---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)"
description: "Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 531"
citation: "Maryland SB 531 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Henson", "Hettleman", "Love", "West"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-04"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b97db26a-224e-45a7-a664-8e3d328ad762"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0531?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "b4851c393bbdb11550a1c2d17b496d111702c814500765cbe8b89ce380a32675"
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 531 (2026) — Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_407_sb0531t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0531f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement (Verbal Waiver Transparency Act)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0531t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **41–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **118–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Henson — primary (person)
- Hettleman — primary (person)
- Love — primary (person)
- West — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-04** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Hearing 2/17 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** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-03-05** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-06** 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 407 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b97db26a-224e-45a7-a664-8e3d328ad762`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).