---
type: "Bill"
title: "Family Law - Domestic Violence - Definition of Abuse"
description: "Family Law - Domestic Violence - Definition of Abuse"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 121"
citation: "Maryland SB 121 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Family Law", "Domestic Violence", "Electronic Communication", "Electronic Surveillance", "Harassment", "Pornography", "Telecommunications and Information Technology", "Telephones"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Zirkin"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-01-11"
last_action: "2018-05-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c57db921-ab99-4eaa-8be5-b716cd293b26"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB121&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs"
source_hash: "b6d3476d80112e6c79d5578db8c1761ea01001ebbcbe3704c81bf55cef6a4f05"
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 121 (2018) — Family Law - Domestic Violence - Definition of Abuse

## 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/sb/sb0121f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **136–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **48–77** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Zirkin — primary (person)
- Brochin — cosponsor (person)
- Cassilly — cosponsor (person)
- Hough — cosponsor (person)
- Kelley — cosponsor (person)
- Lee — cosponsor (person)
- Muse — cosponsor (person)
- Ramirez — cosponsor (person)
- Ready — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-11** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-15** Hearing 1/23 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-03-09** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-12** Favorable with Amendments {508879/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-12** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2018-03-14** Third Reading Passed (46-0) `passage`
- **2018-03-14** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-14** Hearing 3/27 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-04-03** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-03** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-03** Second Reading Passed
- **2018-04-06** Floor Amendment {353723/1 (Delegate Angel) Rejected (48-77) `amendment-failure`
- **2018-04-06** Third Reading Passed (136-0) `passage`
- **2018-04-09** Returned Passed
- **2018-05-08** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 501 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c57db921-ab99-4eaa-8be5-b716cd293b26`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).