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HB1300 • 2026

African American Heritage Preservation Program and Maryland Commission for Women - Renaming and Alterations

African American Heritage Preservation Program and Maryland Commission for Women - Renaming and Alterations

Elections Housing Labor
Enacted

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

Sponsor
Delegates Hill , D. Jones , Alston , Bagnall , Bartlett , Boyce , Charkoudian , Crutchfield , Davis , Embry , Feldmark , Fennell , Foley , Forbes , Guzzone , Harrison , Healey , Kaiser , Lehman , Lewis , Lopez , Mireku-North , Palakovich Carr , Pasteur , Patterson , Phillips , Qi , Queen , Roberts , Ross , Ruth , Sample-Hughes , Simpson , Smith , Taveras , Taylor , Terrasa , Toles , Valderrama , Watson , White Holland , Wilkins , Woods , and Ziegler
Last action
2026-05-26
Official status
Approved by the Governor - Chapter 792
Effective date
2026-10-01

Plain English Breakdown

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

African American Heritage Preservation Program and Maryland Commission for Women - Renaming and Alterations

Renaming the African American Heritage Preservation Program to be the Speaker Adrienne A.

What This Bill Does

  • Renaming the African American Heritage Preservation Program to be the Speaker Adrienne A.
  • Jones African American Heritage Preservation Program; repealing the authority of the Secretary of Human Services to appoint the executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women; providing that the executive director of the Commission is not a special appointee and is in the skilled service in the State Personnel Management System; and altering the duties of the Commission.

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.

173028/1

None

Favorable with Amendments { 173028/1 Adopted

Plain English: AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE BILL 1300 (First Reading File Bill) AMENDMENT NO.

  • AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE BILL 1300 (First Reading File Bill) AMENDMENT NO.
  • 1 On page 1, in line 5, after “appointee” insert “ and is in the skilled service in the State Personnel Management System”.
  • AMENDMENT NO.
  • 2 On page 2, in line 7, after “director” insert “: (1)”; in the same line, after “Department” insert “; AND (2) IS IN THE SKILLED SERVICE IN T HE STATE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”; in lines 14 and 15, strike “AND OUT OF THE HOME” and substitute “SOCIETY”; in line 15, after “directing” insert “ CRITICAL”; strike beginning with “as” in line 15 down through “workers” in line 16 and substitute “ IN THEIR VARIOUS ROL ES”; in line 22, after “ (III)” insert “ CONDUCT RESEARCH ON ISSUES THAT IMPACT W OMEN AND IDENTIFY EXISTING DISPARITIES; (IV)”; in lines 25 and 27, strike “(IV)” and “(V)”, respectively, and substitute “(V)” and “(VI)”, respectively; in line 27, strike “ PROVIDE PUBLICITY FO R” and substitute “ RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS OF ”; in line 28, strike “ PERSONAL GROWTH AND HB1300/173028/1 BY: Government, Labor, and Elections Committee HB1300/173028/01 Government, Labor, and Elections Committee Amendments to HB 1300 Page 2 of 2 DEVELOPMENT” and substitute “ ECONOMIC SECURITY ”; and in line 29, strike “CAREER–RELATED ISSUES” and substitute “WOMEN’S HEALTH”.
503828/1

None • Senator Brooks

Floor Amendment { 503828/1 (Senator Brooks) Adopted

Plain English: AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE BILL 1300 (Third Reading File Bill) AMENDMENT NO.

  • AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE BILL 1300 (Third Reading File Bill) AMENDMENT NO.
  • 1 On page 1, in line 2, before “Maryland” insert “African American Heritage Preservation Program and”; in the same line, after “ Women –” insert “Renaming and”; in line 3, after the first “of” insert “ renaming the African American Heritage Preservation Program to be the Speaker Adrienne A.
  • Jones African American Heritage Preservation Program ;”; in line 7, after “ to” insert “ the African American Heritage Preservation Program and”; after line 7, insert: “BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, Article – Housing and Community Development Section 6–212(a)(5) Annotated Code of Maryland (2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement)”; and after line 17, insert: “BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, Article – State Finance and Procurement Section 5A–330(a)(1) Annotated Code of Maryland (2021 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, Article – State Finance and Procurement Section 5A–330(a)(8) and (b)(1) Annotated Code of Maryland (2021 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement)”.
  • HB1300/503828/1 BY: Senator Brooks HB1300/503828/01 Brooks Amendments to HB 1300 Page 2 of 2 AMENDMENT NO.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-26 Post Passage

    Approved by the Governor - Chapter 792

  2. 2026-04-08 Senate

    Favorable Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment

  3. 2026-03-28 House

    House Concurs Senate Amendments

  4. 2026-03-28 House

    Third Reading Passed (124-5)

  5. 2026-03-28 House

    Passed Enrolled

  6. 2026-03-21 Senate

    Third Reading Passed (43-0)

  7. 2026-03-20 Senate

    Hearing 3/26 at 1:00 p.m.

