Moore signs vaccine, housing legislation after Sine Die

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ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk signed a series of bills into law Tuesday, just hours after the Maryland General Assembly adjourned its annual legislative session.

“While it’s my signature that will enact these bills into law, I want to say to all of you it is your hands that are all over the pen,” Moore, a Democrat, said Tuesday afternoon.

The legislature adjourned Sine Die when the clock struck midnight Tuesday morning, ending a three-month-long mad dash of lawmaking encompassing everything from local bills to attempts to temper the effect of President Donald Trump‘s administration on Marylanders.

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Of the 146 bills signed Tuesday, Moore highlighted the Vax Act — a bill brought by his administration to pull away from U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance on childhood vaccines.

The legislation will establish the authority of Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Meena Seshamani to issue official recommendations regarding screening, preventative services and immunizations to state residents based on clinical guidance from authoritative medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The bill also separates the state’s vaccine authority from that of the federal government, allows pharmacists to continue rendering vaccines and ensures that the receipt of vaccines is insured.

The legislation goes into effect on July 1.

“This bill decouples the state’s vaccine authority from the federal government’s because our vaccine policy in the state of Maryland will be driven by science and not by internet conspiracy theories,” Moore said.

The governor also touted the Jillian and Lindsay Wiener Short-Term Rental Safety Act, which will mandate the implementation of fire prevention and detection equipment in short-term rental residences leased for 30 consecutive days or less. By July 1, 2028, all Maryland jurisdictions must have annual inspections of all short-term rental units.

The bill was named in honor of Montgomery County residents who died in a New York rental home in 2022.

In a ceremonious move, the governor gave their mother the first pen of Tuesday’s bill signing.

“Jillian and Lindsay should be here,” said Moore. “We’re grateful, though, that their mother, Alisa, is. We’re grateful that she has turned pain into progress, and that she has turned hurt into heroism.”

The legislation goes into effect Oct. 1.

Tuesday marked the third bill-signing of 2026. Moore, Ferguson and Peña-Melnyk convened in February to enact legislation banning local law enforcement from entering into memoranda of understanding with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — also known as 287(g) agreements — and met earlier this month to sign the fiscal year 2027 budget into law.

Both Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, and Peña-Melnyk, D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s, on Tuesday highlighted bills beyond what were on the list for them to enact, including juvenile justice legislation, sweeping energy policy and a slew of bills that — if enacted — are slated to protect immigrant communities from ICE policies that have intensified under Trump.

“… we are living in a time post-covid, where our politics are mired in hate and division, and it’s easier to fight than it is to solve problems,” Ferguson said. “The only way forward is to get the work done. It’s to deliver for people.”

Peña-Melnyk said that she is “proud” of the role the legislature played to protect immigrants who live in the state. 

“They deserve to live with dignity and respect,” she said.