HB 1507 Maryland House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Tort Claims Act - Employees of an Office of a Sheriff

HB 1507 updates Maryland's Tort Claims Act to extend legal immunity to employees of county and Baltimore City sheriff's offices, placing them on the same footing as sheriffs and deputy sheriffs. The bill amends two specific law sections: it revises the definition of "State personnel" under the State Government Article to explicitly include sheriff's office employees, and updates the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article to clarify their immunity from tort lawsuits for official duties. This means these employees can no longer be sued for negligence or misconduct occurring within their job responsibilities, provided it wasn't done with malice or gross negligence. The change directly affects all non-sheriff staff working in sheriff's offices across Maryland.

Issues: ✗ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 14, 2025 Last action Apr 7, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - Maryland Tort Claims Act - Employees of an Office of a Sheriff → Third - Maryland Tort Claims Act - Employees of an Office of a Sheriff · 2 edits

MINOR

This bill expands legal immunity protections to include employees of sheriff offices in Maryland, not just the sheriffs and deputy sheriffs themselves. The change ensures that support staff working within sheriff offices are also protected from personal liability when performing official duties without malice or gross negligence.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded from covering only sheriffs and deputy sheriffs to also include all employees working within the office of a sheriff of a county or Baltimore City.

ELIGIBILITY

Added protection for employees of sheriff offices to the existing immunity provisions that previously only covered sheriffs and deputy sheriffs directly.

DEFINITION

Modified the definition of 'State personnel' in the State Government Article to explicitly include employees of sheriff offices alongside sheriffs and deputy sheriffs.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed

lower

Apr 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable Report by Judiciary

lower

Apr 2, 2025

Committee

Rereferred to Judiciary

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

First Reading House Rules and Executive Nominations

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors