For further information about initiatives produced during the legislative session, or for a search engine of all legislation introduced by the state legislature, visit the Maryland General Assembly's website.
The 2021 Maryland General Assembly convened on Jan. 13, 2021, and remained in session through April 12, 2021.
The following pieces of legislation were of particular interest to The University of Baltimore, the University of Baltimore Community and/or the University Systems of Maryland:
SB 1/HB 1
Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Funding
- Passed
Requiring the Maryland Higher Education Commission to establish a new unit to assist in evaluating and reviewing certain proposals for new programs and substantial modifications of existing programs; requiring the Governor, for fiscal years 2023 through 2032, to include in the annual State operating budget $577,000,000 to be allocated to certain historically black colleges and universities; establishing the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Reserve Fund; requiring the Cigarette Restitution Fund to include a separate account; etc.
SB 9/HB 486
State Employees - Collective Bargaining - Applicability, Bargaining Processes, and Memorandums of Understanding
- Passed
Requiring the Chancellor of the University System of Maryland to act on behalf of the University System of Maryland and certain system institutions for the purpose of collective bargaining; requiring the Chancellor and the exclusive representative to negotiate the terms of one consolidated memorandum of understanding to apply to all bargaining units for employees of all system institutions represented by the exclusive representative; requiring a certain consolidated memorandum of understanding to include certain terms; etc.
SB 155/HB 216
Higher Education - Tuition Exemption for Foster Care Recipients and Homeless Youth - Alterations and Reports
- Passed
Repealing a certain provision of law requiring a financial aid administrator to verify certain information under certain circumstances; altering the method by which a financial administrator at a public institution of higher education is required to verify that a certain youth is a homeless youth; providing that a certain youth who receives a tuition exemption is entitled to priority consideration for on-campus housing; requiring a certain public institution to designate a certain homeless and foster student liaison; etc.
SB 283/HB 156
Student and Military Voter Empowerment Act
- Passed
Requiring a local board of elections to obtain input from large residential institutional communities including institutions of higher education, continuing care retirement communities, senior communities, and military installations when establishing precinct boundaries and designating polling places; establishing a process for certain voters to submit a federal post card application electronically, which may allow the use of a common access card only for verification of identity and fulfillment of the signature requirement; etc.
SB 405/HB 466
Higher Education - Student Identification Cards - Required Information
- Passed
Requiring each institution of higher education to provide the telephone number of Maryland's Helpline, or an on-campus crisis center that operates 24 hours a day and 365 days a year on student identification cards, if provided by the institution; authorizing an institution of higher education to provide telephone numbers of mental health crisis hotlines on student identification cards; and providing that student identification cards in use or printed before July 1, 2021, will be in compliance with the Act.
SB 480/HB 421
Income Tax Distribution – Tax Clinics for Low–Income Marylanders
- Passed
Requiring that each fiscal year the Comptroller distribute $250,000 of income tax revenue from individuals to the Tax Clinics for Low-Income Marylanders Fund; establishing the Tax Clinics for Low-Income Marylanders Fund to provide grants to the University of Maryland School of Law, the University of Baltimore School of Law, and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service to operate tax clinics for low-income Marylanders; requiring the Secretary of Higher Education to administer the Fund; etc.
SB 491/
HB 588
Budget Bill (Fiscal Year 2022)
- Passed
Making the proposed appropriations contained in the State Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, in accordance with Article III, Section 52 of the Maryland Constitution; etc.
SB 492/HB 590
Creation of a State Debt - Maryland Consolidated Capital Bond Loan of 2021, and the Maryland Consolidated Capital Bond Loans of 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020
- Passed
Authorizing the creation of a State Debt in the amount of $1,107,427,000, the proceeds to be used for certain necessary building, construction, demolition, planning, renovation, conversion, replacement, and capital equipment purchases of the State, for acquiring certain real estate in connection therewith, and for grants to certain subdivisions and other organizations for certain development and improvement purposes; etc.
SB 493/HB 589
Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2021
- Passed
Authorizing, altering, or requiring the distribution and payment of certain revenue in certain fiscal years; increasing the amount local governments are required to reimburse the State for certain services; etc.
