---
type: "Bill"
title: "Legal Advice to Corporations - Clarification"
description: "Legal Advice to Corporations - Clarification"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 794"
citation: "Maryland SB 794 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts and Court Personnel - Statewide", "Business Regulation and Occupations", "Attorneys", "Contracts", "Corporations", "Interstate Affairs", "Securities", "Voting", "Work", "Labor and Employment"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Smith"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-03"
last_action: "2017-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0016fa04-e586-4d5d-a9ba-8030be7a19b0"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB794&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2017rs"
source_hash: "5facbca97b8150782ce4fad8e02c16861820d63703f8e0a08175635a77f78e1a"
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 794 (2017) — Legal Advice to Corporations - Clarification

## 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/sb0794f.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **47–0** (pass) · legislature
- Third Reading — **140–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Smith — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-03** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Hearing 3/07 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-03-15** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-15** Favorable with Amendments {858676/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-15** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2017-03-16** Third Reading Passed (47-0) `passage`
- **2017-03-17** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-17** Hearing 3/29 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-03-31** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-31** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-31** Second Reading Passed
- **2017-04-04** Third Reading Passed (140-0) `passage`
- **2017-04-05** Returned Passed
- **2017-05-04** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 508 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0016fa04-e586-4d5d-a9ba-8030be7a19b0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).