Tag: new_ laws

Categories
Maryland Law

Sine Die – The Maryland Legislative Session Has Ended

The 2022 legislative session ended on Monday night, April 11, 2022 at midnight. Visit the Maryland General Assembly website to find out what passed and what didn’t over the last 90 days. There are links to:

Senate Bills Introduced

House Bills Introduced

Bills Passed by Both Chambers

Bills Enacted (Chapters)

Most laws will go into effect on October 1, 2022.  However, to be sure you can check the effective date at the end of the enacted legislation.

Find out more about the workings of the legislature in the article, “The Legislative Process: How a Bill Becomes a Law,” in the Maryland Manual Online .

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

Maryland Legislative Session 2020 – SINE DIE?

The 2020 Session of the Maryland Legislature ended early on March 18 at 5 p.m. due to the Coronaviris/Covid19 pandemic and may reconvene in May. Still, the legislature passed more than 650 bills during the shortened session.

Visit the website of the Maryland General Assembly to see what passed and what did not. Some helpful links follow:

Bills enacted http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Report?id=chapters

Bills passed by both chambers http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Report?id=passedByBoth

Bills vetoed (includes veto overide information): http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Search/Publications?filter=veto

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

New Maryland Laws Take Effect October 1, 2018

New Maryland laws take effect on October 1, 2018! Over the summer we published  posts highlighting a few of the newly enacted laws:

Maryland 2018 Session: New Laws – Expungement

Maryland 2018 Session: New Laws -Divorce and Mutual Consent

This is just a small sampling of the new laws enacted by the 2018 Legislative Session. The Department of Legislative Services (DLS) of the General Assembly of Maryland provides a full listing. Was there a major issue from the 2018 session that was not covered in this series? The 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2018 Session, published by DLS, includes a hyperlinked list of Major Issues from 2018 such as the budget, education, public safety, taxes and voting rights.

Can’t find what you’re looking for?  DLS publishes a Popular Terms List as a reference for current legislation that is often referred to by the public and media by certain popular terms.

Do you prefer paper sources?  The Law Library’s collection includes the following resources:  the advance (paperback) Laws of Maryland, arranged in chapter number order with separate volumes for a Sponsor Index, the Final Status Report, and Committee Index; West’s Maryland Legislative Service with a list of sections affected; and  the 2018 Maryland Legislative Review Service, published by LexisNexis, which summarizes the 2018 Acts of the Maryland General Assembly Regular Session and organizes the 2018 Acts by topical headings. In addition, the Law Library’s Maryland collection includes print copies of the current Annotated Code of Maryland. The  2018 pocket parts should be coming soon.

Don’t forget – the Law Library is here if you have questions or would like additional information. Contact us!

 

 

 

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

Maryland 2018 Session: New Maryland Laws Effective July 1, 2018

Most new Maryland laws become effective October 1.  However, there are still a number that have an effective date of July 1.  Many of those laws concern alcoholic beverages but some of the other issues include:

A full list of laws with a July 1 effective date is here.

There were also a number of laws with a June 1 effective date which include the BUDGET RECONCILIATION AND FINANCING ACT OF 2018  SB187 /CH10.  A full listing is here.

And just one bill became law on June 30, SB885/CH622. It alters the statutory formula that determines the compensation required to be paid to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Fund on condemnation of land.

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

Maryland 2018 Session: New Laws -Expungement

This excerpt from the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2018 Session at E-8 provides a good discussion of the 2018 changes to the expungement law per HB382/CH686 and SB101/CH143:

Under the Criminal Procedure Article, a person who has been charged with the commission of a crime, including a crime under the Transportation Article for which a term of imprisonment may be imposed, or who has been charged with a civil offense or infraction, except a juvenile offense, as a substitute for a criminal charge may file a petition for expungement listing the relevant facts of a police record, court record, or other record maintained by the State or a political subdivision of the State, under various circumstances listed in the statute. House Bill 382 (passed) clarifies that a person may petition for expungement of any civil offense or infraction, except a juvenile offense. The bill repeals the requirement that the civil offense or infraction be a substitute for a criminal charge.

Chapter 515 of 2016, also known as the Justice Reinvestment Act, authorized the expungement of convictions for several specified offenses, the vast majority of which are misdemeanors. Expungements of these convictions are subject to specified procedures and waiting periods. Senate Bill 101 (passed) authorizes the expungement of a felony conviction for theft, possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, and burglary. The bill specifies that a petition for expungement of a felony is subject to a waiting period of 15 years from when the person satisfies the sentence or sentences imposed for all convictions for which expungement is requested, including parole, probation, or mandatory supervision. For a further discussion of Senate Bill 101, see the subparts “Criminal Law” and “Public Safety” within this part of this 90 Day Report.

These changes will go into effect October 1, 2018.

