By Delegate Chris Tomlinson
Delegate Chris Tomlinson Analyzes Bills Proposed In The Maryland General Assembly
Every week Maryland Delegate Chris Tomlinson, Republican, District 5, Frederick and Carroll County, puts out a synopsis of Bad and Good Bills
GRAPHICS and VIDEOS By Easton Gazette
Bad Bill Tracker – 2026 Legislative Session
(For more on any bill, go to http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite
THIS WEEK’S ADDITIONS!
HB0332/SB346 — No Kings Act
HB0332 would expose federal law enforcement officers to lawsuits in liberal Maryland
state courts, weaponizing those courts against federal officers as part of the Left’s
political policy battles with the current (and any future) conservative presidential
administration, undermining federal supremacy, public safety, and effective law
enforcement.
The bill violates the Supremacy Clause’s bar on state interference with lawful federal
authority. Maryland would be effectively asserting its own oversight regime over federal
operations inside the state. Such oversight belongs to Congress and the federal courts,
not to Maryland state trial judges.
The Act would likely turn Maryland courts into venues for national political
fights—immigration raids, environmental enforcement, firearm rules—encouraging
activists to sue federal officers whenever they dislike a federal policy and exposing
officers to personal liability every time they make a close call on the street. That threat
would deter proactive policing, encourage hesitation in dangerous situations, and make
Maryland less safe.
SB?/HB? (LR2926) — Correctional Services – Immigration Enforcement –
Prohibitions
This upcoming bill will be sponsored by Delegate N. Scott Phillips of Baltimore County
would prevent cooperation between Maryland’s Correctional Services (i.e., the prison
system) and federal immigration enforcement. This would result in illegal immigrants
who have also been convicted of non-immigration crimes being sent back into the
community instead of being deported.
SB?/HB824 — Expungement for Convictions of Distribution of Controlled
Dangerous Substance
HB824 sponsored by Delegate Sean Stinnett of Baltimore City would facilitate the
expungement (erasure) of drug dealing convictions from the records of convicted felons, thereby hiding those convictions from people, companies, and organizations that have a
need to know.
We need to get tougher, not softer, on crime and criminals. The expungement of
dangerous felonies like drug distribution from the records of criminals sends the wrong
message about Maryland’s commitment to public safety and the rule of law.
Updated from Previous Weeks’ Reports:
SB245/HB0444 – Prohibition on Immigration Enforcement Agreements
Update: HB0444 unfortunately passed in the House, passed the Senate Judicial
Proceedings Committee, and is now heading to the Senate floor. SB245 passed the
Senate and the bill is now heading to the House Judiciary Committee.
This bill seeks to outlaw formal agreements (known as 287G agreements) between
local law enforcement agencies and ICE. 287G agreements allow and direct local police
to cooperate with ICE by informing them when illegal immigrants are being held in local
detention, so that ICE can come and take custody for purposes of immigration
enforcement. This bill would make these agreements illegal, resulting in criminal illegal
aliens – some of whom have committed violent crimes – being released back into the
local community.
HB0488 — Election Districts – General Assembly and Representatives in Congress
(i.e. Redistricting)
Update: HB0488 unfortunately passed in the House and is now under consideration in
the Senate. However, the Senate President has made it clear that he refuses to
entertain moving this bill.
This bill would gerrymander Maryland’s US Congressional district map to eliminate the
state’s only red-leaning, Republican-majority district, removing all Republican
representation from the state to the US Congress.
Maryland currently has eight US Congressional districts, with seven leaning Democrat
and one leaning Republican. If this bill becomes law, the count will be 8-0, silencing the
state’s only Republican voice in the US Capitol. Our hope of killing this bill is in the
Senate, where Senate President Ferguson has indicated his opposition.
From Previous Editions of the Bad Bill Tracker:
SB 0020/HB83 — Family and Law Enforcement Protection Act SB0020 would dramatically expand mandatory firearm surrender/confiscation tied to civil protective orders without appropriate due process protections.
SB0020 would make gun and license surrender automatic at the interim and temporary
protective‑order stages, often based only on one‑sided “reasonable grounds” findings
before any full hearing. It would remove existing language that ties firearm seizure to
actual threats or use of a gun, replacing it with blanket disarmament for a wide range of
“abuse” allegations having nothing at all to do with any firearm.
If this onerous bill becomes law, respondents would have only 24 hours to surrender all
targeted firearms and credentials, with no appeal or due process. It would even push
law enforcement to verify “compliance” for every case and move toward search
warrants and home seizures of firearms rooted in mere civil proceedings.
SB1/HB0155 – Prohibition on Law Enforcement Officer Face Coverings
SB1 targets ICE agents with a ban on face coverings (masks), which are often worn by
ICE agents to protect their anonymity in the face of threats to their lives and their
families by left-wing agitators. It is a naked attempt to make the lives of ICE agents
more difficult and dangerous in an attempt to scare them away from performing their
lawful duties in the state of Maryland, by facilitating threats of violence against them.
SB118/HB0197 – Excise Tax on Firearms and Ammunition
SB118 is an attempt to abridge Second Amendment freedoms through the back door,
by increasing the cost of firearms and ammunition in an attempt to artificially make their
purchase more difficult. Revenues from this new tax are tentatively targeted for a bunch
of Democrat-favored charities and NGO’s, mostly with anti-gun agendas.
The Second Amendment says that the right to keep and bear arms “shall not be
abridged,” thus prohibiting any curtailment, lessening, or infringement of the right. It
does not say “shall not be denied,” which would only prohibit a complete ban. This bill
clearly represents an abridgement, as it intentionally makes firearms more difficult and
less practical to purchase, thus “abridging” 2A rights.
SB181/HB? – Phase-Out (toward an eventual ban) of Lead Ammunition for
Hunting
Like SB181, SB118 is an attempt to abridge Second Amendment freedoms through the
back door, in this case by increasing the cost of ammunition by phasing out the most affordable type, making ammunition purchases artificially more difficult than they otherwise would be.
SB?/HB832 — ICE Breaker Act of 2026
The ICE Breaker Act of 2026 would make any ICE agent or officer hired under the
Trump administration ineligible to ever serve as a law enforcement officer for any
Maryland state agency or law enforcement department. This bill is vindictive,
discriminatory, unreasonable, and almost certainly unconstitutional.
Editor’s Note: In order to fight these bad bills or support good ones, citizens must be prepared to testify either in person, in writing, or just by stating “favorable” or “unfavorable” on the MyMGA Website, MyMGA – Witness Signup. You must register in order to testify.
The post Bad Bill Tracker- Maryland appeared first on The Easton Gazette.
