HB 59 revises Maryland's property tax sale rules to protect owner-occupied homeowners. It requires counties to withhold from tax sale properties where taxes (including interest) are under $1,000 (up from $750), properties with only unpaid water/sewer liens, and designated redevelopment properties. The bill also prohibits adding post-sale interest/penalties to redemption costs, extends redemption periods, and tightens notice requirements for foreclosure proceedings. These changes directly affect homeowners facing tax sales and local governments managing property tax collections.
HB 853 (Maryland Second Look Act) allows individuals serving prison sentences of 20+ years to petition courts for sentence reduction under specific conditions. To qualify, petitioners must have served at least 20 years and wait 5 years after any prior petition, with a maximum of three petitions total. Courts must hold hearings considering factors like rehabilitation, victim input, the individual’s age at the offense, and safety risks, and must publicly state their reasons for granting or denying relief. The law applies retroactively to eligible individuals already serving long sentences.
HB 15 creates a new legal structure for worker cooperatives in Maryland, allowing businesses where employees jointly own and manage the company to form under standardized rules. It establishes specific requirements for formation, governance, conversion, and dissolution through new sections (4A-12A-01 to 4A-12A-22) in Maryland’s business law code. The bill requires worker cooperatives to file Articles of Organization and a Cooperative Agreement (similar to bylaws for other entities) and pay annual reporting fees like other business structures. This directly affects businesses seeking to operate as employee-owned cooperatives by providing a clear, state-approved framework for their legal operation.
HB 397 creates a loan program administered by the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation to support oyster processing businesses. It allows loans up to $250,000 for eligible seafood dealers to create or retain seasonal full-time jobs (420 hours over 12 weeks), reducing the required licensing period from 5 to 3 years. Loan forgiveness is tied to environmental actions: returning oyster shells to the Chesapeake Bay or planting spat-on-shell, with forgiveness calculated at $25 per bushel of spat planted. The bill allocates $1 million for fiscal year 2024 to fund these loans and program administration, directly benefiting Maryland seafood processors focused on oyster shell conservation.
SB 784, titled the "Annual Corrective Bill," is a procedural measure to correct technical errors and outdated references in Maryland’s Annotated Code. It does not create new laws or affect people directly; instead, it updates specific sections across multiple code articles (e.g., Alcoholic Beverages, Education, Health) to fix typos, obsolete language, or organizational issues. The bill repeals and reenacts targeted sections with minor amendments to ensure the legal code remains accurate and consistent. This is a routine maintenance effort to improve the clarity and reliability of existing law, not a policy change.
HB 446 creates a new commercial fishing license specifically for harvesting blue and flathead catfish using trotlines in the Chesapeake Bay. It directly affects licensed commercial fishers by allowing them to fish in the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a location previously restricted by Department regulations. The bill prohibits the Department of Natural Resources from banning this activity within that area while requiring license holders to pay a $15 annual fee for a one-year license. This establishes a permanent regulatory framework for targeted commercial fishing of these species, rather than implementing a temporary pilot program.
HB 75 modifies Maryland's election law for special elections to fill vacancies on county councils or in county executive offices. It allows county councils to skip special primary elections and instead hold a single special general election, requiring them to specify whether the election will be partisan (showing party affiliation) or nonpartisan (without party affiliation). The bill also changes mail ballot rules, requiring local boards to send vote-by-mail ballots at least 30 days before the election (instead of 14 days) and clarifies that specimen ballots need not be mailed to voters. These changes apply directly to counties managing local election procedures under state law.
HB 716 modifies Maryland's Statewide Rental Assistance Voucher Program to better support low-income renters. It adds the Department of Housing and Community Development to the definition of "public housing agency," allowing it to administer vouchers directly in areas without local agencies and project-base up to 100% of its voucher units. The bill increases the rent payment cap from 30% to 40% of a family's income, adjusts priority categories to include foster youth aged 18-24 and military veterans, and changes inspection requirements from annual to biennial. It also specifies $10 million in annual funding for 2025-2027 and updates how funds are distributed to public housing agencies. The changes take effect October 1, 2025.
This bill modifies Maryland's tax code to exempt properties owned by public housing authorities (including Baltimore Housing Authority, Howard County Housing Commission, and Montgomery County Housing Authority) and certain nonprofit housing corporations from state and local taxes when used for housing eligible low-income residents. It requires these entities to make "payments in lieu of taxes" to local governments through negotiated agreements. The exemption applies to properties directly owned or held through subsidiary entities of these housing authorities. The changes update existing tax law under Maryland's Housing and Community Development code (Section 12-104).
HB 799 establishes the Maryland Innovation Initiative University Partnership Extension Program, which directly affects Bowie State University and Frostburg State University. The program requires these two universities to pay a $50,000 annual contribution to participate, while the state will appropriate $500,000 for fiscal years 2027 and 2028 to fund projects supporting new technology-based businesses, advancing technology toward market readiness, and fostering industry partnerships in Maryland. Projects must focus on entrepreneurship, regional economic impact, or collaboration with industry partners providing matching funds. The program expires automatically on June 30, 2028.
HB 790 requires tax collectors in Maryland to include specific information about property tax installment payment plans in every property tax bill sent to homeowners. The bill mandates that a separate insert with the tax bill must contain the statement "IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PAY YOUR PROPERTY TAXES IN MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS, YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL IN AN INSTALLMENT PAYMENT PLAN," along with a description of the program and enrollment instructions. It also requires the State Tax Sale Ombudsman’s website and local tax collector websites to display this same information in a prominent location. This bill directly affects homeowners receiving property tax bills by ensuring clear, consistent notice of available payment options. The law focuses on improving notice mechanisms, not changing the underlying tax payment program rules.
HB 698 requires certain Maryland counties to report annually on development impact fees, surcharges, and excise taxes collected from new construction. Specifically, charter counties with such fees, code counties with local laws imposing them, and commission counties that have both authorization and enacted them must submit reports by July 1 each year to the Governor and General Assembly. The reports must detail total amounts collected, how funds are distributed to specific districts (like legislative or commissioner districts), and how much is used for capital projects such as transportation improvements, school construction, or other related infrastructure. Counties must make these reports publicly available on their websites or through other accessible means.
