Session resources

Maryland lobbying rules for the 2027 session

Updated October 7, 2026 · Every rule below is quoted or summarized from the Maryland State Ethics Commission’s own lobbying guidance (revised July 24, 2025), its training notices, and the Department of Legislative Services’ statement of current campaign finance law. This page is a plain-language orientation, not legal advice; the Commission answers questions at 410-260-7770.

The 2027 session of the Maryland General Assembly convenes on Wednesday, January 13, 2027 and adjourns sine die on Monday, April 12, 2027. It is also the first session of a new four-year term, so many of the people you will be talking to are newly elected. For a firm, an association or an in-house government-affairs team, the compliance side of a session is short but unforgiving: a five-day registration deadline, a training requirement with a clock on it, a gift limit measured in dollars, and a blanket ban on legislators raising campaign money while the session runs. Here is each rule, where it comes from, and what it means for the January–April calendar.

1. Who has to register

Maryland calls a registered lobbyist a “regulated lobbyist.” According to the Ethics Commission’s general information for lobbyists, you have to register to influence legislative action if, in a lobbying year, you:

Activity	Threshold
Communicate in the presence of a legislative official or employee, and spend on it	$500 or more in expenses (personal travel and subsistence excluded)
Communicate in the presence of a legislative official or employee, and are paid for it	$2,500 or more in compensation, from all lobbying employers cumulatively
Communicate not in their presence (letters, calls, email), and are paid for it	$5,000 or more in compensation, from all lobbying employers cumulatively
Grassroots lobbying: soliciting others to contact officials	$2,000 spent, including salaries, postage, advertising and printing

Executive-branch lobbying has its own triggers, including $100 or more on gifts to executive officials and any compensated effort to influence a procurement contract over $100,000. The same guidance lists all of them.

2. When and how to register

The lobbying year “extends from November 1st through the following October 31st,” so the 2027 session falls inside the lobbying year that begins November 1, 2026. Registration is due “within five days of engaging in such activities,” and the fee is “$100.00 per registration.” Registration is filed online through the Commission’s lobbying system at lobby-ethics.maryland.gov, with the lobbyist’s and the employer’s authorizations.

You do not have to register for a whole year. The Commission’s registration memo says: “You can register for any period in between those dates,” and registrations end automatically on October 31 unless terminated earlier. A team that only lobbies during session can register for the session. Pay by card if you can: the same memo says a card payment activates the registration on approval, while a check-paid registration activates only once the Commission receives the payment.

3. Mandatory ethics training

Maryland requires lobbyists to take the Commission’s training course “within six months of initially registering as a lobbyist (or if the initial registration is for less than six months, prior to any subsequent registration) and thereafter within two years of the previously-completed training.” Since October 1, 2014, the Commission can enforce the training requirement “in the same manner as it enforces other lobbying violations.”

There are two ways to complete it. Online, through the Commission’s training site at trainings-ethics.maryland.gov, using the same email address as your lobbying account. Or at a scheduled class: the Commission must offer one at least twice a year, including one in January. Its current notice lists these two:

Date	Format and time
Tuesday, September 29, 2026	Virtual, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. (already held)
Wednesday, January 6, 2027	Virtual, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

To join a scheduled class you email the registration form to ethics.public@maryland.gov; the Commission sends the link by email two to three days before. The January 6 class falls one week before the session convenes, which is also move-in week for anyone coming to Annapolis for the term.

4. Gifts, meals and receptions

This is where most avoidable trouble starts. Under the Commission’s guidance, members of the General Assembly “may accept from a regulated lobbyist only unsolicited gifts that do not exceed $20 in value.” The same $20 rule covers the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Comptroller.

Meals and drinks are allowed in a narrow form: a member may accept food and beverages “received and consumed by the member in the presence of the donor as part of a meal or reception to which all members of a legislative unit were invited.” A legislative unit means the whole General Assembly, one chamber, a standing committee, or a county or regional delegation. A lobbyist hosting one of these receptions must send “a written invitation to all members of the qualified legislative unit” at least five days before the event, and file an expenditure report with the Commission within fourteen days after it.

Reporting thresholds to track through the session: each gift of $75 or more to an official, employee or family member is reported by recipient, and tickets or free admissions to a member of the General Assembly totaling $100 or more in a reporting period must be disclosed by recipient. Tickets to sporting events are not among the permitted courtesy tickets.

5. Political contributions, and the session fundraising ban

Two different rules apply, one to lobbyists all year and one to officials during session.

Lobbyists, all year. For the benefit of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, or a member of or candidate for the General Assembly, a regulated lobbyist may not solicit or transmit a political contribution from anyone, serve on a fundraising or political committee, act as a treasurer, organize a political committee to raise contributions, or forward fundraising tickets. A lobbyist’s own contributions to those officials and candidates are disclosed on a separate report filed with each six-month activity report. Lobbying employers that spend at least $500 on regulated lobbyists and give more than $500 to those officials file their own contribution disclosure with the State Board of Elections.

Officials, during session. State campaign finance law (Election Law §13-235) bars the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, State Treasurer and members of the General Assembly, and anyone acting for them, from doing any of the following “during a regular session of the General Assembly”: receiving a contribution, conducting a fundraising event, soliciting a contribution, or depositing or using a contribution not deposited before the session. That is how the Department of Legislative Services’ 2026 fiscal note on House Bill 1405 states current law. A contribution made electronically before the session starts may still be deposited during it. The penalty is a refund plus a civil penalty of $1,000 plus the amount of the contribution.

6. Activity reports after the session

There are two reporting periods a year: November 1 through April 30, due May 31, and May 1 through October 31, due November 30. The whole 2027 session falls in the first period, so its report is due by May 31, 2027. “A person who is registered during any portion of a reporting period must file an Activity Report for that reporting period, even if the person had no activity.” Reports cover compensation, gifts, expenses and the other costs of the effort, and the supporting documents must be kept for at least three years.

That includes lodging and meals. If your organization houses session staff, the lease and invoices are part of the paper trail. Our session presence budget guide covers what each line costs.

7. Penalties

Violation	Consequence
Late registration or report	$10 per late day, up to $1,000 per filing
Civil lobbying violation	Order of compliance, reprimand, or a fine up to $5,000 per violation
Knowing and willful violation	Suspension of registration for up to 3 years
Criminal violation	Misdemeanor; fine up to $10,000, up to one year in prison, or both

Also prohibited outright: contingent fees (compensation “dependent in any manner on the enactment or defeat of legislation”), lobbying without being registered, and introducing legislation in order to oppose it.

A compliance calendar for the 2027 session

Date	What happens
Sunday, November 1, 2026	The 2026–27 lobbying year begins
Tuesday, November 3, 2026	General election: Governor and the whole General Assembly
Within 5 days of first lobbying act	Registration due ($100 each)
Wednesday, January 6, 2027	Commission’s virtual lobbyist training, 10 a.m.–noon
Wednesday, January 13, 2027	Session convenes; officials’ fundraising ban begins
Monday, April 12, 2027	Sine die; fundraising ban ends with the regular session
Monday, May 31, 2027	Activity report for November 1 – April 30 due

For the legislative calendar inside the session (bill introduction dates, crossover, budget deadline), see our 2027 session dates page. For hearings, see how to testify at the Maryland General Assembly.