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EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
*hb0190*
HOUSE BILL 190
L1 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 6lr0745
HB 28/25 – ENT (PRE–FILED)
By: Delegate Bouchat
Requested: August 27, 2025
Introduced and read first time: January 14, 2026
Assigned to: Environment and Transportation
A BILL ENTITLED
AN ACT concerning 1
Constitutional Amendment – Form of County Government – Requirement to 2
Adopt Charter Home Rule 3
FOR the purpose of requiring each county to adopt a charter on or before a certain date 4
using a certain procedure; altering the method by which a county shall adopt a 5
charter under certain circumstances; requiring the charter to provide for the election 6
of members of the county council by the voters of councilmanic districts; and limiting 7
the applicability of certain constitutional provisions governing code home rule 8
counties. 9
BY proposing a repeal of the Maryland Constitution 10
Article XI–A – Local Legislation 11
Section 1 12
BY proposing an addition to the Maryland Constitution 13
Article XI–A – Local Legislation 14
Section 1 15
BY proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution 16
Article XI–A – Local Legislation 17
Section 1A and 3A 18
BY proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution 19
Article XI–F – Home Rule for Code Counties 20
Section 1 21
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 22
(Three–fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses concurring), That it be 23
proposed that the Maryland Constitution read as follows: 24
2 HOUSE BILL 190
Article XI–A – Local Legislation 1
[1. 2
On demand of the Mayor of Baltimore and City Council of the City of Baltimore, or 3
on petition bearing the signatures of not less than 20% of the registered voters of said City 4
or any County (Provided, however, that in any case 10,000 signatures shall be sufficient to 5
complete a petition), the Board of Election Supervisors of said City or County shall provide 6
at the next general or congressional election, occurring after such demand or the filing of 7
such petition, for the election of a charter board of eleve n registered voters of said City or 8
five registered voters in any such Counties. Nominations for members for said charter 9
board may be made not less than forty days prior to said election by the Mayor of Baltimore 10
and City Council of the City of Baltimore or the County Commissioners of such County, or 11
not less than twenty days prior to said election by petition bearing the signatures written 12
in their own handwriting (and not by their mark) of not less than 5% of the registered voters 13
of the said City of Bal timore or said County; provided, that in any case Two thousand 14
signatures of registered voters shall be sufficient to complete any such nominating petition, 15
and if not more than eleven registered voters of the City of Baltimore or not more than five 16
registered voters in any such County are so nominated their names shall not be printed on 17
the ballot, but said eleven registered voters in the City of Baltimore or five in such County 18
shall constitute said charter board from and after the date of said election. At said election 19
the ballot shall contain the names of said nominees in alphabetical order without any 20
indication of the source of their nomination, and shall also be so arranged as to permit the 21
voter to vote for or against the creation of said charter board, but the vote cast against said 22
creation shall not be held to bar the voter from expressing his choice among the nominees 23
for said board, and if the majority of the votes cast for and against the creation of said 24
charter board shall be against said cre ation the election of the members of said charter 25
board shall be void; but if such majority shall be in favor of the creation of said charter 26
board, then and in that event the eleven nominees of the City of Baltimore or five nominees 27
in the County receiving the largest number of votes shall constitute the charter board, and 28
said charter board, or a majority thereof, shall prepare within 18 months from the date of 29
said election a charter or form of government for said city or such county and present the 30
same to the Mayor of Baltimore or President of the Board of County Commissioners of such 31
county, who shall publish the same in at least two newspapers of general circulation 32
