First bills to pass MD House, Senate likely to be anti-Trump policies

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Whether intentional or happenstance, the first bills to be passed by both chambers of the General Assembly this session are likely to be policies that seek to uphold civil rights being rolled back by President Donald Trump.

“We’re here because Maryland will not and should not go quietly into this dark night,” Del. C.T. Wilson, D-Charles, said during a hearing Tuesday. “Every day, Americans are being tested. Children don’t know if their classmates are going to be kidnapped by masked agents. Journalists don’t know if they’re going to be sued, harassed or taken to court. Public officials … don’t know if they’re going to be investigated or indicted for challenging this regime.”

On Tuesday, the House Rules and Executive Nominations and Senate Judicial Proceedings committees voted controversial bills to their respective chamber floors for debate. The House will debate mid-cycle redistricting legislation Thursday morning as the Senate takes up a bill to end local partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and limit the ability of law enforcement to wear face masks in their regular line of duty.

During a multi-hour hearing Tuesday afternoon, delegates heard — and made their own — arguments as to why the state should or should not move to redraw its congressional map mid-cycle, with Republicans fearing their party will be silenced and Democrats worrying that 2026 could mark the end of free and fair elections in the United States.

“Passing this map is how we fight chaos and corruption,” Wilson, the bill’s sponsor, said at the Tuesday hearing of the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee. “Passing this map is how we operationalize our oath to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of Maryland.”

In November, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, initiated the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission, which hosted hours of public testimony. The commission voted last week to approve a map for the General Assembly’s review.

Democratic voters outnumber Republicans on a two-to-one margin in Maryland. Of the eight House seats Maryland has, seven are occupied by Democrats.

Though Republicans say the pursuit of a new map is a partisan attempt to push U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, out of office, Moore says it’s really about the preservation of Democracy.

“Make no mistake, what the President of the United States is doing right now is political redlining,” said Moore, Maryland’s first and currently the only Black governor serving nationwide. “Donald Trump and JD Vance and their allies in the states that he suggested are doing everything in their power to silence the voices and trying to eliminate Black leadership — elected leadership — all over this country.”

Over the summer, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans, alleging that several of the state’s congressional districts are majority minority districts, saying that they “are nothing more than vestiges of an unconstitutional racially based gerrymandering past, which must be abandoned, and must now be corrected by Texas.” Texas lawmakers then chose to pursue midcycle redistricting, gaining an additional five districts for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

In response, California’s legislature introduced a new congressional map in August, which was approved by state voters in November and garnered an additional five seats for Democrats. That new map will be in place until the California Citizens Redistricting Commission reconfigures the maps after the 2030 census.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah have also put new congressional maps in place since Trump’s initial push. Alongside Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington state have introduced legislation to implement new maps.

The bill passed out of the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee on a party-line vote of 18-6, but not before a tense, multi-hour discussion.

Del. Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore County, implied that Democratic leadership was employing “authoritarian” tactics by attempting to eliminate the one Republican voice in the congressional delegation.

Suggesting that she was unbothered by Trump’s redistricting push in Texas, Wilson responded that he hadn’t read her “amicus brief in Texas,” but he’s sure she “opposed it there,” as well.

The bill will be debated on the House floor Thursday morning and will likely pass out of the chamber in the following days. It will then have to maneuver through the Senate chamber, where it has an uncertain future.

‘A reign of terror to exercise force and power’

Taking a different approach to Trump’s policy, the Maryland Senate has chosen to focus on the significant uptick seen from the ICE and the Department of Homeland Security — a state priority of Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, since before the session’s start.

In recent weeks, ICE actions have stoked intense reactions from lawmakers — particularly as video has circulated of agents participating in multiple civilian killings in their occupation of Minneapolis, Minn.

“I think it’s the worst of America,” Ferguson said of the ICE killing of Alex Pretti, 37, that occurred over the weekend. “I wouldn’t even call it immigration enforcement, it’s just more a reign of terror to exercise force and power.”

Last week, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held a hearing on a bill that would prohibit local law enforcement from entering into partnerships with ICE, or 287(g) agreements.

In Maryland, eight counties participate in ICE’s 287(g) Jail Enforcement model Program, allowing them to alert the agency when people who entered the U.S. illegally are held in their facilities for breaking state laws.

There are other 287(g) models local jurisdictions don’t participate in, delegation of certain immigration enforcement powers to local officers.

Local sheriffs across the state oppose the bill, saying that it will make for a less safe state. Advocates believe that it could assuage residents’ fears of calling the police when actual crimes occur.

The bill is crossfiled in the House chamber, where Del. Nicole Williams, D-Prince George’s, presented it before the Judiciary Committee earlier this week. It is unclear when the House version of the bill will come to the floor for debate.

The Senate legislation was amended in the Judicial Proceedings Committee Tuesday to prohibit law enforcement agents and employees in state and local jails and prisons from taking actions related to ICE unless the detained individual has been charged with or convicted of a felony and make sure that data regarding these interactions is made available to the public.

It passed out of the committee on a party-line vote of 8-3 and will be debated on the Senate floor Thursday morning.

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee also heard legislation that would mandate that the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission establish a uniform policy that prohibits law enforcement officers — including ICE and other federal law enforcement operating in the state — from wearing face coverings in the normal course of duty. The bill provides carveouts, including for officers who are undercover and in the case of cold weather.

The legislation was amended during the committee voting session to make a violation of the policy a civil offense punishable by a $1,500 fine. It initially would have been considered a criminal offense.

Republicans have expressed concern over the ability to enforce state policy against federal officers in the line of duty.

The legislation passed out of the committee on a vote of 7-4 and will be debated on the floor Thursday morning.