---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages (Buddy's Law)"
description: "Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages (Buddy's Law)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 438"
citation: "Maryland HB 438 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arikan", "Bartlett", "Cardin", "Hill", "Kaufman", "Kipke", "Lehman", "Nkongolo", "Phillips", "Ruth", "Sample-Hughes", "Schmidt", "Simpson", "Stinnett", "Williams"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-01-16"
last_action: "2025-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e1b56f8a-ae98-4b27-8130-900be7db911e"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0438?ys=2025RS&search=True"
source_hash: "3903f17169d2e953f1aada4ecb5c2f1f87b76feaeade65d7a74f1de2375aa354"
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 438 (2025) — Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages (Buddy's Law)

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages (Buddy's Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_101_hb0438t.pdf)
2. **First - Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0438f.pdf)
3. **Third - Civil Actions - Tortious Injury to or Death of Pet - Compensatory Damages (Buddy's Law)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0438t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **139–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Arikan — primary (person)
- Bartlett — primary (person)
- Cardin — primary (person)
- Hill — primary (person)
- Kaufman — primary (person)
- Kipke — primary (person)
- Lehman — primary (person)
- Nkongolo — primary (person)
- Phillips — primary (person)
- Ruth — primary (person)
- Sample-Hughes — primary (person)
- Schmidt — primary (person)
- Simpson — primary (person)
- Stinnett — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-16** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-17** Hearing 2/05 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-02-03** Hearing canceled
- **2025-02-03** Hearing 2/05 at 2:00 p.m.
- **2025-03-10** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-11** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-11** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2025-03-11** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-03-12** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-27** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-27** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-02** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-02** Returned Passed
- **2025-04-22** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 101 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e1b56f8a-ae98-4b27-8130-900be7db911e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).