State Procurement - Commercial Nondiscrimination Policy - Antisemitism

HB 521 amends Maryland's state procurement law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on antisemitism, adding it to the list of protected characteristics alongside race, religion, gender, and others. The bill requires state agencies to deny contracts to business entities that discriminate against vendors, suppliers, or commercial customers due to antisemitism, using the internationally recognized IHRA definition. This directly affects all businesses bidding for or providing goods/services to the Maryland state government. The law updates existing procurement rules (Sections 19-101 through 19-115) without creating new enforcement mechanisms, aligning state policy with federal standards.