader with unanimous support in the House and Senate. Headed to the Governor's desk.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
21	Anton's Law	PASSED	FAV	SB 178	Sen. Carter	HB 120	Del. Acevero	Removes  complaint files of police misconduct from the personnel record category under the PIA, allowing for the disclosure of records covering the investigations of these complaints.	Passed third reader in the Senate and House. Headed to the Governor's desk.	Removed from HB 670.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
22	Maryland Transparency Act of 2021	NO ACTION	FAV	SB 72	Sen. Kagan	HB 344	Del. Korman	Significantly increase access to and the efficiency of State agencies in the Executive Branch and local board of elections meeting processes.	In EHE	In HGO	click here
23	Integrity in High Office Act	PASSED	FAV			HB 1058	Del. Stewart	Greatly expand the disclosure required by Maryland’s statewide officials, helping to create greater transparency and accountability in the state.	Passed third reader. Headed to the Governor's desk.	Passed third reader.	click here
24	Campaign Finance
25	Maryland Fair Elections Act	PASSED	FAV	SB 415	Sen. Pinsky	HB 424	Del. Feldmark	Aims to modernize the existing public financing system available to gubernatorial candidates available through the Fair Campaign Finance Fund (FCFF)	Passed third reader in the Senate. On second reader in the House.	Passed third reader.	click here	contact your lawmakers!
26	Campaign Finance Reports - Business Contributors - Registration Status	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV			HB 1352	Del. Smith	Would help to easily identify suspicious donations from businesses in our elections.		Passed third reader. Now in Senate EHE.	click here
27	Campaign Finance - Revisions	PASSED	FAV			HB 1350	Del. Wilkins	Requires that a campaign finance entity that becomes liable for a civil penalty for specified violations relating to the entity’s finances submit bank statements if the campaign finance entity becomes liable for a civil penalty as well as provide candidates with greater oversight over spending.	Passed third reader in the Senate.	Passed in the House and Senate. Headed to the Governor's desk.	click here
28	Special Session of MGA - Contributions Prohibited	RAN OUT OF TIME	FAV	SB 374	Sen. Kagan			Extends the current campaign finance prohibition during a regular session to also apply during a special session.	Passed third reader. Now in House W&M.		click here
29	Public Financing Act	NO ACTION	FAV	SB 416	Sen. Pinsky	HB 536	Del. Acevero	Establishes a small donor matching system for General Assembly candidates so that they can run free from the influence of wealthy donors.	In EHE	In W&M	click here
30
31	Redistricting Reform
32	Anti-Gerrmandering of Maryland's Congerssional Districts	NO ACTION	FAV			HB 410 / HB 1260	Del. Malone	This legislation would reform our broken redistricting process by establishing standards for our congressional districts.		In Rules.	click here
33	No Representation Without Population Act – Repeal	NO ACTION	UNF	SB 619	Sen. Edwards	HB 827	Del. Buckel	Aims to reinstate prison-based gerrymandering in Maryland.	In EHE	Assigned to Rules.
34	Legislative Districts - Standards	NO ACTION	FAV			HB 339	Del. Malone	Estabishes standards that promote fair and effective legislative districts that represent the entire population of Maryland within the General Assembly.		In Rules.
35
36	Other
37	Article V Convention	DEFEATED	UNF	SJ 7	Sen. Pinsky			Calls for a dangerous Article V constitutional convention that could put every American’s fundamental constitutional rights and civil liberties at risk.	In EHE		click here	contact your lawmakers!
38	Criminal Law - Disturbing the Peace - Prohibited Acts	DEFEATED	UNF			HB 198	Del. Wilson	Attacks our free speech rights, intentionally chilling the act of protesting by threatening those individuals with overly harsh criminal penalties.		In Judiciary	click here
39	Historically Black Colleges & Universities - Funding	PASSED	FAV	SB 1	Sen. Sydnor	HB 1	Speaker	Requires the Governor to include in the annual State operating budget $57,700,000 to be allocated to certain historically black colleges and universities; establishing the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Reserve Fund.	Passed third reader.	Passed third reader. Headed to the Governor's desk.	click here
40	United State of America - District of Columbia - Statehood	NO ACTION	FAV			HJ 5	Del. Acevero	Resolution urging members of the U.S. Congress to enact federal legislation or propose a constitutional amendment granting legislative autonomy and statehood to the District of Columbia.		In House Rules	click here