Session resources
How a bill becomes law in Maryland: the 2027 session, step by step
Updated October 10, 2026 · The steps below follow the Department of Legislative Services’ own description of the legislative process and its veto guide; membership figures are from the General Assembly’s website. Vote counts and dates are worked out from those rules. This is a plain-language orientation, not legal advice.
The 451st session of the Maryland General Assembly convenes on Wednesday, January 13, 2027 and runs to sine die on Monday, April 12, 2027. The General Assembly meets in regular session for 90 calendar days each year, beginning on the second Wednesday in January, and every bill that becomes law in 2027 has to clear the same sequence of steps inside that window. If you are planning a government-affairs effort, a lobby day or a run of testimony, it helps to know where a bill is in that sequence, because each step is a different kind of work for your team.
Who votes
The state is divided into 47 legislative districts, each represented by one senator and three delegates: a 47-member Senate and a 141-member House of Delegates, 188 legislators in all, each elected to a four-year term. Every one of those seats was on the ballot on November 3, 2026, so the 2027 session is the first of a new term.
| Vote | Senate (47) | House (141) |
|---|---|---|
| Pass a bill: a majority of the elected membership | 24 | 71 |
| Constitutional amendment: three-fifths of the elected membership | 29 | 85 |
| Override a veto: three-fifths of the elected membership | 29 | 85 |
“Elected membership” matters: the count is of the whole chamber, not of the members present that day, so an absence works like a no vote.
1. Drafting
A bill starts with a legislator agreeing to sponsor it. Members of the public, associations and companies cannot introduce bills themselves; the Department of Legislative Services’ guide says constituents “must approach their legislators to introduce a bill.” Once a legislator agrees, the Department of Legislative Services drafts the bill, and the sponsor reviews it before introduction. For a group with a legislative agenda, this is the work of the fall and early winter: finding sponsors and getting drafts requested well before the introduction deadlines.
2. Introduction and first reading
On each day the chamber convenes, the Reading Clerk reads the numbers and titles of the bills being introduced and the committee each one is referred to. That is the bill’s first reading. The deadlines for introducing bills in each chamber, and the final date for introduction without suspending the rules, are set out in the Department’s 2027 calendar; we list them on our 2027 session dates page.
3. Committee hearing and vote
Committees meet daily during the session to take testimony and act on bills. Lobbyists, state agencies, local governments and members of the public can testify for or against a bill. The Department of Legislative Services prepares a fiscal and policy note for each bill.
The committee then reports the bill back to the full chamber with one of four recommendations: favorable, unfavorable, favorable with amendment, or, rarely, no recommendation. A committee amendment gets its own vote, followed by a vote on the bill as amended. A committee’s action can be reversed, but that is uncommon, which is why the hearing is where most of the session’s advocacy is aimed. How to sign up and what each committee allows is in our guide to testifying at the Maryland General Assembly.
4. Second reading: floor amendments
On second reading the committee report goes to the floor. Any member may offer an amendment there. After debate, the presiding officer orders the bill, with whatever amendments were adopted, printed for third reading.
5. Third reading: the vote
The reprinted bill is read a third time and voted on. “No amendments may be presented on third reading in the bill’s chamber of origin,” so a bill that needs fixing has to be fixed on second reading. To pass, it needs a majority of the elected membership: 24 votes in the Senate, 71 in the House.
6. The second chamber
A bill that passes goes to the other chamber and runs through the same process: first reading, committee hearing, second and third reading. One difference: in the second chamber, amendments may be offered at either second or third reading. If the second chamber passes the bill without amending it, it can pass without being reprinted. The 2027 calendar sets a crossover date for bills moving to the opposite chamber; it is on our dates page.
Plan for two hearings, not one. A bill that matters to you will usually be heard in a committee in each chamber, weeks apart, often by different members.
7. Concurrence and conference committees
If the second chamber amends the bill, it goes back to the chamber where it started, which votes to concur in or reject the amendments. If it concurs, a final vote is taken and the bill is reprinted or enrolled. If it rejects them, the amending chamber may be asked to withdraw its amendments; if it refuses, either chamber may request a conference committee. The presiding officers appoint three members from each chamber to reach agreement. Each chamber adopts or rejects the conference report without amendment; if both adopt it, each holds a final passage vote. If a report is rejected, the committee may meet again, new members may be appointed, or the bill dies.
8. The Governor
Bills that pass both houses, other than constitutional amendments, go to the Governor. They “must be presented to the Governor within twenty days after adjournment of a session,” and “the Governor may veto within thirty days after presentation.” On the operating budget bill, the Governor may veto individual items the General Assembly added or increased.
| Date | What it is |
|---|---|
| Monday, April 12, 2027 | Sine die: the session ends |
| Sunday, May 2, 2027 | Twentieth day after adjournment: the last day for presenting bills to the Governor |
| Tuesday, June 1, 2027 | Thirtieth day after a May 2 presentment: the last day to veto bills presented that day |
9. Vetoes, and why 2027 is different
The legislature holds the power to override, and it takes “a three-fifths vote of the elected membership in each house”: 29 senators and 85 delegates. A veto issued while the legislature is in regular session is taken up right away. A veto issued after the session is taken up at the next regular or special session.
The exception is the one that applies in 2027. The Department of Legislative Services’ guide states plainly: “The legislature during the first year of a new term may not override a veto.” Its veto guide gives the mechanics: a vetoed bill “will not be returned to the Legislature when a new General Assembly of Maryland has been elected and sworn since the passage of the vetoed bill,” unless the old General Assembly met in special session before the new members were elected and sworn. Because the 2027 session opens a new term, a bill vetoed after the 2026 session is not coming back for an override vote in January. If it is still wanted, it has to be introduced again as a new bill and start at step 1.
What this means for a 2027 agenda: anything that died, or was vetoed, in 2026 starts over from drafting and sponsorship, in front of a newly elected legislature. That pushes more of the work into November and December, before the introduction deadlines.
Related guides
For where committees meet and how to get into the buildings, see our guide to testifying at the Maryland General Assembly. For the full calendar, see our 2027 session dates; for what the new term changes, see the 2027 session starts a new four-year term; and for the compliance side, see Maryland lobbying rules for the 2027 session.
A base for the whole session, one lease
Strohm House is a furnished three-bedroom Victorian in the Annapolis historic district, next to City Dock and a few minutes’ walk from the Maryland State House and the legislative office buildings. It is offered on a single lease for January 6 – April 20, 2027 at $33,000: the full session, with a move-in week before and a pack-out week after. One room at the Annapolis Waterfront Hotel over the same 104 nights runs about $46,592 all-in with lodging taxes and daily parking. That is roughly $13,600 more than the whole house, and about $107,000 more if your team needs three rooms. Shared three ways, the house is $11,000 each, about $106 a night.
See the house and terms