---
type: "Bill"
title: "State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities"
description: "State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 698"
citation: "Maryland HB 698 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bagnall", "Bhandari", "Cullison", "Guzzone", "Hill", "Hutchinson", "Kaufman", "Kipke", "Lopez", "Martinez", "Rose", "Rosenberg", "White Holland", "Woorman"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-02"
last_action: "2026-04-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e0d8ece5-900d-44ab-935a-d78030dcfe59"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0698?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "326f402a41d64207e5a3229cdf41ea82991d3f08264e1a62a7e3b1ba3f22cd74"
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 698 (2026) — State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_188_hb0698t.pdf)
2. **First - State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0698f.pdf)
3. **Third - State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors – Board Operations and Regulation of Crematories and Reduction Facilities** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0698t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **42–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **136–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bagnall — primary (person)
- Bhandari — primary (person)
- Cullison — primary (person)
- Guzzone — primary (person)
- Hill — primary (person)
- Hutchinson — primary (person)
- Kaufman — primary (person)
- Kipke — primary (person)
- Lopez — primary (person)
- Martinez — primary (person)
- Rose — primary (person)
- Rosenberg — primary (person)
- White Holland — primary (person)
- Woorman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-02** First Reading Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-04** Hearing 2/18 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-02-05** Hearing canceled
- **2026-02-05** Hearing 2/18 at 1:30 p.m.
- **2026-03-23** Favorable with Amendments Report by Health `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-23** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-23** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-03-23** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-23** Referred Finance `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable Report by Finance `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Second Reading Passed
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Returned Passed
- **2026-04-28** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 188 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e0d8ece5-900d-44ab-935a-d78030dcfe59`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).