---
type: "Bill"
title: "Maryland Farms and Families Act"
description: "Maryland Farms and Families Act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 278"
citation: "Maryland SB 278 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Agriculture", "Department of", "Agriculture", "Appropriations", "Farmland", "Food", "Food Stamps", "Grants", "Nonprofit Organizations", "Reports", "Revenue and Taxes", "Rules and Regulations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Middleton"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-20"
last_action: "2017-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bf8483df-91e6-415a-888a-f7cd61dd1227"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB278&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2017rs"
source_hash: "e33544146c71d35c63caa98e3f06a3ffc1716209242cc36902196a3842564f22"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-md"]
---

# Maryland SB 278 (2017) — Maryland Farms and Families Act

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2017RS/bills/sb/sb0278f.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **138–0** (pass) · legislature
- Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Middleton — primary (person)
- Benson — cosponsor (person)
- Guzzone — cosponsor (person)
- Mathias — cosponsor (person)
- Peters — cosponsor (person)
- Reilly — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-20** First Reading Finance and Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-25** Hearing 2/16 at 1:00 p.m. (Finance)
- **2017-02-28** Favorable with Amendments Report by Finance `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-01** Favorable with Amendments {767877/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-01** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2017-03-03** Third Reading Passed (46-0) `passage`
- **2017-03-06** First Reading Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-08** Hearing 3/21 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-03-31** Favorable Report by Appropriations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-31** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-31** Second Reading Passed
- **2017-04-04** Third Reading Passed (138-0) `passage`
- **2017-04-05** Returned Passed
- **2017-05-04** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 396 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bf8483df-91e6-415a-888a-f7cd61dd1227`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).