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2024 Maryland legislative session

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2024 Maryland legislative session
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General information
Scheduled session start:    Jan. 10, 2024

Scheduled session end:    April 8, 2024

Leadership
Senate President
William Ferguson IV (D)

House Speaker
Adrienne Jones (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Nancy King (D)
House: David Moon (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: Stephen Hershey Jr. (R)
House: Jason Buckel (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026

Last Election:    November 8, 2022

Previous legislative sessions
2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2024 legislative sessions


In 2024, the Maryland General Assembly was scheduled to convene on January 10 and adjourn on April 8.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2022 elections. Democrats won a 32-13 majority in the Senate with two vacancies and a 102-39 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2024 session, Maryland was one of nine state legislatures where Democrats had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2024 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Maryland state House and state Senate.
  • Maryland was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Maryland's governor was Democrat Wes Moore.

    • Leadership in 2024

    Maryland State Senate

    Maryland House of Delegates

    Partisan control in 2024

    See also: State government trifectas

    Maryland was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2024 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Maryland was also one of nine state legislatures where Democrats had had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Maryland General Assembly in the 2024 legislative session.

    Maryland State Senate

    Party As of January 2024
         Democratic Party 34
         Republican Party 13
    Total 47

    Maryland House of Delegates

    Party As of January 2024
         Democratic Party 102
         Republican Party 39
    Total 141

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Maryland state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2024 legislative session, there were 32 standing committees in Maryland's state government, including 19 joint legislative committees, six state Senate committees, and seven state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    • Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee
    • Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review
    • Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families
    • Joint Committee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Biotechnology
    • Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness
    • Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight
    • Joint Committee on Federal Relations
    • Joint Committee on Gaming Oversight
    • Joint Committee on Investigation
    • Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics
    • Joint Committee on Legislative Information Technology and Open Government
    • Joint Committee on Pensions
    • Joint Committee on Protocol
    • Joint Committee on the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area
    • Joint Committee on the Management of Public Funds
    • Joint Committee on Unemployment Insurance Oversight
    • Joint Committee on Workers' Compensation Benefit and Insurance Oversight
    • Joint Electric Universal Service Program Workgroup
    • Joint Subcommittee on Program Open Space/Agricultural Land Preservation

    Senate committees

    • Budget and Taxation Committee
    • Education, Energy and the Environment Committee
    • Executive Nominations Committee
    • Finance Committee
    • Judicial Proceedings Committee
    • Rules Committee

    House committees

    • Appropriations Committee
    • Economic Matters Committee
    • Environment and Transportation Committee
    • Health and Government Operations Committee
    • Rules and Executive Nominations Committee
    • Judiciary Committee
    • Ways and Means Committee

    Legislation

    Enacted legislation

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2024 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2024. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Election administration legislation

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    State election laws are changing. Keeping track of the latest developments in all 50 states can seem like an impossible job. Here's the solution: Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker.

    Ballotpedia's Election Administration Tracker sets the industry standard for ease of use, flexibility, and raw power. Ballotpedia's election experts provide daily updates on bills and other relevant political developments, translate complex bill text into easy-to-understand summaries written in everyday language, and, because it's from Ballotpedia, our Tracker is guaranteed to be neutral, unbiased, and nonpartisan.

    The table below lists 2024 election-related legislation in Maryland. The following information is included for each bill:

    • Bill number
    • Official name or caption
    • Most recent action date
    • Legislative status
    • Topics dealt with by the bill

    Bills are organized by bill number. The table displays up to 100 results by default. To view additional results, use the arrows in the upper-right corner of the table. For more information about a particular bill, simply click the bill number. This will open a separate page with additional information.

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Maryland Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Maryland

    Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution defines two ways to amend the state constitution—through a legislative process and a state constitutional convention.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Maryland State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 85 votes in the Maryland House of Delegates and 29 votes in the Maryland State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Section 2 of Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 20 years starting in 1970. Maryland is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

    The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

    State Interval Last question on the ballot Next question on the ballot
    Maryland 20 years 2010 2030


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Maryland.

    Maryland Party Control: 1992-2025
    Twenty-two years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R D D D
    Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    Historical Senate control

    Democrats won control of the Maryland State Senate in 1900. In 2022, they won a 34-13 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Maryland Senate following every general election from 1990 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Maryland State Senate election results: 1990-2022

    Year '90 '94 '98 '02 '06 '10 '14 '18 '22
    Democrats 40 32 32 33 33 35 33 32 34
    Republicans 7 15 15 14 14 12 14 15 13

    Historical House control

    Democrats won control of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1920. In 2022, they won a 102-39 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Maryland House following every general election from 1990 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Maryland House of Delegates election results: 1990-2022

    Year '90 '94 '98 '02 '06 '10 '14 '18 '22
    Democrats 116 100 106 98 106 98 91 99 102
    Republicans 25 41 35 43 35 43 50 42 39

    See also

    Elections Maryland State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

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