SB 526/HB 1268
Legal Education Success Collaborative - Established
- Passed
Establishing a Legal Education Success Collaborative for the purpose of developing methods of increasing diversity in the legal field; requiring institutions to develop and administer programs and cooperatives related to the Collaborative; beginning in fiscal year 2023, requiring the Governor to include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of $125,000 to certain institutions and programs; requiring certain institutions to provide certain matching funds; etc.
SB 637/HB 943
Community Development Administration - Live Near Your School Program - Establishment
- Passed
Authorizing the Community Development Administration in the Department of Housing and Community Development to administer a home buyer assistance program that assists current students and recent graduates of public institutions of higher education to receive certain low-interest mortgages for the purchase of homes near their schools; authorizing the Administration to administer community development projects known as the Live Near Your School program; etc.
SB 741/HB 836
COVID-19 Testing, Contact Tracing, and Vaccination Act of 2021
- Passed
Requiring, on or before June 1, 2021, the Maryland Department of Health, in collaboration with local health departments of the State, to adopt and implement a certain plan to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19; requiring, for calendar year 2021, certain institutions of higher education in the State to establish a certain COVID-19 security plan; requiring certain insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for certain COVID-19 tests and related items and services; etc.
SB 762/HB 96
Maryland Electricians Act - Revisions
- Passed
Establishing an exception to motor vehicle registration requirements for personal delivery devices; authorizing the Motor Vehicle Administration to accept other forms of security in place of certain insurance requirements for personal delivery devices; authorizing a personal delivery device to operate on any roadway, sidewalk, footpath, bicycle trail, or crosswalk in the State; creating certain marking, equipment, and insurance requirements for personal delivery devices being operated on highways, sidewalks, or crosswalks; etc.
SB 767/HB 891
Higher Education - Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program - Established
- Passed
Establishing the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program to address student hunger and basic food needs on campus; requiring the Maryland Higher Education Commission to administer the Program, develop a certain form, and designate certain campuses as hunger-free campuses; authorizing certain public institutions of higher education to develop certain procedures and make certain information publicly available; requiring the Governor, beginning in fiscal year 2023, to include in the annual budget bill a $150,000 appropriation for the Program; etc.
SB 800/HB 1337
Inmate Training and Job Act of 2021
- Passed
Establishing the Inmate Training and Job Pilot Program at certain institutions of postsecondary education to provide educational and vocational training opportunities for inmates in the 12 months preceding the inmate's date of release; requiring the Pilot Program to be administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the governing entity of each institution; requiring the Division of Correction and the Commission to develop a hybrid virtual and in-person learning environment in the system by June 1, 2022; etc.
SB 886/HB 460
Transfer
With
Success Act
- Passed
Requiring the Maryland Higher Education Commission to establish certain procedures that require a public institution of higher education that denies the transfer of a credit or course to an enrolled student to report the denial to the student and the institution from which the student originates and submit to the Commission a report each year listing the denials and the reasons for the denials; and requiring the procedures to direct a certain institution to review a denial of the transfer of a credit or course.
SB 895
University System of Maryland - Student Fees - Review and Spending
- Passed
Requiring the presidents of University System of Maryland institutions to ensure that the student fee committee of record is presented with any proposed fees for their review; requiring the amount of the fee, the students who will be charged the fee, and the proposed use of the revenues generated to be provided to the student fee committee; requiring certain revenues to be spent by a certain campus unit or department in a manner consistent with the intended purpose for which the fee exists; etc.
SB 927
Institutions of Higher Education - Prohibition Against Incentive Payments - Foreign Student Exemption
- Passed
Altering the application of certain provisions of law prohibiting an institution of higher education from paying certain financial or other incentives based on certain success to exempt the recruitment of foreign students who reside in a foreign country and are not eligible to receive federal student assistance.
HB 670
Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021
- Passed/Gubernatorial Veto Override
Repealing the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights; prohibiting a police officer from preventing a citizen from recording the officer's actions if the citizen is otherwise acting lawfully and safely; establishing the Maryland Loan Assistance Repayment Program for Police Officers and the Maryland Police Officers Scholarship Program; requiring the Police Training and Standards Commission to take certain actions in response to violations of a certain Use of Force Statute; requiring each county to have a police accountability board; etc.