---
type: "Bill"
title: "Conservation Finance Act"
description: "Conservation Finance Act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 653"
citation: "Maryland HB 653 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barve", "Boyce", "Lehman", "Love", "Stein"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-01-31"
last_action: "2022-04-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ca24bb1b-7dc7-4301-a928-acc80e53cd62"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0653?ys=2022RS&search=True"
source_hash: "2c63f7d7a93271b8673632240f530ed044af72634a09b3017e0f34a3f8d71e4f"
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 653 (2022) — Conservation Finance Act

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Conservation Finance Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/Chapters_noln/CH_237_hb0653t.pdf)
2. **First - Conservation Finance Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0653f.pdf)
3. **Third - Conservation Finance Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0653t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **47–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **134–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barve — primary (person)
- Boyce — primary (person)
- Lehman — primary (person)
- Love — primary (person)
- Stein — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-31** First Reading Environment and Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-02** Hearing 2/16 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2022-03-14** Favorable with Amendments Report by Environment and Transportation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-15** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-15** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2022-03-16** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2022-03-16** Referred Budget and Taxation Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-22** Hearing 3/29 at 1:00 p.m. (Budget and Taxation)
- **2022-04-07** Favorable Report by Budget and Taxation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-07** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-07** Second Reading Passed
- **2022-04-08** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2022-04-09** Returned Passed
- **2022-04-21** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 237 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ca24bb1b-7dc7-4301-a928-acc80e53cd62`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).