---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law - Obstruction or Interference With Exercise of Religious Beliefs - Prohibition"
description: "Criminal Law - Obstruction or Interference With Exercise of Religious Beliefs - Prohibition"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 177"
citation: "Maryland SB 177 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["West"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-10-21"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1c411f74-0c47-45e6-81a6-22a681d4ba31"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0177?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "585aaff4d896903aefccd99b50f3baca85883b8cd31ff230028d767a1a1e24f9"
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 177 (2026) — Criminal Law - Obstruction or Interference With Exercise of Religious Beliefs - Prohibition

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Law - Obstruction or Interference With Exercise of Religious Beliefs - Prohibition** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_425_sb0177t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Law - Interference With Access to or Egress From a Religious Facility - Prohibition** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0177f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Law - Obstruction or Interference With Exercise of Religious Beliefs - Prohibition** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0177t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **119–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- West — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-10-21** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-13** Hearing 1/20 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-02** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-03** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-03** Committee Amendment Adopted
- **2026-03-03** Motion Special Order until 3/4 (Senator Kagan) Adopted
- **2026-03-04** Favorable with Amendments Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-04** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-03-06** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-09** Referred Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-02** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-02** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-03** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-06** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 425 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1c411f74-0c47-45e6-81a6-22a681d4ba31`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).