published in the City of Baltimore or County within thirty days after it shall be reported to 33
him. Such charter shall be submitted to the voters of said City or County at the next general 34
or Congressional election after the report of said charter to said Mayor of Baltimore or 35
President of the Board of County Commissioners; and if a majority of the votes cast for and 36
against the adoption of said charter shall be in favor of such adoption, the said charter from 37
and after the thirtieth day from the date of such election shall become the law of said City 38
or County, subject only to the Constitution and Public General Laws of this State, and any 39
public local laws inconsistent with the provisions of said charter and any former charter of 40
the City of Baltimore or County shall be thereby repealed.] 41
1. 42
HOUSE BILL 190 3
(A) (1) BY DECEMBER 31, 2032, EACH COUNTY AND THE CITY OF 1
BALTIMORE SHALL ADOPT A CHARTER IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS ARTICLE. 2
(2) AFTER DECEMBER 31, 2032, EACH COUNTY AND THE CITY OF 3
BALTIMORE SHALL OPERA TE UNDER THE CHARTER ADOPTED IN ACCORDANC E 4
WITH THIS ARTICLE. 5
(B) A CHARTER ADOPTED IN A CCORDANCE WITH THIS ARTICLE SHALL 6
PROVIDE FOR: 7
(1) THE ELECTION OF BOTH A COUNTY EXECUTIVE A ND THE 8
MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL AS PROVIDED UNDER § 3 OF THIS ARTICLE; AND 9
(2) THE ELECTION OF MEMBE RS OF THE COUNTY COU NCIL TO BE 10
HELD IN ACCORDANCE WITH § 3A OF THIS ARTICLE. 11
(C) ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2027, A COUNTY ADOPTING A NEW CHARTER 12
SHALL USE THE PROCEDURES SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION. 13
(D) (1) ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 1, 2029, THE BOARD OF COUNTY 14
COMMISSIONERS FOR AN Y COUNTY NOT OPERATI NG UNDER A CHARTER F ORM OF 15
GOVERNMENT AS OF THAT DATE SHALL APPOINT A CHARTER BOARD. 16
(2) (I) THE CHARTER BOARD SHA LL CONSIST OF AN UNE VEN 17
NUMBER OF MEMBERS, NOT FEWER THAN FIVE OR MORE THAN NINE. 18
(II) EACH MEMBER OF A CHAR TER BOARD SHALL BE A 19
REGISTERED VOTER OF THE COUNTY. 20
(3) WITHIN 18 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE APPOINTMENT O F 21
ITS MEMBERS, THE CHARTER BOARD SH ALL PRESENT A PROPOS ED CHARTER FOR 22
THE COUNTY TO THE BO ARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, WHICH SHALL PUBLISH 23
IT AT LEAST TWICE IN ONE OR MORE NEWSPAPE RS OF GENER AL CIRCULATION IN 24
THE COUNTY WITHIN 30 DAYS AFTER IT IS PRESENTED. 25
(4) WITHIN 90 DAYS AFTER THE PROPOSED CHARTER IS PUBLISHED 26
IN ACCORDANCE WITH P ARAGRAPH (3) OF THIS SUBSECTION , THE BOARD OF 27
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SHALL VOTE ON WHETHER TO ADOPT THE CHARTER. 28
(5) (I) IF A MAJORITY OF THE VOTES CAST BY THE BO ARD OF 29
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ARE IN FAVOR OF ITS ADOPTION, THE CHARTER SHALL 30
BECOME EFFECTIVE AS THE CHARTER OF THE C OUNTY ON THE THIRTIE TH DAY 31
FOLLOWING THE VOTE. 32
4 HOUSE BILL 190
(II) IF A MAJORITY OF THE VOTES CAST BY THE BOARD OF 1
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ARE AGAINST ITS ADOP TION, THE BOARD OF COUNTY 2
COMMISSIONERS SHALL REMAND THE PROPOSED CHARTER ALONG WITH A N 3
EXPLANATION OF THE REASONS FOR ITS REJECTION TO THE CHARTER BOARD FOR 4
REVISION AND RESUBMITTAL. 5
(6) WITHIN 90 DAYS AFTER A PROPOSE D CHARTER IS REMANDE D 6
BACK TO THE CHARTER BOARD, THE CHARTER BOARD SHALL REVISE AND PRESENT 7
THE PROPOSED CHARTER WITH THE REVISIONS T O THE BOARD OF COUNT Y 8
COMMISSIONERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH (3) OF THIS SUBSECTION. 9
(E) A COUNTY OR THE CITY OF BALTIMORE SHALL USE THE PROCEDURES 10
SET FORTH IN § 5 OF THIS ARTICLE TO AMEND ANY CHARTER ADOPTED UNDER THIS 11
ARTICLE. 12
1A. 13
[The] BEFORE JANUARY 1, 2027, THE procedure provided in this section for 14
adoption of a charter may be used in any county in lieu of the procedures provided in Section 15
1 of this Article [, and a ]. A charter THAT IS adopted pursuant to this section PRIOR TO 16
JANUARY 1, 2027, has the effect of a charter adopted in accordance with the provisions of 17
Section 1. The board of county commissioners of any county at any time may appoint a 18
charter board. Said charter board shall be registered voters and shall consist of an uneven 19
number of members, not fewer than five or more than nine. The board of county 20
commissioners shall appoint a charter board within thirty days after receiving a petition 21
signed by five percent of the registered voters of the county or by ten thousand voters of the 22
