---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established"
description: "Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 311"
citation: "Maryland HB 311 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arikan", "Ciliberti", "Malone"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-01-20"
last_action: "2020-05-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c8b7083a-f253-4784-b1f3-dacd993b6b76"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0311?ys=2020RS&search=True"
source_hash: "2f62fdf0cb5904dd0fdcf747e6635ebff8048a37f2c1c1e7d3e593d5be490eb6"
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 311 (2020) — Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Chapter - Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2020RS/Chapters_noln/CH_161_hb0311e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2020RS/bills/hb/hb0311e.pdf)
3. **First - Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2020RS/bills/hb/hb0311f.pdf)
4. **Third - Courts - Court Dog and Child Witness Program - Established** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2020RS/bills/hb/hb0311t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **129–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading and Final Passage (Hse concurred) — **134–0** (pass) · lower
- On third reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Arikan — primary (person)
- Ciliberti — primary (person)
- Malone — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-20** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Hearing 2/06 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2020-02-10** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-11** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-11** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2020-02-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2020-02-14** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-14** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-14** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-15** Motion Special Order until 3/17 (Senator Simonaire) Adopted
- **2020-03-17** Floor Amendment {
- **2020-03-17** Third Readings Passed with Amendments
- **2020-03-17** House Concurs Senate Amendments
- **2020-03-17** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2020-03-17** Passed Enrolled
- **2020-05-08** Enacted under Article II, Section 17(c) of the Maryland Constitution - Chapter 161 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c8b7083a-f253-4784-b1f3-dacd993b6b76`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).