Category: Maryland Law

New laws go into effect in Maryland on July 1, 2022.  While most of the laws enacted in the 2022 session will go into effect on October 1, there are laws that will take effect in July. The Department of Legislative Services General Assembly of Maryland Dates of Interest 2022 SESSION indicates that on July 1 budgetary, tax, and revenue bills take effect and that October 1 is the usual effective date for bills.

The Maryland Manual explains the effective dates in the article, “THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW”:

All bills passed by the General Assembly become law when signed by the Governor, or when passed over the Governor’s veto by three-fifths of the membership of each house. According to the Constitution, laws thus approved take effect on the first day of June after the session in which they were passed, except when a later date is specified in the act, or the bill is declared an emergency measure. For many years, most laws took effect July During the 1992 Session, however, October 1 began to be used as the standard effective date for legislation, coinciding with the start of the federal government’s fiscal year. Emergency bills, passed by three-fifths of the total number of members of each house, become law immediately upon their approval by the Governor.

All passed bills, except the budget bill and constitutional amendments, must be presented to the Governor within twenty days following adjournment of a session. The Governor may veto such bills within thirty days after presentation. If a passed bill is not vetoed, it becomes law. The budget bill, however, becomes law upon its final passage and cannot be vetoed. Constitutional amendments also cannot be vetoed; they become law only upon their ratification by the voters at the next general election.

Bills going into effect on July 1 include:

Inclusive Schools Act (HB850/CH739) prohibits “county boards of education and certain schools and prekindergarten programs from taking certain discriminatory actions because of a person’s race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.”

Abortion Care Access Act (HB937/CH56) creates the Abortion Care Clinical Training Program in the Maryland Department of Health to ensure that there are a sufficient number of health professionals to provide abortion care.

Retirement Tax Elimination Act of 2022 (SB405/CH4 and HB1468/CH3) allows a subtraction modification under the Maryland income tax.

Time to Care Act (SB275/CH48) establishes the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program.

Work Opportunity Tax Credit (SB598/CH5 and HB2/CH6) allows employers that claim the federal work opportunity credit to claim a credit against the State income tax.

A full listing of bills effective July 1, 2022 is here.

There are laws that were passed in previous sessions that take effect this July 1. For example a law affecting the calculation of child support was passed in 2020 (HB496/CH 383 and SB809/CH384) but was delayed in 2021 (HB1339/CH305) to take effect this year on July 1.

See the “The 90 Day Report: A Review of the 2022 Legislative Session” for more information on the 2022 session.  There is a similar report that covers the last five years: Major Issues Review 2019-2022.