---
type: "Bill"
title: "Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting"
description: "Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 516"
citation: "Maryland SB 516 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charles", "Folden", "Henson", "James", "Love", "McKay", "Muse", "Smith", "Sydnor", "Waldstreicher", "West"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-03"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f29bb017-6501-4ed9-b6c0-cb58fa4c92a2"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0516?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "7457f5c6564c71d74161c355ef575e189893c66ee894a0115e831b17e8c39f67"
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 516 (2026) — Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_461_sb0516t.pdf)
2. **First - Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0516f.pdf)
3. **Third - Law Enforcement - Protective Body Armor - Requirements and Reporting** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0516t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **45–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **131–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charles — primary (person)
- Folden — primary (person)
- Henson — 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.

- **2026-02-03** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-04** Hearing 2/17 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-09** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-10** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-10** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-03-12** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Referred Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-08** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-08** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-10** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 461 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f29bb017-6501-4ed9-b6c0-cb58fa4c92a2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).