---
type: "Bill"
title: "Veterans Affairs - Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program - Establishment"
description: "Veterans Affairs - Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program - Establishment"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 441"
citation: "Maryland SB 441 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Social Services - Generally", "State Government - Agencies", "Offices", "and Officials", "Animals", "Dogs", "General Assembly", "Gifts", "Job Training", "Names", "Nonprofit Organizations", "Reports", "Revenue and Taxes", "Rules and Regulations", "Veterans Affairs", "Department of", "Veterans"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Simonaire"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-01-30"
last_action: "2017-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3125a752-89b4-4b2d-9f3f-9c1fef5c28ef"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB441&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2017rs"
source_hash: "38aeb4cda2128a983cd5bce09afb46c8cfd4a2fe5fdbb09374ea9a6a37412898"
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 441 (2017) — Veterans Affairs - Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program - Establishment

## 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/sb0441f.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · legislature
- Third Reading — **138–0** (pass) · legislature
- Third Reading — **45–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Simonaire — primary (person)
- Astle — cosponsor (person)
- Bates — cosponsor (person)
- Benson — cosponsor (person)
- Brochin — cosponsor (person)
- Cassilly — cosponsor (person)
- Conway — cosponsor (person)
- Currie — cosponsor (person)
- DeGrange — cosponsor (person)
- Eckardt — cosponsor (person)
- Edwards — cosponsor (person)
- Feldman — cosponsor (person)
- Ferguson — cosponsor (person)
- Guzzone — cosponsor (person)
- Hershey — cosponsor (person)
- Hough — cosponsor (person)
- Jennings — cosponsor (person)
- Kagan — cosponsor (person)
- Kasemeyer — cosponsor (person)
- Kelley — cosponsor (person)
- King — cosponsor (person)
- Klausmeier — cosponsor (person)
- Lee — cosponsor (person)
- Madaleno — cosponsor (person)
- Manno — cosponsor (person)
- Mathias — cosponsor (person)
- McFadden — cosponsor (person)
- Middleton — cosponsor (person)
- Miller — cosponsor (person)
- Muse — cosponsor (person)
- Nathan-Pulliam — cosponsor (person)
- Norman — cosponsor (person)
- Oaks — cosponsor (person)
- Peters — cosponsor (person)
- Pinsky — cosponsor (person)
- Ramirez — cosponsor (person)
- Ready — cosponsor (person)
- Reilly — cosponsor (person)
- Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Rosapepe — cosponsor (person)
- Salling — cosponsor (person)
- Serafini — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Waugh — cosponsor (person)
- Young — cosponsor (person)
- Zirkin — cosponsor (person)
- Zucker — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-30** First Reading Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-30** Hearing 2/16 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-03-07** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-08** Favorable with Amendments {214235/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-08** Floor Amendment {243522/1 (Senator Simonaire) Adopted `amendment-passage`
- **2017-03-08** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2017-03-10** Third Reading Passed (45-0) `passage`
- **2017-03-10** First Reading Health and Government Operations `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-15** Hearing 3/23 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-04-06** Favorable with Amendments Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-06** Favorable with Amendments {626087/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-06** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2017-04-08** Third Reading Passed with Amendments (138-0) `passage`
- **2017-04-10** Senate Concur - House Amendments
- **2017-04-10** Third Reading Passed (46-0) `passage`
- **2017-04-10** Passed Enrolled
- **2017-05-04** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 416 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3125a752-89b4-4b2d-9f3f-9c1fef5c28ef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).