HB0664 • 2026

Cecil County - Alcoholic Beverages - Alteration of License Quota

Elections

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Cecil County Delegation
Last action: 2026-05-26
Official status: Approved by the Governor - Chapter 825
Effective date: 2026-07-01

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Cecil County - Alcoholic Beverages - Alteration of License Quota

Altering the quota on the number of alcoholic beverages licenses that the Board of License Commissioners for Cecil County may issue to apply only to Class A licenses based on a certain ratio.

What This Bill Does

Altering the quota on the number of alcoholic beverages licenses that the Board of License Commissioners for Cecil County may issue to apply only to Class A licenses based on a certain ratio.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

453029/1

None

Favorable with Amendments { 453029/1 Adopted

Plain English: AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 664 (First Reading File Bill) On page 2, in line 1, strike “Subject to paragraph (2)” and substitute “ EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN PARAG RAPH (2) OF THIS SUBSECTION AND SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (3)”; in line 2, strike “1,200” and substitute “2,000”; after line 4, insert: “(2) THE BOARD MAY ISSUE NOT FEWER THAN 2 CLASS A LICENSES IN EACH ELECTION DISTRICT OF THE COUNTY.”; and in line 5, strike “(2)” and substitute “(3)”.

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 664 (First Reading File Bill) On page 2, in line 1, strike “Subject to paragraph (2)” and substitute “ EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN PARAG RAPH (2) OF THIS SUBSECTION AND SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (3)”; in line 2, strike “1,200” and substitute “2,000”; after line 4, insert: “(2) THE BOARD MAY ISSUE NOT FEWER THAN 2 CLASS A LICENSES IN EACH ELECTION DISTRICT OF THE COUNTY.”; and in line 5, strike “(2)” and substitute “(3)”.
HB0664/453029/1 BY: Government, Labor, and Elections Committee

Bill History

2026-05-26 Post Passage
Approved by the Governor - Chapter 825
2026-03-30 Senate
Favorable Report by Finance
2026-03-21 House
Favorable with Amendments Report by Government, Labor, and Elections
2026-03-20 House
Returned Passed
2026-03-17 Senate
Third Reading Passed (46-0)
2026-03-13 Senate
Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed
2026-03-11 House
Third Reading Passed (134-1)
2026-03-09 House
Favorable with Amendments { 453029/1 Adopted
2026-03-09 House
Second Reading Passed with Amendments
2026-03-07 Senate
Referred Finance
2026-02-13 House
Hearing 2/23 at 1:00 p.m.
2026-01-30 House
First Reading Government, Labor, and Elections
Maryland General Assembly
Text - First - Cecil County - Alcoholic Beverages - Alteration of License Quota
Maryland General Assembly
Vote - House - Committee - Government, Labor, and Elections
Maryland General Assembly
Text - Third - Cecil County - Alcoholic Beverages - Alteration of License Quota
Maryland General Assembly
Vote - Senate - Committee - Finance

Official Summary Text

Altering the quota on the number of alcoholic beverages licenses that the Board of License Commissioners for Cecil County may issue to apply only to Class A licenses based on a certain ratio.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*hb0664*

HOUSE BILL 664
A2 6lr1720
CF SB 897
By: Cecil County Delegation
Introduced and read first time: January 30, 2026
Assigned to: Government, Labor, and Elections
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 9, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

Cecil County – Alcoholic Beverages – Alteration of License Quota 2

FOR the purpose of altering the quota on the number of alcoholic beverages licenses that 3
the Board of License Commissioners for Cecil County may issue to apply only to 4
Class A licenses based on a certain ratio; and generally relating to alcoholic 5
beverages in Cecil County. 6

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 7
Article – Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 8
Section 17–102 9
Annotated Code of Maryland 10
(2024 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 11

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 12
Article – Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 13
Section 17–1601 14
Annotated Code of Maryland 15
(2024 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 16

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 17
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 18

Article – Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 19

17–102. 20
2 HOUSE BILL 664

This title applies only in Cecil County. 1

17–1601. 2

(a) (1) Subject to paragraph (2) EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH (2) 3
OF THIS SUBSECTION AND SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (3) of this subsection, the Board 4
may not issue a number of CLASS A licenses that, in the aggregate, exceeds 1 for every 5
[400] 1,200 2,000 registered voters or major fraction in the county, as determined by the 6
current registration of voters. 7

(2) THE BOARD MAY ISSUE NOT FEWER THAN 2 CLASS A LICENSES IN 8
EACH ELECTION DISTRICT OF THE COUNTY. 9

(2) (3) [A Class BLX beer, wine, and liquor restaurant license, Class C 10
club license, motel–restaurant complex license, hotel–restaurant complex license, or Class 11
GC (golf course) beer, wine, and liquor (on –sale) license] NO OTHER CLASS OF LICENSE 12
may [not] be counted in the computation of the aggregate number of licenses. 13

(b) The quota shall be computed and applied separately for each election district 14
of the county. 15

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 16
1, 2026. 17

Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.