Ways and Means Committee advances wide range of bills during March 13 voting session

The Ways and Means Committee on March 13 held a voting session in which committee members favorably reported a large group of bills spanning property tax credits, school calendar and student-member compensation changes, youth and childcare programs, public-safety studies, and multiple lottery- and gaming-related measures.

The committee advanced measures that would authorize local property tax credits (including for Habitat for Humanity and for former tobacco barns), expand or clarify eligibility for local tax credits and exemptions, require or authorize education-related practices (school holiday designations, student-member compensation, special education reporting, and a youth transition pilot), direct a study or evaluation on detection of deadly weapons in certain schools, and modify aspects of lottery and gaming regulation. Most bills were moved and passed by voice vote; the transcript records that they “pass[ed] favorably” but does not include roll-call tallies for the majority of items.

Votes at a glance: Below are the bills the committee considered in the March 13 voting session with the motion summary, the primary mover recorded in the transcript, and the formal outcome as stated on the record.

- House Bill 447 (HB447): Authorizes the county to grant a property tax credit to Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 562 (HB562): Alters number of county party central committee members elected per legislative district; amendments moved by Delegate Griffith and adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 570 (HB570): Alters timing for hotel penalty for unpaid hotel rental tax in Talbot County. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 598 (HB598): Authorizes county/municipality to grant a personal property tax credit to a supermarket completing eligible construction in a food desert. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 702 (HB702): Requires local boards of education to publish on their websites special education service delivery models available to parentally placed private school students. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 750 (HB750): Alters eligibility requirements for an existing property tax credit for economic development projects in the county. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 771 (HB771) / House Bill 771 as amended (HB771): Establishes a student dental health program via the Maryland Department of Health with State Department of Education support for local publication; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 791 (HB791): Authorizes county to impose an emergency services tax to fund fire, rescue and emergency medical services. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 910 (HB910): Increases property tax exemption for an owner-occupied dwelling of a blind individual from $15,000 to $40,000. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 949 (HB949): Held (transcript notes the bill will be held).

- House Bill 953 (HB953) as amended: Continues annual funding for the Homeowner Protection Program at $750,000 annually (state $250,000; counties $500,000 collectively), prohibits charging interest to enrollees, and requires program information be posted on county property tax websites; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 969 (HB969) as amended: Revisions regarding valuation/payment-in-lieu-of-taxes for rural broadband service providers; amendments adopted to authorize PILOT agreements. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 998 (HB998): Authorizes property tax credit for real property formerly used solely as a tobacco barn. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 1121 (HB1121) as amended: Establishes a youth transitioning from foster placement to adulthood pilot program administered by the State Department of Education and clarifies that foster parent personal information should not be collected in scholarship applications. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1169 (HB1169) as amended: Requires Howard and Montgomery County boards to close public schools on a specified list of holidays (adds Juneteenth, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al‑Adha, Lunar New Year, Diwali); amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1207 (HB1207) as amended: Authorizes the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education to receive a stipend paid monthly rather than only through a college scholarship; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1265 (HB1265) as amended: Alters and clarifies the list of reportable offenses that require law-enforcement and school notifications; adds visual surveillance with prurient intent and threats of mass violence and removes several nonviolent reportable offenses; requires an operational protocol for information sharing. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1303 (HB1303) as amended: Creates a pathway for childcare teachers who lack documentary proof of educational attainment to attest to credentials for qualification; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1333 (HB1333): Expands property tax credit eligibility for disabled veterans to include non-military uniformed services such as the Public Health Service. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 1343 (HB1343): Exempts personal property used by a large family childcare home from property tax and authorizes real property tax credits for childcare centers. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 1372 (HB1372): Alters notice requirements for county tax sales including website posting, mailed notice, and newspaper publication. Mover: Delegate Wells. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 1523 (HB1523): Increases the maximum hotel rental tax rate a county may impose from 7% to 8% and requires revenue above 7% be distributed to the county tourism council; one delegate recorded an explicit intent to support the local tax increase. Outcome: Passed favorably (one member recorded in transcript as opposed on a different local bill vote, not this one).

