---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public Ethics - Officials and Employees - Acceptance of Gifts and Prohibited Retaliation"
description: "Public Ethics - Officials and Employees - Acceptance of Gifts and Prohibited Retaliation"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 4"
citation: "Maryland SB 4 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Edwards", "Feldman", "Ferguson", "Klausmeier"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-09-15"
last_action: "2021-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/60f502e9-7b05-4c27-8605-61a7ab6bfd9a"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0004?ys=2021RS&search=True"
source_hash: "189b9f2ae8ad9fb23db491510992c84c1151663fa121df0c30286277f690e45c"
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 4 (2021) — Public Ethics - Officials and Employees - Acceptance of Gifts and Prohibited Retaliation

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Public Ethics - Officials and Employees - Acceptance of Gifts and Prohibited Retaliation** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/Chapters_noln/CH_254_sb0004t.pdf)
2. **First - Maryland Public Ethics Law - Retaliation for Reporting or Participating in Investigation - Prohibition** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0004f.pdf)
3. **Third - Public Ethics - Officials and Employees - Acceptance of Gifts and Prohibited Retaliation** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0004t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **119–13** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Edwards — primary (person)
- Feldman — primary (person)
- Ferguson — primary (person)
- Klausmeier — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-09-15** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2021-01-13** First Reading Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Hearing 2/04 at 11:00 a.m.
- **2021-03-05** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-05** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-05** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2021-03-09** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-03-10** Referred Environment and Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-12** Hearing 3/25 at 1:30 p.m.
- **2021-04-10** Favorable Report by Environment and Transportation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-10** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-10** Second Reading Passed
- **2021-04-12** Floor Amendment {
- **2021-04-12** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-12** Returned Passed
- **2021-05-18** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 254 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/60f502e9-7b05-4c27-8605-61a7ab6bfd9a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).