---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties"
description: "Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 221"
citation: "Maryland SB 221 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-10-31"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1faf3368-ea2f-4ea5-b2fe-3b9875d38427"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0221?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "7f5dff088219f073aac4a443d8abbefdaa641a429872cf6aed36ad448cf5a31b"
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 221 (2026) — Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_530_sb0221t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0221f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Law - Child Pornography - Prohibitions and Penalties** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0221t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **43–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **137–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- James — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-10-31** Pre-filed `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-13** Hearing 1/22 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-02-16** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-17** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-17** Second Reading Passed
- **2026-02-19** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-02-20** Referred Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-06** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-06** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-07** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-08** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 530 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1faf3368-ea2f-4ea5-b2fe-3b9875d38427`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).