---
type: "Bill"
title: "Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Mechanical or Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25"
description: "Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Mechanical or Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 968"
citation: "Maryland SB 968 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard County Senators"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-03"
last_action: "2025-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b9a1a4c-6697-43c6-a336-72c31db1a5bf"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0968?ys=2025RS&search=True"
source_hash: "e1b468fdd3a282f513df86e1051aa25a87f8103a48055f24b3a9c9912c270ab0"
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 968 (2025) — Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Mechanical or Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Mechanical or Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_586_sb0968t.pdf)
2. **First - Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Motor Vehicles and Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0968f.pdf)
3. **Third - Howard County - Patuxent River Wildland - Use of Mechanical or Motorized Equipment Ho. Co. 5-25** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0968t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **42–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **138–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Howard County Senators — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-03** First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-04** Hearing 3/04 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-02-19** Hearing canceled
- **2025-02-19** Hearing 3/11 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-03-14** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-14** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-14** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2025-03-17** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-03-17** Referred Environment and Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-25** Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2025-04-05** Favorable Report by Environment and Transportation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-05** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-07** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2025-04-07** Returned Passed
- **2025-05-13** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 586 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8b9a1a4c-6697-43c6-a336-72c31db1a5bf`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).