---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense"
description: "Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 4"
citation: "Maryland HB 4 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acevero", "Boyce", "Crutchfield", "Cullison", "D. Barnes", "Davis", "Foley", "Harrison", "Henson", "Hill", "Kaiser", "Kelly", "Palakovich Carr", "Patterson", "Reznik", "Sample-Hughes", "Shetty", "Solomon", "Stewart", "Toles", "Wells", "Williams"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 12
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2022-11-01"
last_action: "2023-05-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6c8c356d-7c8a-467c-922a-fb7a48e72803"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0004?ys=2023RS&search=True"
source_hash: "9e880530570756cd58887f09c481b760b7ff8ce6c4b760ad73f3e5af984d0b81"
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 4 (2023) — Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023RS/Chapters_noln/CH_728_hb0004t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023RS/bills/hb/hb0004f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Law - Sexual Crimes - Repeal of Spousal Defense** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023RS/bills/hb/hb0004t.pdf)

## Sponsors

- Acevero — primary (person)
- Boyce — primary (person)
- Crutchfield — primary (person)
- Cullison — primary (person)
- D. Barnes — primary (person)
- Davis — primary (person)
- Foley — primary (person)
- Harrison — primary (person)
- Henson — primary (person)
- Hill — primary (person)
- Kaiser — primary (person)
- Kelly — primary (person)
- Palakovich Carr — primary (person)
- Patterson — primary (person)
- Reznik — primary (person)
- Sample-Hughes — primary (person)
- Shetty — primary (person)
- Solomon — primary (person)
- Stewart — primary (person)
- Toles — primary (person)
- Wells — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-11-01** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2023-01-11** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-12** Hearing 1/19 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2023-02-27** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-28** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-02** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2023-03-03** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-05** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-05** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-07** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2023-04-08** Returned Passed
- **2023-05-16** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 728 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6c8c356d-7c8a-467c-922a-fb7a48e72803`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).