---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)"
description: "Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 17"
citation: "Maryland SB 17 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carozza", "West"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-10-13"
last_action: "2021-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c1952aaa-c2eb-40e4-869a-f2dd21ecbf34"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0017?ys=2021RS&search=True"
source_hash: "79c0968931b5726fe141671a19b1f1ac36bb6e9abda86037470b46de0c9f6773"
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 17 (2021) — Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/Chapters_noln/CH_144_sb0017e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0017e.pdf)
3. **First - Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0017f.pdf)
4. **Third - Criminal Law – Life–Threatening Injury Involving a Motor Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence (Wade’s Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0017t.pdf)

## Votes

- On third reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading (Amend) — **132–1** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **47–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Carozza — primary (person)
- West — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-10-13** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2021-01-13** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2020-12-28** Hearing 1/19 at 11:00 a.m.
- **2021-03-22** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-22** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-22** Second Reading Passed
- **2021-03-22** Motion Rules Suspend Two Readings Same Day Const/Rule 24 (Senator King) Adopted
- **2021-03-22** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-03-24** Referred Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-05** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-05** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-05** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2021-04-06** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-12** Senate Concurs House Amendments
- **2021-04-12** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-12** Passed Enrolled
- **2021-05-18** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 144 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c1952aaa-c2eb-40e4-869a-f2dd21ecbf34`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).