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What had been a busy but predictable final day of the legislative session, filled with light-hearted moments and sentimental farewells to departing lawmakers, took a sharp turn toward ugly in the final hour Monday.
Tensions spilled over in the Senate after Republican senators slow-walked bills for much of the evening with the clock ticking. And chaos erupted in the House at four minutes to midnight when House leaders tried to cut off debate on a voting rights bill and lawmakers began shouting over each other as the speaker tried to keep the process moving.
The House explosion came over聽, the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026, that supporters have said is needed to preserve voting rights ahead of Supreme Court rulings this summer that are expected to gut the federal Voting Rights Act.
Republicans spent close to an hour in a House session Saturday debating the bill that they called biased and partisan. But when they tried to continue that debate late Monday night, Democrats called the question, essentially shutting off debate.
House Republicans聽, demanding to debate the issue further, and Democrats shouted back. House Speaker Joseline Pe帽a-Melnyk (D-Prince George鈥檚 and Anne Arundel) said the motion was not debatable, but the ruckus scarcely died down until midnight, when Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) moved that the House adjourn Sine Die.
Pe帽a-Melnyk, speaking to reporters early Tuesday, attributed the outburst to the stress that comes with the final hours of a legislative session.
鈥淵ou know that always happens on Sine Die. You know why? It is because everyone is stressed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is the last day and the clock is running.
鈥淢oving forward, again, my job is to run the floor in a way that is respectful and civil, which I鈥檝e done, and I stand by that, because I was very intentional about that. And my friends across the aisle, they鈥檙e my friends,鈥� Pe帽a-Melnyk said.
The Senate was more of a slow burn, as Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) grew frustrated with some Republicans slowing down the passage of bills.
Sen. William Folden (R-Frederick) was among those frequently questioning bills and offering amendments throughout the day, as the clock was ticking.
Tensions reached a boiling point with minutes to go before midnight, as Folden rose again to ask questions about聽聽鈥� a bill creating a premium cigar lounge liquor license for tobacco shops 鈥� on what would ultimately be the last bill of the session.
鈥淧lease stop. You鈥檝e embarrassed yourself enough,鈥� Ferguson said from the rostrum, interrupting Folden鈥檚 line of questioning. With just two minutes left, Ferguson dropped the bill and moved into a brief line of thanks before adjourning.
Folden said he was upset because he had been working with Senate leadership to pass a salary increase for the Frederick County Sheriff, by attaching it to a bill about the Prince George鈥檚 County State鈥檚 Attorney, but that leadership abruptly reversed course.
鈥淎t the last minute, apparently they weren鈥檛 happy about that,鈥� Folden said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 like the sheriff of Frederick County. They made it a personal matter.鈥�
He said he didn鈥檛 begrudge Ferguson for his stern remarks Monday night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a high-tension time. I don鈥檛 have any ill will to the Senate president,鈥� Folden said. 鈥淚鈥檓 operating within what I have left as a super minority member. That鈥檚 all I got.鈥�
Despite the high-volume arguing in the last moments of the 2026 session, the House and Senate were able to come together during the rest of the day to finalize dozens of bills and send them off to the governor for consideration.
Stillbirth tax credits
A third attempt to grant a $1,000 tax credit for parents who have faced the loss of a child through stillbirth faced an uncertain future just a week ago, but now it鈥檚 on its way to the governor鈥檚 desk.
Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery) last week called on the House to move聽 which had not been voted out of the Ways and Means Committee. But committee Chair Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery) expressed concerns over whether a tax credit was the most appropriate offer to grieving parents.
As of Monday, the committee had not voted on the legislation, holding it up in the legislative process.
Instead of waiting for a committee vote, Waldstreicher added the stillbirth tax credit language to聽, which concerns an income tax subtraction for agricultural equipment. It would require the agriculture secretary to report to the legislature and the governor on recommendations for which types of equipment should qualify for an income tax subtraction modification.
The House ultimately accepted the amended version, sending both the agriculture-related tax benefit and the stillbirth tax credit to the governor鈥檚 desk.
Waldstreicher called it 鈥渁 historic moment of recognition for parents who have been through incredible trauma.鈥�
鈥淭his has been a five-year labor of love,鈥� he said, recognizing Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), Wilkins, and the parents of stillbirth children who 鈥渘ever gave up鈥� and continued to advocate for the legislation.
Transit-oriented housing bill back on track
Gov. Wes Moore鈥檚 priority housing bill, on Transit-Oriented Housing, would encourage new housing development around transit-oriented locations by restricting parking minimums and other local decisions in specific situations.聽听补苍诲听聽would also prohibit the collection of certain county taxes until a project is close to completion.
But the bills got hung up between the House and Senate in a dispute over so-called project labor agreements (PLAs).
The administration bill originally included language calling for PLAs, collective bargaining agreements between a project developer and labor unions establishing the terms for employment on a project. Developers looking to apply for the state鈥檚 Transit-Oriented Development Capital Grant and Revolving Loan Fund would get a boost if the project included a PLA, under Moore鈥檚 proposed legislation.
