---
type: "Bill"
title: "Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission - Police Officer Certification - Eligibility (Freedom to Serve Act)"
description: "Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission - Police Officer Certification - Eligibility (Freedom to Serve Act)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 853"
citation: "Maryland SB 853 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Safety", "Armed Forces", "Certifications", "Immigrants and Citizenship", "Law Enforcement", "Police Training and Standards Commission", "Residency", "Veterans"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kagan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4f91dff9-2de2-4ff1-a9ae-366617e4ed91"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB853&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019rs"
source_hash: "f0839747fa32a563bce7d46683c0deaec8ec46e462b7d86e5f10f858a4a6df31"
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 853 (2019) — Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission - Police Officer Certification - Eligibility (Freedom to Serve Act)

## 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/2019RS/bills/sb/sb0853f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **45–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **107–30** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kagan — primary (person)
- Augustine — cosponsor (person)
- Benson — cosponsor (person)
- Eckardt — cosponsor (person)
- Edwards — cosponsor (person)
- Elfreth — cosponsor (person)
- Ellis — cosponsor (person)
- Feldman — cosponsor (person)
- Ferguson — cosponsor (person)
- Griffith — cosponsor (person)
- Guzzone — cosponsor (person)
- Hayes — cosponsor (person)
- Kelley — cosponsor (person)
- King — cosponsor (person)
- Klausmeier — cosponsor (person)
- Kramer — cosponsor (person)
- Lam — cosponsor (person)
- Lee — cosponsor (person)
- McCray — cosponsor (person)
- Miller — cosponsor (person)
- Nathan-Pulliam — cosponsor (person)
- Patterson — cosponsor (person)
- Peters — cosponsor (person)
- Pinsky — cosponsor (person)
- Reilly — cosponsor (person)
- Rosapepe — cosponsor (person)
- Salling — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Waldstreicher — cosponsor (person)
- Washington — cosponsor (person)
- West — cosponsor (person)
- Young — cosponsor (person)
- Zirkin — cosponsor (person)
- Zucker — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-04** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-06** Hearing 2/20 at 12:00 p.m.
- **2019-03-18** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-18** Favorable with Amendments {178772/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-18** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2019-03-18** Third Reading Passed (45-0) `passage`
- **2019-03-19** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** Hearing 3/28 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2019-03-29** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-29** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-29** Second Reading Passed
- **2019-04-02** Third Reading Passed (107-30) `passage`
- **2019-04-03** Returned Passed
- **2019-05-13** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 490 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4f91dff9-2de2-4ff1-a9ae-366617e4ed91`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).