- House Bill 1524 (HB1524) as amended: Adds nonvoting student members to Wicomico County Board of Education, requires scholarship compensation, and converts board seats to single-member districts beginning with the 2026 general election; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 2258 (HB2258) as amended (transcript label HB258 / "House Bill 2 58"): Alters composition, powers and duties of the West North Avenue Development Authority, requires progress reporting on self-sufficiency, limits eminent domain over owner-occupied residential properties, and extends termination date by three years rather than making the authority permanent; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 3328 (HB328) as amended (transcript label HB328 / "House Bill 3 28"): Allows certain fraternal organizations affiliated with a professional MLB team in Baltimore to receive licenses for instant-ticket lottery pull-tab machines and clarifies proceeds distribution and conduct requirements; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 337 (HB337) as amended (transcript label HB337 / "House Bill 3 37"): Requires a $500,000 distribution from the state lottery fund for supplemental local impact aid to Anne Arundel County, Howard County and the city of Laurel; sunsets after two years; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 399 (HB399) as amended (transcript label HB399 / "House Bill 3 99"): Authorizes an organization affiliated with an MLB team located in Baltimore City to conduct raffles, with age verification and boundary limits; sunsets after three years; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 402 (HB402): Increases student-member scholarship/compensation to $15,000 (Anne Arundel County student-member). Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 587 (HB587) as amended: Expands eligibility for high school diplomas for honorably discharged veterans tied to specific armed conflicts; amendments adopted to specify conflicts. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 601 (HB601) as amended: Modifies the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority long-term guarantee program; amendments removed full-faith-and-credit language. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 618 (HB618) as amended: Authorizes the State Lottery to offer subscription plans for certain lottery games and permits retailers to sell vouchers applicable to subscriptions; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 633 (HB633) as amended: Alters the definition of slot machine to exclude some skill-based amusement devices and sets maximum noncash prize values; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 782 (HB782) as amended: Requires the Maryland State Department of Education to evaluate (rather than audit) methods to detect deadly weapons on middle and high school properties and to report findings, in consultation with local school systems; amendments adopted and the evaluation reduced expected fiscal impact compared with an audit. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 841 (HB841): Repeals the Charles County Gaming Permit Review Board and assigns duties to the county attorney. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 888 (HB888): Expands portfolio-based assessment options for initial teacher certification to include assessments from nationally accredited teacher-preparation programs. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 942 (HB942) as amended: Authorizes a governing body to designate a noncontiguous blighted area as a development district for tax-increment financing; amendments narrow applicability to affordable housing and remove Baltimore City applicability. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 986 (HB986) as amended: Expands teacher retention programs with cohort-based support, mentoring and resources; amendments adjusted eligibility years and technical language. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1127 (HB1127) as amended: Requires water-safety content in K–12 curriculum units (elementary, middle, high), clarifies that counties are not required to provide pool instruction and removes a county transition plan deadline; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

- House Bill 1267 (HB1267): Authorizes local boards to designate Veterans Day as a school holiday, or if not designated requires at least one day with appropriate Veterans Day exercises. Outcome: Passed favorably.

- House Bill 1543 (HB1543) as amended: Permits relocation requests for certain sports wagering facility licensees subject to approval by the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission; amendments adopted. Outcome: Passed favorably as amended.

Committee procedure and next steps: The chair closed the session after announcing the end of the voting session and noted additional voting sessions were likely to follow on a subsequent day. For the majority of bills the transcript shows voice votes ("all in favor signify by saying aye") and the clerk or chair recorded "passes favorably" or "passes favorably as amended." The transcript does not provide full roll-call tallies for most measures, and in several cases the transcript records that a bill was held rather than advanced.

Ending: The Ways and Means Committee advanced a broad package of measures addressing local tax authority, education policy, public safety evaluations, and gaming and lottery rules. Several bills were advanced with amendments that narrowed or clarified implementation; where the transcript records such clarifications they are noted above.