---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health Care Providers - Opioid and Benzodiazepine Prescriptions - Discussion of Benefits and Risks"
description: "Health Care Providers - Opioid and Benzodiazepine Prescriptions - Discussion of Benefits and Risks"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 653"
citation: "Maryland HB 653 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health Occupations", "Public Health", "Controlled Dangerous Substances", "Discipline", "Drugs", "Health", "Health Occupations", "Minors", "Notices", "Parents and Guardians", "Patients", "Penalties and Sentences", "Records", "Review Boards"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["K. Young"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-01-29"
last_action: "2018-04-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ee1a160d-63df-4671-97f8-8eb39c71abd0"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=HB653&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs"
source_hash: "dc7f4d39ab6c6f5c93ec3da7dc67304ca366cdc808712fa3969dfaf29a529f1c"
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 HB 653 (2018) — Health Care Providers - Opioid and Benzodiazepine Prescriptions - Discussion of Benefits and Risks

## 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/2018RS/bills/hb/hb0653f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **45–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **131–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- K. Young — primary (person)
- Angel — cosponsor (person)
- Barron — cosponsor (person)
- Cullison — cosponsor (person)
- Fraser-Hidalgo — cosponsor (person)
- Gibson — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly — cosponsor (person)
- Kipke — cosponsor (person)
- Krebs — cosponsor (person)
- Lafferty — cosponsor (person)
- Mautz — cosponsor (person)
- McDonough — cosponsor (person)
- McMillan — cosponsor (person)
- Metzgar — cosponsor (person)
- Morales — cosponsor (person)
- Morgan — cosponsor (person)
- Pena-Melnyk — cosponsor (person)
- Platt — cosponsor (person)
- Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Sample-Hughes — cosponsor (person)
- Tarlau — cosponsor (person)
- Turner — cosponsor (person)
- Vogt — cosponsor (person)
- West — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-29** First Reading Health and Government Operations `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** Hearing 2/20 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-02-02** Hearing canceled
- **2018-02-02** Hearing 2/21 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-04-03** Favorable with Amendments Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-03** Favorable with Amendments {516289/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-03** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2018-04-04** Third Reading Passed (131-6) `passage`
- **2018-04-05** First Reading Senate Rules `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-09** Rereferred to Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs
- **2018-04-09** Favorable Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-09** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-09** Second Reading Passed
- **2018-04-09** Third Reading Passed (45-0) `passage`
- **2018-04-10** Returned Passed
- **2018-04-24** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 215 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ee1a160d-63df-4671-97f8-8eb39c71abd0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).