  8. 2026-03-20 Senate

    Favorable Adopted

  9. 2026-03-20 Senate

    Floor Amendment { 503828/1 (Senator Brooks) Adopted

  10. 2026-03-20 Senate

    Second Reading Passed with Amendments

  11. 2026-03-16 House

    Favorable with Amendments Report by Government, Labor, and Elections

  12. 2026-03-05 House

    Third Reading Passed (124-7)

  13. 2026-03-03 House

    Favorable with Amendments { 173028/1 Adopted

  14. 2026-03-03 House

    Second Reading Passed with Amendments

  15. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Referred Education, Energy, and the Environment

  16. 2026-02-19 House

    Hearing 3/04 at 1:00 p.m.

  17. 2026-02-12 House

    First Reading Government, Labor, and Elections

  18. Maryland General Assembly

    Text - First - Maryland Commission for Women - Alterations

  19. Maryland General Assembly

    Vote - House - Committee - Government, Labor, and Elections

  20. Maryland General Assembly

    Text - Third - Maryland Commission for Women - Alterations

  21. Maryland General Assembly

    Vote - Senate - Committee - Education, Energy, and the Environment

  22. Maryland General Assembly

    Text - Enrolled - African American Heritage Preservation Program and Maryland Commission for Women - Renaming and Alterations

Official Summary Text

Renaming the African American Heritage Preservation Program to be the Speaker Adrienne A. Jones African American Heritage Preservation Program; repealing the authority of the Secretary of Human Services to appoint the executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women; providing that the executive director of the Commission is not a special appointee and is in the skilled service in the State Personnel Management System; and altering the duties of the Commission.

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.
Italics indicate opposite chamber/conference committee amendments.
*hb1300*

HOUSE BILL 1300
P1 (6lr3143)
ENROLLED BILL
— Government, Labor, and Elections/Education, Energy, and the Environment —
Introduced by Delegates Hill, D. Jones, Alston, Bagnall, Bartlett, Boyce,
Charkoudian, Crutchfield, Davis, Embry, Feldmark, Fennell, Foley, Forbes,
Guzzone, Harrison, Healey, Kaiser, Lehman, Lewis, Lopez, Mireku –North,
Palakovich Carr, Pasteur, Patterson, Phillips, Qi, Queen, Roberts, Ross,
Ruth, Sample –Hughes, Simpson, Smith, Taveras, Taylor, Terrasa, Toles,
Valderrama, Watson, White Holland, Wilkins, Woods, and Ziegler

Read and Examined by Proofreaders:

_______________________________________________
Proofreader.
_______________________________________________
Proofreader.

Sealed with the Great Seal and presented to the Governor, for his approval this

_______ day of _______________ at ________________________ o’clock, ________M.

______________________________________________
Speaker.

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

African American Heritage Preservation Program and Maryland Commission 2
for Women – Renaming and Alterations 3

FOR the purpose of renaming the African American Heritage Preservation Program to be 4
the Speaker Adrienne A. Jones African American Heritage Preservation Program; 5
repealing the authority of the Secretary of Human Services to appoint the executive 6
director of the Maryland Commission for Women; providing that the executive 7
director of the Commission is not a special appointee and is in the skilled service in 8
the State Personnel Management System ; altering the duties of the Commission; 9
2 HOUSE BILL 1300

and generally relating to the African American Heritage Preservation Program and 1
the Maryland Commission for Women. 2

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 3
Article – Housing and Community Development 4
Section 6–212(a)(5) 5
Annotated Code of Maryland 6
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 7

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 8
Article – Human Services 9
Section 2–402 10
Annotated Code of Maryland 11
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 12

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 13
Article – Human Services 14
Section 2–405 and 2–406 15
Annotated Code of Maryland 16
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 17

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 18
Article – State Finance and Procurement 19
Section 5A–330(a)(1) 20
Annotated Code of Maryland 21
(2021 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 22

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 23
Article – State Finance and Procurement 24
Section 5A–330(a)(8) and (b)(1) 25
Annotated Code of Maryland 26
(2021 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 27

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 28
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 29

Article – Housing and Community Development 30

6–212. 31

(a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, a sustainable community shall receive 32
priority for State funding under the: 33

(5) SPEAKER ADRIENNE A. JONES African American Heritage [Grant] 34
PRESERVATION Program under Title 5A, Subtitle 3 of the State Finance and Procurement 35
Article. 36

HOUSE BILL 1300 3

Article – Human Services 1

2–402. 2

(a) There is a Maryland Commission for Women in the Department. 3

(b) The Commission shall report to the Governor and the General Assembly 4
through the Secretary. 5

2–405. 6

(a) The [Secretary shall appoint an] executive director of the Commission IS NOT 7
CONSIDERED A SPECIAL APPOINTEE. 8

