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2021 Maryland legislative session
General information
Session start:    January 13, 2021 Session end:    April 12, 2021
Leadership
Senate President William Ferguson IV (D) House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D) Majority Leader Senate:Nancy King (D) House:Eric Luedtke (D) Minority Leader Senate:Bryan Simonaire (R) House:Nicholaus Kipke (R)
Elections
Next Election:   November 8, 2022 Last Election:   November 6, 2018
Previous legislative sessions
2020 •2019 •2018
Other 2021 legislative sessions
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In 2021, theMaryland State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 13 and adjourn on April 12.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the2018 elections. Democrats won a 32-15 majority in theSenate and a 99-42 majority in theHouse. The Republican Party controlled the governorship, making Maryland one of 12 states that has a divided government, meaning neither party hadstate government trifecta. At the start of the 2021 session, Maryland was one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had aveto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

The Maryland State Legislature is responsible forredistricting following each census. Legislators were expected to address redistricting as part of the 2021 legislative session. As of the 2020 Census, Maryland was one of 37 states where legislators were responsible for redistricting.

Leadership in 2021

Maryland State Senate

• Senate president:William Ferguson IV (D)
• Majority leader:Nancy King (D)
• Minority leader:Bryan Simonaire (R)

Maryland House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House:Adrienne Jones (D)
• Majority leader:Eric Luedtke (D)
• Minority leader:Nicholaus Kipke (R)

Partisan control in 2021

See also:State government trifectas

Maryland was one of 14 states with a divided government where neither party hadstate government trifectas at the start of 2021 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas,click here.

Maryland was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had aveto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called aveto-proof majority or, sometimes, asupermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures,click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of theMaryland State Legislature in the 2021 legislative session.

Maryland State Senate

Maryland House of Representatives

Regular session

The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2021 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2021. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Redistricting

See also:Redistricting in Maryland after the 2020 census

Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in theU.S. House of Representatives andstate legislatures.

To learn more about the redistricting process in Maryland after the 2020 census,click here.

Standing legislative committees

See also:Standing committee andList of committees in Maryland state government

Astanding committee of astate legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, there were32 standing committees in Maryland state government, including19 joint legislative committees,6 state Senate committees, and7 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Investigation
• Protocol
• Access to Mental Health Services
• Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review
• Audit
• Base Realignment and Closure
• Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area
• Children, Youth, and Families
• Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight
• Federal Relations
• Health Care Delivery and Financing
• Information Technology and Biotechnology
• Legislative Ethics
• Legislative Policy
• Management of Public Funds
• Spending Affordability
• Unemployment Insurance Oversight
• Welfare Reform
• Workers' Compensation Benefit and Insurance

Senate committees

• Budget and Taxation
• Education, Health and Environmental Affairs
• Executive Nominations
• Finance
• Judicial Proceedings
• Rules

House committees

• Appropriations
• Economic Matters
• Environmental Matters
• Health & Government Operations
• Judiciary
• Rules & Executive Nominations
• Ways & Means

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process forreferring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states,initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are alsomany other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Maryland Constitution can be amended:

See also:Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution andLaws governing ballot measures in Maryland

Article XIV of theMaryland Constitution defines two ways to amend the state constitution—through a legislative process and a state constitutional convention.

Legislature

See also:Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for theMaryland State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 85 votes in theMaryland House of Delegates and 29 votes in theMaryland State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also:Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According toSection 2 of Article XIV of theMaryland Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is toautomatically appear on the state's ballot every 20 years starting in 1970. Maryland is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Maryland.

Historical Senate control

From 1990 to 2018, the Maryland State Senate was controlled by the Democratic Party. The table below shows the partisan history of the Maryland State Senate following every general election from 1990 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Democrats maintained control of the Maryland State Senate from 1990 to 2018. Senate Democrats held their largest majority following the 1990 elections when Democrats held a 33-seat advantage. Throughout the period, Democrats usually controlled between 32 and 40 seats, while Republicans controlled between 7 and 15 seats. During the period, Democrats also held more than the 29 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto. Democrats controlled the governor's office from 1992 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2014. Republicans held the governor's office from 2003 to 2006 and have held it since 2015.

Despite the national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency ofBarack Obama (D), the Maryland State Senate was resistant to that trend. Senate Democrats lost two seats in the 2014 elections, but Democrats never fell below 33 seats during Obama's presidency. From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experiencedlosses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether. While Democrats have kept control of the chamber, Republicans have slowly gained seats since the 1990 elections. Between the 1990 and 2018 elections, Republicans gained eight seats. Republicans went from being at a 33-seat disadvantage after the 1990 elections to being at a 17-seat disadvantage after the 2018 elections.

Historical House control

From 1990 to 2018, the Maryland House of Delegates was controlled by the Democratic Party. The table below shows the partisan history of the Maryland House of Delegates following every general election from 1990 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Democrats maintained control of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1990 to 2018. House Democrats held their largest majority following the 1990 elections when Democrats held a 91-seat advantage. Throughout the period, Democrats usually controlled between 91 and 116 seats, while Republicans controlled between 25 and 50 seats. During the period, Democrats also held more than the 85 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto. Democrats controlled the governor's office from 1992 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2014. Republicans held the governor's office from 2003 to 2006 and have held it since 2015.

Despite the national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency ofBarack Obama (D), the Maryland House of Delegates was resistant to that trend. House Democrats lost seven seats in the 2010 elections, but Democrats never fell below 91 seats during Obama's presidency. From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experiencedlosses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether. While Democrats have kept control of the chamber, Republicans have slowly gained seats since the 1990 elections. Between the 1990 and 2018 elections, Republicans gained 17 seats. Republicans went from being at a 91-seat disadvantage after the 1990 elections to being at a 57-seat disadvantage after the 2018 elections.

See also

Elections	Maryland State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Maryland State Senate elections, 2018 Maryland House of Delegates elections, 2018	Maryland State Legislature Maryland House of Representatives Maryland State Senate Governor of Maryland Maryland Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2020 State legislative special elections, 2020 State legislative elections, 2018 State legislative elections, 2016	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures The State Legislative Decade

External links

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Footnotes

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