Property Tax Credit - Disabled Public Safety and Judicial Officers, Surviving Spouses, and Cohabitants - Eligibility

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
*hb1302*

HOUSE BILL 1302
Q1 6lr3441

By: Delegates Hornberger, Buckel, Miller, T. Morgan, Nkongolo, and Schmidt
Introduced and read first time: February 12, 2026
Assigned to: Ways and Means

A BILL ENTITLED

AN ACT concerning 1

Property Tax Credit – Disabled Public Safety and Judicial Officers, Surviving 2
Spouses, and Cohabitants – Eligibility 3

FOR the purpose of altering eligibility for the property tax credit for dwellings owned by a 4
disabled public safety officer or judicial officer or a surviving spouse or a cohabitant 5
of a fallen public safety officer or judicial officer by repealing a certain requirement 6
that the officer , surviving spouse, or cohabitant be domiciled in the State within a 7
certain number of years of a certain event under certain circumstances ; and 8
generally relating to the property tax credit for disabled public safety officers or 9
judicial officers and the surviving spouses or cohabitants of fallen public safety 10
officers or judicial officers. 11

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 12
Article – Tax – Property 13
Section 9–210 14
Annotated Code of Maryland 15
(2019 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 – Tax – Property 19

9–210. 20

(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 21

(2) “Cohabitant” means an individual who for a period of at least 180 days 22
in the year before the death of a fallen public safety officer or judicial officer: 23

2 HOUSE BILL 1302

(i) had a relationship of mutual interdependence with the fallen 1
public safety officer or judicial officer; and 2

(ii) resided with the fallen public safety offic er or judicial officer in 3
the dwelling. 4

(3) “Disabled public safety officer or judicial officer” means an individual 5
who: 6

(i) has been found to be permanently and totally disabled by an 7
administrative body or court of competent jurisdiction authoriz ed to make such a 8
determination; and 9

(ii) became disabled: 10

1. as a result of or in the course of employment as a law 11
enforcement officer, a correctional officer, or a judicial officer; or 12

2. while in active service as a judicial officer or while in the 13
active service of a fire, rescue, or emergency medical service, unless the disability was the 14
result of the individual’s own willful misconduct or abuse of alcohol or drugs. 15

(4) (i) “Dwelling” means real property that: 16

1. is the legal residence of a disabled public safety officer or 17
judicial officer, a surviving spouse, or a cohabitant; and 18

2. is occupied by not more than two families. 19

(ii) “Dwelling” includes the lot or curtilage and structures necessary 20
to use the real property as a residence. 21

(5) “Fallen public safety officer or judicial officer” means an individual who 22
dies: 23

(i) as a result of or in the course of employment as a law enforcement 24
officer, a correctional officer, or a judicial officer; or 25

(ii) while in active service as a judicial officer or while in the active 26
service of a fire, rescue, or emergency medical service, unless the death was the result of 27
the individual’s own willful misconduct or abuse of alcohol or drugs. 28

(6) “Public safety officer” means a correctional officer, a law enforcement 29
officer, or a member of a fire, rescue, or emergency medical service, as those terms are 30
defined, by law, by the county or municipal corporation as required under subsection (c) of 31
this section. 32

HOUSE BILL 1302 3

(7) “Surviving spouse” means a surviving spouse, who has not remarried, 1
of a fallen public safety officer or judicial officer. 2

(b) The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City or the governing body of a 3
county or municipal corporation may grant, by law, a property tax credit under this section 4
against the county or municipal corporation property tax imposed on a dwelling that is 5
owned by a disabled public safety officer or judicial officer, a surviving spouse, or a 6
cohabitant: 7

(1) if the dwelling was owned by the disabled public safety officer or judicial 8
officer at the time the public safety officer or judicial officer was adjudged to be permanently 9
and totally disabled or by the fallen public safety officer or judicial officer at the time of the 10
fallen public safety officer’s or judicial officer’s death; 11

(2) if [the disabled public safety officer or judicial officer was domiciled in 12
the State as of, or any time within the 5 years before, the date the disabled public safety 13
officer or judicial officer was adjudged to be permanently and totally disabled or the fallen 14
public safety officer or judicial officer, the surviving spouse, or the cohabitant was domiciled 15
in the State as of, or any time within the 5 years before, the date of the fallen public safety 16
officer’s or judicial officer’s death and ] the dwelling was acquired by the disabled public 17
safety officer or judicial officer within 10 years of the date the disabled public safety officer 18
or judicial officer was adjudged to be permanently and totally disabled or by the surviving 19
spouse or cohabitant within 10 years of the fallen public safety officer’s or judicial officer’s 20
death; 21

(3) if the dwelling was owned by the surviving spouse or cohabitant at the 22
time of the fallen public safety officer’s or judicial officer’s death; or. 23

(4) if the dwelling was acquired after the disabled public safety officer or 24
judicial officer, the surviving spouse, or the cohabitant qualified for a credit for a former 25
dwelling under item (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection, to the extent of the previous credit. 26

(c) A county or municipal corporation: 27

(1) shall define, by law, who is a: 28

(i) public safety officer; and 29

(ii) judicial officer; and 30

(2) may provide, by law, for: 31

(i) the amount and duration of a property tax credit allowed under 32
this section; 33

(ii) any additional limitation to the number of years the dwelling was 34
acquired within the date of an adjudication of disability or death; and 35
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(iii) any other provision necessary to carry ou t the provisions of this 1
section. 2

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect June 3
1, 2026, and shall be applicable to all taxable years beginning after June 30, 2026. 4