(b) The executive director: 9

(1) shall be a merit employee of the Department; AND 10

(2) IS IN THE SKILLE D SERVICE IN THE STATE PERSONNEL 11
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. 12

(c) The executive director is entitled to the compensation provided in the State 13
budget. 14

2–406. 15

(a) (1) The Commission shall: 16

(i) stimulate and encourage study and review of the status of women 17
in the State; 18

(ii) strengthen [home life] THE CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN IN AND 19
OUT OF THE HOME SOCIETY by directing CRITICAL attention to critical problems 20
confronting women as wives, mothers, homemakers, and workers IN THEIR VARIOUS 21
ROLES; 22

[(iii) recommend methods of overcoming discrimination against 23
women in public and private employment; 24

(iv) encourage women to become candidates for public office; 25

(v) promote more effective methods for enabling women to develop 26
skills, continue education, and be retrained;] 27

(III) CONDUCT RESEARCH ON ISSUES THAT IMPACT WOMEN AND 28
IDENTIFY EXISTING DISPARITIES; 29
4 HOUSE BILL 1300

(IV) CONDUCT STUDIES AND ASSIST WITH PROGRAMS , 1
SEMINARS, AND CONFERENCES TO R AISE PUBLIC AWARENES S ABOUT ISSUES 2
IMPACTING WOMEN; 3

(IV) (V) SUPPORT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS THAT PROMOT E 4
THE WELL–BEING OF WOMEN; 5

(V) (VI) PROVIDE PUBLICITY FOR RAISE PUBLIC AWARENE SS 6
OF A WIDE RANGE OF ISSU ES AFFECTING WOMEN, INCLUDING PERSONAL GROWTH 7
AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC SECURITY , LIFE TRANSITIONS , AND CAREER–8
RELATED ISSUES WOMEN’S HEALTH; 9

(VI) (VII) PROMOTE AND ASSIST STATEWIDE WOMEN ’S 10
ORGANIZATIONS, LOCAL COMMISSIONS FO R WOMEN , AND LOCAL VOLUNTEER 11
PROGRAMS FOCUSED ON IMPROVING CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN; 12

(VII) (VIII) ADVOCATE FOR LEGISLA TION SUPPORTI NG WAGE 13
EQUALITY, ECONOMIC AND CULTURA L DEVELOPMENT , FOSTERING WOMEN’S 14
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT, WOMEN’S HEALTH, CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL 15
INCLUSION AND HUMAN RELATIONS , AND OTHER POLICIES T HAT PROMOTE THE 16
EQUALITY AND FLOURISHING OF ALL PEOPLE; 17

(VIII) ENCOURAGE AND EMPOWE R WOMEN TO COMPETE F OR 18
LEADERSHIP ROLES AND PROVIDE NETWORKING O PPORTUNITIES FOR WOM EN 19
THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS; 20

(IX) RECOMMEND STRATEGIES TO REDUCE DISCRIMINA TION 21
AND INCREASE OPPORTU NITIES FOR WOMEN IN EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, THE 22
LAW, STATE GOVERNMENT , AND ELECTED AND APPO INTED POSITIONS ACRO SS 23
PROFESSIONS AND WITHIN SOCIETY; 24

(IX) (X) OFFER SUPPORT PARTNER ORGA NIZATION 25
PROGRAMS ON CAREER D EVELOPMENT, FINANCIAL WELLNESS , AND VIOLENCE 26
PREVENTION; 27

[(vi)] (X) (XI) secure appropriate recognition of women’s 28
accomplishments and contributions to the State; 29

[(vii) work to develop healthy attitudes within the framework of the 30
Commission’s responsibilities;] and 31

HOUSE BILL 1300 5

[(viii)] (XI) (XII) inform the executive and legislative bra nches of 1
government on issues concerning women, including BY offering testimony on these issues 2
before legislative and administrative bodies. 3

(2) The Commission may: 4

(i) act as a clearinghouse for activities to avoid duplication of effort; 5
and 6

(ii) make surveys and appoint advisory committees in ALL fields 7
AFFECTING THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN THE STATE, including education, social services, 8
labor laws and employment policies, law enforcement, health and safety, new and expanded 9
services, legal rights, family relations, human relations, and volunteer services. 10

(b) Through the Secretary, the Commission shall submit an annual report 11
including recommendations based on the Commission’s studies to the Governor and, subject 12
to § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, to the General Assembly. 13

(c) The Commission may not adopt regulations. 14

Article – State Finance and Procurement 15

5A–330. 16

(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 17

(8) “Program” means the SPEAKER ADRIENNE A. JONES African 18
American Heritage Preservation Program. 19

(b) (1) There is [an] A SPEAKER ADRIENNE A. JONES African American 20
Heritage Preservation Program in the Trust. 21

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effe ct 22
October 1, 2026. 23

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