CJ Current Session

Criminal Justice and the 2025 Session

Priorities for 2025

Prevention of Forced Infant Separation - This measure is intended to keep families together by providing women who give birth in prison the option to be transferred to the Prerelease Unit for women to take care of the child. It would also require the Division to allow liberal visitation of parents to their children.

Reentry Services for Women - The bill would establish a Commission on Reentry Services for Women overseen by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to create a comprehensive reentry plan for formerly incarcerated women.

Geriatric and Medical Parole - This measure would require the Maryland Parole Commission to consider the age of incarcerated individuals when determining whether to grant parole.

Medical Parole - Life Imprisonment - This bill would provide a procedure for inmates who are chronically debilitated or incapacitated by a medical or mental health condition, disease, or syndrome as to be physically incapable of presenting a danger to society to be released on medical parole.

Maryland Fair Chance in Housing Act - Housing continues to be one of the most significant barriers for those transitioning out of prison. This bill will help returning citizens access essential housing when they transition back to the community.

For more information, please contact Criminal Justice Reform Issue Team Lead Candy Clark at CriminalJustice@uulmmd.org.

Subject	Bill Number	XFile Bill Number	Sponsor	Title	Status	Current Location	Position	Synopsis
Geriatric and Medical Parole	HB0190	SB0181	Delegate Bartlett	Correctional Services - Geriatric and Medical Parole	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary	Support	Requiring the Maryland Parole Commission to consider the age of incarcerated individuals when determining whether to grant parole; altering how the Commission evaluates a request for medical parole, including providing for a meeting between the incarcerated individual and the Commission; requiring the Commission to develop procedures for assessing parole requests by older incarcerated individuals; and requiring the Commission to report yearly to the Justice Reinvestment Oversight Board on the outcomes of certain parole considerations.
Geriatric and Medical Parole	SB0181	HB0190	Senator Hettleman	Correctional Services - Geriatric and Medical Parole	Hearing 1/28 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings	Support	Requiring the Maryland Parole Commission to consider the age of incarcerated individuals when determining whether to grant parole; altering how the Commission evaluates a request for medical parole, including providing for a meeting between the incarcerated individual and the Commission; requiring the Commission to develop procedures for assessing parole requests by older incarcerated individuals; and requiring the Commission to report yearly to the Justice Reinvestment Oversight Board on the outcomes of certain parole considerations.
Inmate phone calls	SB0056		Senator Waldstreicher	State Correctional Facilities - Incarcerated Individuals - Costs of Telephone Communications	Hearing 1/09 at 2:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings	Support	Prohibiting a State correctional facility and a telephone service provider from charging an incarcerated individual or a third party, for an incarcerated individual's use of telephone equipment or telephone services while in the facility; requiring a State correctional facility to pay any costs charged by a telephone service provider; and establishing the Costs of Telephone Communications Advisory Committee to review prison and jail phone call programs and report to the Governor and General Assembly by December 31, 2025.
Reduction of sentence for seniors	SB0141		Senator West	Criminal Procedure - Incarcerated Seniors - Motion to Reduce the Duration of a Sentence	Hearing 1/16 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings	Support	Authorizing an individual who is at least 60 years old and has been imprisoned for at least 20 years to file a motion to reduce the duration of the individual's sentence; requiring the court to conduct a hearing on a motion to reduce the duration of a sentence, unless the court has held a hearing on a similar motion in the preceding 5 years; and requiring a court to consider enumerated factors in determining whether to grant a motion to reduce the duration of a sentence and to issue its decision in writing or on the record in open court.
Accused Students-Attendance Prohbited	HB0068		Delegate Mangione	Public Schools - Children Suspected of a Crime of Violence - Prohibition on In-Person Attendance (Student Protection Act of 2025)	Hearing 1/23 at 1:00 p.m.	Ways and Means	Oppose	Prohibiting a child from in-person attendance at a public school if the child has been identified as a suspect in a crime of violence, until the investigation is complete and the child is no longer identified as a suspect; and requiring each local school system to provide alternative educational options for children prohibited from in-person attendance in a certain manner.
Accused Students-Attendance Prohbited	HB0137		Delegate Mangione	Public Schools - Children Charged With a Crime of Violence - Prohibition on In-Person Attendance (School Safety Act of 2025)	Hearing 1/23 at 1:00 p.m.	Ways and Means	Oppose	Prohibiting a child from in-person attendance at a public school if the child has been charged with a crime of violence, until the child is found not delinquent or the charge is dismissed; and requiring each local school system to provide alternative educational options for children prohibited from in-person attendance in a certain manner.
Hate Crimes - Law Enorcement Officers	SB0122		Senator Folden	Criminal Law - Hate Crimes - Law Enforcement Officers	Hearing 1/16 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings	Oppose	Including law enforcement officers within the scope of certain prohibitions against committing certain crimes against certain persons, damaging certain property of certain persons, burning certain objects, and damaging certain buildings with which certain persons or groups have contacts or associations or under circumstances exhibiting animosity against a certain person or group.
Juvenile sex offenders	SB0078		Senator Salling	Juvenile Child Sex Offenders - Juvenile Sex Offender Registry and Prohibition on In-Person School Attendance	Hearing 1/28 at 1:00 p.m. (Judicial Proceedings)	Judicial Proceedings	Oppose	Expanding the acts for which a child adjudicated delinquent is required to register with the juvenile sex offender registry and supervising authority; requiring law enforcement agencies and State's Attorneys to notify schools of certain information when a child is arrested for a certain offense; prohibiting a child from in-person attendance at a public school or a nonpublic school that receives State funds if the child has been convicted or adjudicated delinquent of certain offenses; etc.
