Ways and Means committee advances package of bills on funding, schools and voting access

The Ways and Means Committee on March 14 voted favorably on a series of bills affecting education, elections and economic programs, approving most measures as amended.

Among the most notable actions, the committee amended and passed House Bill 185 to require a mandated appropriation of $1,500,000 for a therapeutic childcare grant program for fiscal years 2027 through 2029; amended House Bill 226 to let Anne Arundel County Schools meet the school-year requirement by hours rather than a 180-day day count and added a two-year sunset and reporting requirements; and passed House Bill 781 — the Accessible and Expedited Voting Act of Maryland — as amended to clarify eligibility and remove an immediate-adjustment requirement for local boards.

Why it matters: the package touches budget, classroom time and voting access. The school-year change affects how one county documents instructional time and how hourly employees are treated when days are reduced. The voting bills change how jurisdictions provide rapid assistance to elderly and disabled voters and expand language-access requirements for counties with substantial limited-English populations.

The committee amended and passed House Bill 185 after Delegate Plokovich Carr described the change as a strike-and-replace amendment setting a mandated appropriation. "The amendments, basically strike the bill and instead specify that the governor... have a mandated appropriation of $1,500,000 for fiscal years 2027 through '29," Plokovich Carr said before moving the amendments. The committee approved the amendment by voice vote and then passed the bill as amended.

On House Bill 226, a local bill for Anne Arundel County Schools, Delegate Ebersole said the amendments remove the statutory 180-day requirement and let the county adhere only to an annual hours requirement; the package also adds a two-year sunset and requires an end-of-year report counting hours. Ebersole said emergency late openings or early…