---
type: "Bill"
title: "Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program Fund - Alteration of Program"
description: "Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program Fund - Alteration of Program"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 53"
citation: "Maryland SB 53 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["State Government - Agencies", "Offices", "and Officials", "Social Services - Generally", "Animals", "Disclosure", "Dogs", "Mental and Behavioral Health", "Revenue and Taxes", "Veterans Affairs", "Department of", "Veterans"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Simonaire"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-11-14"
last_action: "2018-04-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/602e23bc-7272-44a2-97f9-e8b064605950"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB53&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs"
source_hash: "1b52c3a68d0504870147a2333bdc51a5b66d59ad62a0e55f0bc3e7362f5f245e"
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 53 (2018) — Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program Fund - Alteration of Program

## 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/sb0053f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **137–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Simonaire — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-11-14** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2018-01-10** First Reading Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-03** Hearing 1/11 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-01-12** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-01-12** Favorable with Amendments {904539/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-01-12** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2018-01-16** Third Reading Passed (46-0) `passage`
- **2018-01-18** First Reading Health and Government Operations `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-07** Hearing 3/21 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2018-03-26** Favorable Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-27** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-27** Second Reading Passed
- **2018-03-28** Third Reading Passed (137-0) `passage`
- **2018-04-09** Returned Passed
- **2018-04-24** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 152 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/602e23bc-7272-44a2-97f9-e8b064605950`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).