The House wanted to keep that language, while the Senate stripped it out. Ultimately, the House deferred to the Senate. The bills approved Monday say developers applying for a state grant to help fund their projects can include so-called project labor agreements (PLAs), but they won鈥檛 earn extra consideration by state officials for doing so.
No vacations for Cayman Island insurance tax
The Senate agreed with the House that a complex tax issue on so-called captive insurance should be left up to state insurance officials to decide whether hospitals should have been paying taxes on potentially billions sheltered in the Cayman Islands 鈥� at least for the time being.
鈥淐aptive insurance鈥� is when an organization forms its own insurance company 鈥� a captive 鈥� to help cover claims that may not be covered by commercial insurance.
Maryland does not have a regulatory framework to let companies establish captives within the state. So decades ago, Maryland nonprofit hospitals set up captives in offshore locations such as the Cayman Islands. The hospitals believe those captives are not subject to a 3% state tax on out-of-state insurance premiums, but state insurance officials aren鈥檛 so sure.
Senate Bill 890 had proposed a two-year pause on the tax to give the Maryland Insurance Administration time to study the issue. But the pause in tax collections was stripped out by the House Ways and Means Committee, and the amended bill was given a preliminary OK by the full House Friday.
The Senate agreed to remove the proposed two-year pause Monday.
鈥淪o if MIA does a study and decides that the taxation is correct and should be done, then they can go ahead and charge the tax,鈥� Finance Chair Pamela Beidle (D-Anne Arundel) said before the chamber approved the bill on a unanimous vote.
Elopement bills see some successes
A legislative package known as the LEAD Act, to provide greater resources for people with disabilities who 鈥渆lope,鈥� or wander away from caregivers, made notable strides this year, with lawmakers passing two out of five first-time bills.
The LEAD Act 鈥� for Laila鈥檚 Elopement Awareness and Dissemination Act 鈥� is named after a young autistic girl whose elopement at age 6 inspired the bills to give caregivers more resources when their loved one wanders away, a common occurrence for people with autism, dementia and other disabilities.
On Monday, the Senate approved聽, to require law enforcement training on how officers can better locate and interact with an individual who has 鈥渆loped.鈥澛燭he Senate version of the bill聽, was passed and sent to the governor鈥檚 desk last week.
The Senate on Monday also gave final approval to聽, which prompts the Maryland Department of Health to set up a resource webpage for family caregivers.
Other bills passed the House, but got stuck in Senate committees. They would have聽聽the use of locative devices with parents of autistic kids prone to elopement and increased聽聽to include nearby bodies of water,聽
Megalodon lives in Maryland
After some concerns that the bill making megalodon the official state shark might be as dead as the prehistoric shark itself, it rose from depths of the General Assembly recycling bin Monday.
The shark and a proposal for 鈥淧urple Lights Night,鈥� to honor survivors of domestic violence, were appended by the House to聽, sponsored by Sen. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County), which originally designated the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state鈥檚 official natural history museum. The Senate unanimously agreed to the 鈥淪tate Shark, State Natural Sciences Museum, and Purple Lights Night鈥� bill Monday.
鈥淚 guess [I鈥檒l] be the shark guy now,鈥� Jackson said early Tuesday morning after the Senate adjourned Sine Die. 鈥淏ut definitely happy to bring the Maryland State Natural History Museum to Baltimore County. It鈥檚 been a long time coming, and I鈥檓 really excited about it. It鈥檚 been a journey.鈥�
As for the megalodon (formerly called 鈥淥todus megalodon鈥�), the legislation almost went to sleep with the fishes, after it failed to get out of the Senate. It was revived by the House Government, Labor and Elections Committee which rolled the museum, megalodon and domestic violence survivors into one measure.
Shark support came not only from two sponsors 鈥� Sen. Jack Bailey (R-Calvert and St. Mary鈥檚) and Del. Todd Morgan (R-St. Mary鈥檚) 鈥� but also from fourth-grade students at Beltsville Academy in Prince George鈥檚 County who drew shark pictures and submitted letters to the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee.
鈥淚 think it was extremely important that in the divisiveness of the world today, when it comes to politics, that we were able to influence the hundreds of children that wrote testimony to this bill to learn about how an idea becomes a law,鈥� Bailey said early Tuesday morning.
A study on second jobs
Unlike the megalodon, Sen. Ron Watson鈥檚 (D-Prince George鈥檚)聽聽looked last week like it might be going places. But the bill, that would have eased restrictions on state lawmakers holding another state job, or working for a county or municipal government, was first turned into a study then died when the clock ran out Monday.
The bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (R-Baltimore County), would have let a lawmaker hold a second state or local government job if that person had served at least one full term in office and 鈥渙bjectively satisfied the minimum education, licensure and experience requirements鈥� of the job.
It was approved 32-10 in the Senate on March 23. It appeared Watson had a receptive audience when he presented the bill April 7 to the聽, but it voted Saturday to聽聽as a Task Force on Legislator Employment.
The House granted preliminary approval to the amended bill and passed the measure 101-36 on the same day Monday. The Senate would have had to concur with those changes for the amended bill to pass, but the legislation did not get across to the Senate before midnight and the bill died.