To learn more about expungement and expungement resources, check out expungement on the Maryland People’s Law Library and our wiki page. In addition, the Maryland Courts website includes information on how to expunge your records and a video.

 

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

Maryland 2018 Session: New Laws -Divorce and Mutual Consent

This excerpt from the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2018 Session provides a good discussion of the 2018 changes to the divorce law concerning mutual consent.

Under current law, a court may grant an absolute divorce on the ground of mutual consent if (1) the parties do not have any minor children in common; (2) the parties execute and submit to the court a written settlement agreement signed by both parties that resolves all issues relating to alimony and the distribution of property, as specified; (3) neither party files a pleading to set aside the settlement agreement prior to the divorce hearing required under the Maryland Rules; and (4) both parties appear before the court at the absolute divorce hearing.

Senate Bill 96/CH849 (passed) repeals the requirement that both parties appear before the court in order to be granted an absolute divorce on the ground of mutual consent. Senate Bill 120/CH850 (passed) repeals the restriction that limits absolute divorces on the ground of mutual consent to parties without minor children in common. Instead, it requires the written settlement agreement submitted to the court to also resolve all issues relating to the care, custody, access, and support of minor or dependent children. The parties must attach to the settlement agreement a completed child support guidelines worksheet, if applicable. The bill also establishes that as a condition to granting an absolute divorce on the ground of mutual consent, the court must be satisfied that any terms of the settlement agreement relating to minor or dependent children are in the best interests of those children.

In regards to Twelve-month Separation , Oral Amendment to Divorce Application Statutory provisions set forth a process by which a court may grant a limited divorce, which does not sever the marriage but does grant the complaining party the right to live separate and apart from the other spouse. A limited divorce also can address issues of custody, visitation, child support, alimony, and use and possession of a family home. A court may grant an absolute divorce based on numerous specified grounds, including the ground of 12-month separation when the parties have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for 12 months without interruption before the filing of the application for divorce. House Bill 1368/CH782 (passed) authorizes an oral amendment to a previously filed application for a limited or absolute divorce, that is made by a party with the consent of the other party at a hearing on the merits in open court, to qualify as “the filing of the application for divorce” in statutory provisions regarding an absolute divorce on the ground of a 12-month separation.

These changes will go into effect October 1, 2018.

For assistance and more information on family matters please see the following:

  • The Family Law Self Help Center provides self-represented litigants with legal information and forms for family law matters such as divorce, custody, visitation, child support and name changes. Located at the Law Library, the Family Law Self Help Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. (but closes for lunch from 1:00 – 2:00).
  • Maryland Courts Self-Help Center  provides phone (410-260-1392) and live chat assistance Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. 
  • The Law Library’s wiki site includes pages dedicated to Family Law Resources, including referrals, forms and reference materials.
  • The Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County’s website includes a “Learn About” page addressing Family Law Cases.
  • The Maryland Courts’ website includes information about Family Law Issues, such as adoption, child custody, child support, divorce, marriage and name change.
  • The Maryland People’s Law Library has many articles on family law topics. 

For more information or help getting started with your research, contact the Law Library!

Categories
lawlibrary

Keeping up with new laws now that the 2018 Session has ended

Keep track of bills that passed or bills that were vetoed at the Maryland General Assembly’s wepage.  Look for the Synopsis of New Legislation, the Status of All Legislation, and Vetoed Legislation as illustrated below.

LEGISLATURE_2018

Looking forward to more analysis and the 90 Day Report for this session coming soon.

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

New Maryland Laws Take Effect on October 1, 2017 – Can’t Find What You’re Looking For?

lawsNew Maryland laws take effect on October 1, 2017! We published a series of posts highlighting a few of the newly enacted laws, but this is just a small sampling of the new laws enacted by the 2017 Legislative Session. The Department of Legislative Services (DLS) of the General Assembly of Maryland provides a full listing.

Was there a major issue from the 2017 session that was not covered in this series? The 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2017  Session, published by DLS, includes a hyperlinked list of Major Issues from 2017 such as the budget, education, public safety, taxes and voting rights.

Can’t find what you’re looking for?  DLS publishes a Popular Terms List as a reference for current legislation that is often referred to by the public and media by certain popular terms.

Do you prefer paper sources?  The Law Library’s collection includes the following resources:  the advance (paperback) Laws of Maryland, arranged in chapter number order with separate volumes for a Sponsor Index, the Final Status Report, and Committee Index; West’s Maryland Legislative Service with a list of sections affected; and  the 2017 Maryland Legislative Review Service, published by LexisNexis, which summarizes the 2017 Acts of the Maryland General Assembly Regular Session and organizes the 2017 Acts by topical headings. In addition, the Law Library’s Maryland collection includes print copies of the current Annotated Code of Maryland. The  2017 pocket parts should be coming soon.

