Legislative Session
2026 Session
Comprehensive Rehabilitative Prerelease Services for Female Incarcerated Individuals
After years of advocacy from formerly incarcerated women, families, and community leaders, Senator Mary Washington passed SB187 to establish a long-overdue prerelease facility and expanded reentry support system for incarcerated women in Maryland. This bill strengthens rehabilitation services, creates accountability and oversight requirements, and helps ensure women returning home have access to the stability and family connections necessary for successful reentry.
Key Highlights Include:
Provisional Social Work Licensure
Senator Washington passed legislation SB18 establishing a provisional pathway to social work licensure in Maryland. The bill allows qualified graduates to begin practicing under supervision while completing examination requirements, helping reduce workforce barriers and expand access to critical mental health and social work services across the state.
Support for Pregnant & Parenting College Students
Senator Washington passed legislation requiring Maryland public colleges and universities to better support pregnant and parenting students. The bill establishes planning and reporting requirements for higher education institutions, improves data collection, and helps ensure student parents have access to the accommodations and support services needed to succeed academically.
5 bills passed!
Department of Natural Resources – Identification of Vernal Pools
Senator Washington passed environmental legislation SB523 to improve the identification and protection of Maryland’s vernal pools — seasonal wetlands that provide critical habitats for wildlife and help support healthy ecosystems. The Jack Cover Vernal Pools Act requires state agencies to identify and maintain a statewide inventory of vernal pools while improving environmental oversight and staff training related to wetland protection.
Lead Risk Reduction in Housing
Senator Washington passed legislation SB872 strengthening Maryland’s lead safety protections for renters and families. The bill updates the definition of rental dwelling units under Maryland’s lead risk reduction laws, helping ensure more properties are covered by important lead safety and compliance standards to better protect residents from dangerous lead exposure.
2025 Session
Limited Worker Cooperative Associations
SB144 is a landmark bill that creates a new business entity type to support worker-owned businesses and cooperatives in Maryland. We've worked on this since 2023 to bring labor, small business, and legal experts together, and the result is a meaningful boost to Maryland's cooperative economy.
Key Highlights Include:
Accessory Dwelling Units Promotion
SB891 implements key recommendations from the statewide Accessory Dwelling Unit Task Force, empowering local governments to expand ADU options and support intergenerational living and aging in place. We've championed this since 2022 as part of our long-term strategy to make housing more accessible and affordable.
Risk-Limiting Audits
SB313 implements the gold standard in post-election verification. Since 2022, we've worked to build support for risk-limiting audits in Maryland. This victory makes our election system more accurate, transparent, and trustworthy.
7 bills passed!
2024 Session
Alternative Teacher Certification Pathways
SB771 expands pathways into teaching and presents more options for aspiring educators to achieve certification.
Key Highlights Include:
Community Health and Safety Works Grant Program and Fund
SB430 codifies the Community Health and Safety Works Grant Program administered by DHCD to provide grants of up to $100,000 to support local projects that address environmental, health, or public safety concerns and enhance community quality of life and economic potential.
Workgroup of the Deaf, Deafblind, and Hard of Hearing
SB1084 creates a workgroup to study the creation of a Commission of the Deaf, Deafblind, and Hard of Hearing. The Commission aims to be a resource for self-advocacy and community empowerment.
6 bills passed!
2023 Session
Virtual Education
SB0610 defined virtual education, set requirements for virtual schools, created standards and programs for teacher preparation in online education, established how and when virtual education days may be used for in-person schools, oversees services and curricula for virtual schools, and generally addressed parameters and operations of online education.
Key Highlights Include:
Trans Health Equity Act
SB0460 addressed a critical gap in the healthcare of transgender Marylanders by ensuring that medically necessary gender-affirming procedures and services are covered by Medicaid. This Act ensured that Maryland Medicaid offers comprehensive healthcare coverage to all recipients in Maryland in alignment with internationally-recognized, best medical practices.
Social Work Workgroup
SB0871 mandated a workgroup to develop recommendations to ensure equity in the social work licensure process. The workgroup will convene all stakeholders, allowing them to work together to find a solution that helps diversify the social work field.