county, whichever is the lesser number. If additional charter board members are nominated 23
by petitions signed by three percent of the registered voters of the county or by two 24
thousand registered voters, whichever is the lesser number, delivered to the board of county 25
commissioners within sixty days after the charter board is appointed, the board of county 26
commissioners shall call a special election not less than thirty or more than ninety days 27
after receiving petitions, unless a regular election falls within the designate d period. The 28
appointees of the board of county commissioners and those nominated by petitions shall be 29
placed on the ballot in alphabetical order without party designation. The voters may cast 30
votes for, and elect a number of nominees equal to the number of charter board members 31
originally selected by the board of county commissioners, and those so elected are the 32
charter board. The charter board, within 18 months from the date of its appointment, or if 33
there was an election for some of its members, within 18 months from the date of the 34
election, shall present a proposed charter for the county to the board of county 35
commissioners, which shall publish it at least twice in one or more newspapers of general 36
circulation in the county within thirty days after it is presented. The charter shall be 37
submitted to the voters of the county at a special or regular election held not earlier than 38
thirty days or later than ninety days after publication of the charter. If a majority of the 39
votes cast for and against the adoption of the charter are in favor of its adoption, the charter 40
HOUSE BILL 190 5
shall become effective as the charter of the county on the thirtieth day after the election or 1
such later date as shall be specified in the charter. 2
3A. 3
The charter for the government of any county governed by the provisions of this 4
Article [may] SHALL provide for the election of members of the county council by the voters 5
of councilmanic districts therein established[, or by the voters of the entire county, or by a 6
combination of these methods of election]. 7
Article XI–F – Home Rule for Code Counties 8
1. 9
(A) For the purposes of this Article, (1) “code county” means a county which is not 10
a charter county under Article 11A of this Constitution and has adopted the optional powers 11
of home rule provided under this Article; and (2) “public local law” means a law applicable 12
to the incorporation, organization, or government of a code county and contained in the 13
county’s code of public local laws; but this latter term specifically does not include (i ) the 14
charters of municipal corporations under Article 11E of this Constitution, (ii) the laws or 15
charters of counties under Article 11A of this Constitution, (iii) laws, whether or not 16
Statewide in application, in the code of public general laws, (iv) law s which apply to more 17
than one county, and (v) ordinances and resolutions of the county government enacted 18
under public local laws. 19
(B) THE PROVISIONS OF THI S ARTICLE APPLY ONLY UNTIL EACH COUNTY 20
HAS ADOPTED A CHARTER UNDER ARTICLE XI–A OF THIS CONSTITUTION. 21
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the General Assembly 22
determines that the amendment to the Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this 23
Act affects multiple jurisdictions and that the provisions of Article XIV, § 1 of the Maryland 24
Constitution concerning local approval of constitutional amendments do not apply. 25
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the amendment to the 26
Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this Act shall be submitted to the qualified 27
voters of the State at the next general election to be held in November 2026 for adoption or 28
rejection in accordance with Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution. At that general 29
election, the vote on the proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be by ballot, and on 30
each ballot there shall be printed the words “For the Constitutional Amendment” and 31
“Against the Constitutional Amendment”, as now provided by law. Immediately after the 32
election, all returns shall be made to the Governor of the vote for and against the proposed 33
amendment, as directed by Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution, and further 34
proceedings held in accordance with Article XIV. 35