Don’t forget – the Law Library is here if you have questions or would like additional information. Contact us!

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

New Maryland Laws Take Effect on October 1, 2017 – Spotlight on Limitations in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse

Untitled drawingNew Maryland laws take effect on October 1, 2017!  We will be publishing a series of posts highlighting a few of the newly enacted laws.  This series is just a small sampling of the new laws enacted by the 2017 Legislative Session.  To read about more laws resulting from the 2017 session, see the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2017 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) of the General Assembly of Maryland. For a full listing of new laws effective October 1, 2017, check out this publication from DLS.

“In response to growing recognition of the long-term impact of child sexual abuse the law, HB 642/CH12  (1) expands the statute of limitations for an action for damages arising out of an alleged incident or incidents of sexual abuse that occurred while the victim was a minor; (2) establishes a statute of repose for specified civil actions relating to child sexual abuse; and (3) exempts causes of action filed under the provisions of the law from the notice of claim requirement under the Local Government Tort Claims Act and the submission of a written claim requirement, denial of claim requirement, and the statute of limitations under the Maryland Tort Claims Act. An action for damages arising out of an alleged incident or incidents of sexual abuse that occurred while the victim was a minor must be filed (1) at any time before the victim reaches the age of majority or (2) within the later of 20 years after the date on which the victim reaches the age of majority or 3 years after the date that the defendant is convicted of a crime relating to the alleged incident or incidents, as specified. However, the Act specifies that in an action brought more than seven years after the victim reaches the age of majority, damages may be awarded against a person or governmental entity that is not the alleged perpetrator of the sexual abuse only if (1) the person or governmental entity owed a duty of care to the victim; (2) the person or governmental entity employed or exercised some degree of responsibility or control over the alleged perpetrator; and (3) there is a finding of gross negligence on the part of the person or governmental entity. The Act establishes a “statute of repose” that prohibits a person from filing an action more than 20 years after the date on which the victim reaches the age of majority against a person or governmental entity that is not the alleged perpetrator for damages arising out of an alleged incident or incidents of sexual abuse that occurred while the victim was a minor.” However, this new law “is not to be construed to apply retroactively to revive any action that was barred by application of the period of limitations applicable before October 1, 2003.” Previously, “an action for damages arising out of an alleged incident of sexual abuse that occurred while the victim was a minor must be filed within seven years of the date that the victim attains the age of majority.”

Passage of this law might be of interest to anyone who watched the Netflix documentary, The Keepers.  At the end there was an interview with Delegate C. T. Wilson of Charles County in which he described how he had not be able to get this bill passed over the years.  A Washington Post article in 2016 described his efforts.  However, while watching the show,  it was easy to go to the Maryland General Assembly website and search for bills introduced by Delegate Wilson in 2017 and see that he had introduced the bill again and that it had passed. Other search options include by subject and statute affected.

Note that all quotations, unless noted otherwise, are attributable to the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2017 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services of the General Assembly of Maryland.

Categories
lawlibrary Maryland Law

New Maryland Laws Take Effect on October 1, 2017 – Spotlight on UELMA

Untitled drawingNew Maryland laws take effect on October 1, 2017!  We will be publishing a series of posts highlighting a few of the newly enacted laws.  This series is just a small sampling of the new laws enacted by the 2017 Legislative Session.  To read about more laws resulting from the 2017 session, see the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2017 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) of the General Assembly of Maryland. For a full listing of new laws effective October 1, 2017, check out this publication from DLS.

UELMA (HB165\CH553 and SB137\CH554) is the Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act.  Librarians have been supporting this legislation in Maryland for three years and are excited that the third time was the charm.  Maryland is now one of 17 states, including Washington, D.C., that have adopted UELMA.

The Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA) provides online legal material with the same level of trustworthiness traditionally provided by publication in a law book. It is the People’s insurance policy that official electronic legal materials be:

  1. authenticated, by providing a method to determine that it is unaltered;
  2. preserved, either in electronic or print form; and
  3. accessible, for use by the public on a permanent basis.

UELMA is a product of The Uniform Law Commission (ULC, also known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws) that was established in 1892 and provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.

As more and more legal materials are becoming digital, it is important that we are ready so that Maryland’s legal materials are preserved, accessible whether current or from years ago, and authentic. (It is easy to tell if a volume of the code is authentic but not so apparent when you look at something online.  If you look at the Government Printing Office’s United States Code online you will see a little authentication symbol  telling you that the record has been checked and it is the correct document.)  Right now Maryland’s legal materials are readily available in print, assuring authentication, preservation and accessibility.  Should any of these materials convert to digital only, Maryland is prepared.

To find out more about UELMA please read these publications available from the American Association of Law Libraries:

UNIFORM ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL ACT SUMMARY AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

UELMA HISTORY