---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against"
description: "Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 563"
citation: "Maryland HB 563 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arikan", "Behler", "Cardin", "Conaway", "Mangione", "McComas", "Moon", "Moreno", "Phillips", "Simmons", "Stinnett", "Valentine", "Woods"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-01-28"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7bd20360-123d-4c9f-a951-89d9ea2b59e9"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0563?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "f8c3820ee9f4e9943f093e4fd9e275322043a0ec149faa258836b9a743bb116d"
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 563 (2026) — Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_402_hb0563e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0563e.pdf)
3. **First - Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0563f.pdf)
4. **Third - Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0563t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading and Final Passage (Hse concurred) — **133–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **125–0** (pass) · lower
- Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. — **44–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Arikan — primary (person)
- Behler — primary (person)
- Cardin — primary (person)
- Conaway — primary (person)
- Mangione — primary (person)
- McComas — primary (person)
- Moon — primary (person)
- Moreno — primary (person)
- Phillips — primary (person)
- Simmons — primary (person)
- Stinnett — primary (person)
- Valentine — primary (person)
- Woods — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-28** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-02** Hearing 2/19 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-20** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-20** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-20** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-03-21** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-23** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-06** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-07** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-07** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-04-08** Motion Special Order until 4/9 (Senator Henson) Adopted
- **2026-04-09** Motion Special Order until Next Session (Senator Henson) Adopted
- **2026-04-10** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-10** Third Readings Passed with Amendments
- **2026-04-10** House Concurs Senate Amendments
- **2026-04-10** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-10** Passed Enrolled
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 402 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7bd20360-123d-4c9f-a951-89d9ea2b59e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).