Police Accountability Investiagations	HB0139		Delegate Young	Public Safety - Police Accountability - Deadline for Completion of Investigation	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary	Oppose	Requiring the investigating unit of a law enforcement agency to complete its review of a certain complaint and forward its investigatory files to the administrative charging committee as soon as possible, but not later than 9 months after the filing of the complaint.
Police Officer Complainant	HB0122		Delegate Young	Public Safety - Police Accountability - Police Officer Complainant	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary	Oppose	Authorizing a police officer to file a complaint of police misconduct with a police accountability board.
Time limit to charge police officer	HB0238		Delegate Cardin	Public Safety - Police Accountability - Time Limit for Filing Administrative Charges	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary	Oppose	Altering the deadline for the completion of the process of review by a certain investigating unit through disposition by an administrative charging committee under certain circumstances; requiring a law enforcement agency to file any administrative charges arising out of an investigation of alleged police officer misconduct that is not required to be reviewed by an administrative charging committee within a certain period of time; etc.
Apprenticeships for inmates	HB0289		Delegate Metzgar	Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services - Incarcerated Individual Apprenticeship Program	Hearing 1/28 at 1:00 p.m.	Judiciary		Requiring the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to develop and offer an apprenticeship program in skilled trades for incarcerated individuals; establishing the purpose of the program is to assist incarcerated individuals to develop marketable job skills and to earn money that can be used once the individual is released from incarceration; authorizing the Department to pay all or part of an incarcerated individual's wages to a spouse, child, or other dependent in need of financial support; etc.
Building Energy Performance Standards	HB0212		Delegate Acevero	Maryland Building Performance Standards - Fossil Fuel Use and Electric-Ready Standards	Hearing canceled (Economic Matters)	Environment and Transportation		Requiring the Maryland Department of Labor to adopt, on or before January 1, 2026, and as part of the Maryland Building Performance Standards, a requirement that new buildings meet all energy demands of the building without the use of fossil fuels and an electric-ready standard for certain buildings.
Custodial Interrogation of Minors	HB0165		Delegate Acevero	Custodial Interrogation of Minors - Admissibility of Statements	Hearing 1/30 at 1:00 p.m.	Judiciary		Establishing a certain rebuttable presumption that a statement made by a minor during a custodial interrogation is involuntary and is inadmissible in a juvenile or criminal proceeding against the minor if the law enforcement officer intentionally used information known by the officer to be false in order to elicit the statement.
Expungement - Good Cause	HB0055		Delegate Ruff	Criminal Procedure - Expungement of Records - Good Cause	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary		Authorizing a person to file a petition for expungement of any misdemeanor or felony conviction after the completion of the sentence, parole, probation, and any other form of mandatory treatment associated with the conviction; authorizing a court to grant a petition at any time on a showing of good cause; and providing that a denial of a certain petition may not be appealed and a subsequent petition may not be filed for at least 5 years.
Interference with PS Answering Point	SB0081		Senator Kagan	Criminal Law - Interference With a Public Safety Answering Point - Penalties	Hearing 1/16 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings		Prohibiting a person from taking certain actions with the intent to interrupt or impair the functioning of a public safety answering point; prohibiting a person from taking certain actions that interrupt or impair the functioning of a public safety answering point; and authorizing penalties for certain violations.
Juvenile probation and treatment	SB0075		Senator Benson	Juvenile Law - Probation and Treatment Services - Required Disposition (Parental Accountability Act)	Hearing 1/28 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings		Requiring the juvenile court to order certain probation for a child found to have committed certain delinquent acts or adjudicated to be a child in need of supervision because of habitual truancy; requiring probation of a child adjudged delinquent for certain acts or a child in need of supervision to include the adoption of a treatment service plan and providing the child and the child's family with certain services; and requiring the juvenile court to order a parent, guardian, or custodian to participate in a treatment service plan.
Medical Parole - Life Imprisonment	HB0311		Delegate Bartlett	Correctional Services - Medical Parole - Life Imprisonment	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary		Repealing provisions relating to gubernatorial approval of a decision of the Maryland Parole Commission to grant medical parole to an incarcerated individual serving a sentence of life imprisonment.
No-Knock Warrants	HB0255		Delegate Acevero	No-Knock Warrants	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary		Repealing the authority for the issuance and execution of a no-knock search warrant; establishing that a warrant may not authorize an officer to enter a building, apartment, premises, or place without first announcing the officer's purpose and authority; specifying that a warrant may be executed only between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.; and requiring an officer executing a search warrant, prior to entering certain areas to be searched, to give reasonable notice to alert any occupants of the officer's authority and purpose.
Police Trial Boards	HB0186		Delegate Young	Police Discipline - Trial Board Composition	First Reading Judiciary	Judiciary		Altering the composition of trial boards responsible for adjudicating matters of police discipline to include certain attorneys.
Reduction of sentence petition	SB0291		Senator Sydnor	Criminal Procedure - Petition to Reduce Sentence (Maryland Second Look Act)	First Reading Judicial Proceedings	Judicial Proceedings

Criminal Justice and the 2025 Session

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