---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases"
description: "Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 274"
citation: "Maryland SB 274 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charles", "Folden", "James", "Love", "McKay", "Muse", "Smith", "Sydnor", "Waldstreicher", "West"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-09"
last_action: "2025-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/da21a718-5078-4b9d-b728-be20ffd1fc7c"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0274?ys=2025RS&search=True"
source_hash: "4b585824f6ec9a5cd46bc13b8f6f786debbeefa6c21e9cb29f50a17eec90c437"
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 274 (2025) — Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_151_sb0274t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0274f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Procedure - Child Victims - Testimony in Child Abuse Cases** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0274t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **136–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charles — primary (person)
- Folden — primary (person)
- James — primary (person)
- Love — primary (person)
- McKay — primary (person)
- Muse — primary (person)
- Smith — primary (person)
- Sydnor — primary (person)
- Waldstreicher — primary (person)
- West — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-09** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-16** Hearing 1/30 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-03-03** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-04** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-04** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2025-03-06** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-03-07** Referred Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-31** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-31** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-01** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-01** Returned Passed
- **2025-04-22** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 151 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/da21a718-5078-4b9d-b728-be20ffd1fc7c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).