SB 564 Maryland Senate · 2026 Regular Session

State Government - Office of the Attorney General - Data Protection

SB 564 creates a new Division of Data Protection within Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General. This division will investigate and enforce civil actions for violations of existing data privacy laws affecting businesses and consumers. It also establishes a Maryland Data Privacy Implementation and Innovation Workgroup, composed of state officials, consumer advocates, business representatives, and industry experts, to study implementation challenges and recommend improvements. The Workgroup must report its findings to the governor and legislature by January 1, 2027, and the bill’s provisions take effect on July 1, 2026, with the Workgroup structure expiring June 30, 2027.

Issues: ✓ Technology

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Apr 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2026 Last action Apr 8, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - State Government - Office of the Attorney General - Data Protection → Third - State Government - Office of the Attorney General - Data Protection · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to include four additional sponsors and updated the legislative status to reflect adoption and committee approval. Substantively, the text reorganized the definitions of key terms and restated the composition and duties of the Maryland Data Privacy Workgroup, ensuring the structure of the group and its reporting requirements remain clear after the legislative process.

TECHNICAL

Added four new sponsors (Love, Beidle, Hester, and Lam) and updated the bill header to reflect that it was adopted and read a second time.

Reorganized the definitions section to list terms alphabetically (Division, Violation) rather than by order of appearance.

Reformatted the Workgroup composition and duties sections to use consistent numbering styles, clarifying the list of members and their responsibilities without changing the actual policy content.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 19, 2026

How they voted

45–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 49

Mar 19, 2026

D Democratic36

32 Yea 4

88% Yea

R Republican13

13 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Referred Rules and Executive Nominations

lower

Apr 8, 2026

Upper · Passed

Third Reading Passed

upper

Apr 7, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments {

upper

Apr 6, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable with Amendments Report by Finance

upper

Mar 19, 2026

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (45-0-4)

senate

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

First Reading Finance

upper

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors