No Kings Act, allowing suits against federal officials, signed into MD law

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Maryland continued its broad pushback against Trump administration policies Tuesday with the signing of the No Kings Act, which would give anyone in the state a path to sue federal officials who violate their constitutional rights “under color of law.”

It was one of more than 200 bills signed into law during the third bill-signing of the year Tuesday. The ceremony veered from emotional moments surrounding Mason’s Law, named for a 13-year-old from Mount Airy who drowned last summer in a storm drain, to the celebratory moments around new laws designating ethnic and religious heritage observations  and naming an official state shark.

The most controversial bill signed Tuesday was probably the No Kings Act, Senate Bill 346 and House Bill 351. The new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, would let Marylanders or the attorney general’s office pursue civil litigation against a federal official who violated another’s constitutional rights under color of law.

According to the bills sponsored by Montgomery County Democrats Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher and House Majority Leader David Moon, the law would not apply to a person acting under the authority of a joint task force “that primarily enforces the United States Code.”

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The “color of law” language came from a bill previously sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian, D-Montgomery, who said the act creates a pathway against “federal lawlessness.”

“We’re watching the federal government and the Trump administration use every tool in their toolbox to dismantle the Constitution and to undermine the rule of law and to consolidate their power,” Charkoudian said in a brief interview before the bills were signed Tuesday.

“No King’s Act was one of many strategies that we put into place this year,” she said, “in this case, a civil remedy for individuals whose constitutional rights are violated.”

The signing was part of an hours-long signing ceremony by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel, inside a packed Governor’s Reception Room.

Among the measures signed Tuesday were bills proclaiming Jan. 13 Korean American Day, requiring applicants in direct contact with children in a childcare facility to submit to “criminal history record checks” and creating a statewide 3-1-1 nonemergency phone system.

Moore and the presiding officers signed several commemorative and designation bills such as House Bill 661 – sponsored by Montgomery County Dels. Sarah Wolek and Jared Solomon, both Democrats. The bill, which goes into effect Oct. 1, would proclaim January as Muslim American Heritage Month and May as Jewish American Heritage Month.

But one of the most anticipated bills featured during this year’s 90-day session was whether to name the prehistoric megalodon the official state shark.

The bills, sponsored by Sen. Jack Bailey, R-Calvert and St. Mary’s, and Del. Todd Morgan, R-St. Mary’s, had appeared dead, victims of the legislature’s indifference to the large number of commemorative bills it gets every year.

But on the final day of the session last month, it rose from the dead and was added by the House onto Senate Bill 35, sponsored by Sen. Carl Jackson, D-Baltimore County, that designates the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state’s official natural history museum. The final version of the bill also designates Oct. 1 as “Purple Lights Night” to honor survivors of domestic violence.

As the bill was being signed into law, a few children stood alongside Moore and the presiding officers, including Jackson’s 8-year-old son, Chase, who received a megalodon tooth inside a small plastic bag. Moore and Ferguson posed for a picture holding a megalodon tooth.

“I’m glad that we could do something to put smiles on kids’ faces with everything that’s going on in our country today. In the world, actually,” Jackson said after the bill-signing.

“I learned so much about megalodon in regards to Maryland. It’s a learning opportunity … about not only that, but also natural history,” he said. “It’s all connected.”

William J. Ford is a reporter for Maryland Matters.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected]. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and Twitter.