---
type: "Bill"
title: "Behavioral Health Programs – Outpatient Mental Health Centers – Medical Directors"
description: "Behavioral Health Programs – Outpatient Mental Health Centers – Medical Directors"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 944"
citation: "Maryland SB 944 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Health", "Communications", "Federal Government", "Health", "Health Care Facilities", "Health Occupations", "Medical Treatments", "Mental and Behavioral Health", "Nurses", "Patients", "Psychiatrists", "Rules and Regulations", "Telecommunications and Information Technology"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eckardt"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-15"
last_action: "2019-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/38d53b9b-2fc1-4738-931e-527a254fc574"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB944&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019rs"
source_hash: "f4c44d22de834bf7ca31e84ee28fabc18e3b2c1ee307b74a596fb86917eddc3f"
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 944 (2019) — Behavioral Health Programs – Outpatient Mental Health Centers – Medical Directors

## 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/sb0944f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **132–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Eckardt — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-15** First Reading Senate Rules `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-21** Rereferred to Finance
- **2019-03-04** Hearing 3/19 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2019-03-29** Favorable with Amendments Report by Finance `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-29** Favorable with Amendments {627874/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-29** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2019-04-01** Third Reading Passed (46-0) `passage`
- **2019-04-02** First Reading House Rules and Executive Nominations `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-03** Rereferred to Health and Government Operations
- **2019-04-03** Hearing 4/04 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2019-04-04** Favorable Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-04** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-04** Second Reading Passed
- **2019-04-05** Third Reading Passed (132-0) `passage`
- **2019-04-08** Returned Passed
- **2019-05-13** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 482 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/38d53b9b-2fc1-4738-931e-527a254fc574`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).