---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement"
description: "Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 491"
citation: "Maryland HB 491 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Phillips"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2026-01-27"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2f234ace-def3-4fd1-a6f5-b9e99fb686ae"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0491?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "bb25a01c4e959c39c71385c9fbc7c814ccd307920dad44423db38baa0a9c20b1"
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 491 (2026) — Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement

## 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** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_406_hb0491t.pdf)
2. **First - Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0491f.pdf)
3. **Third - Criminal Procedure - Victims of Sexually Assaultive Behavior - Request for Verbal Acknowledgement** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0491t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **128–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Phillips — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-27** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-29** Hearing 2/10 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-02** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-03** Favorable Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-03** Second Reading Passed
- **2026-03-04** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-08** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-08** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-09** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 406 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2f234ace-def3-4fd1-a6f5-b9e99fb686ae`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).