---
type: "Bill"
title: "Washington County - Judgeships - District Court"
description: "Washington County - Judgeships - District Court"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 493"
citation: "Maryland HB 493 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maryland Judicial Conference"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-01-27"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/76947201-6c97-4620-985d-bde9641c8a1c"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0493?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "d1e64098721c0d0a601ca7d3610a79e8bedc0dab4a89d41ecc3e30445b84ccf9"
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 493 (2026) — Washington County - Judgeships - District Court

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Washington County - Judgeships - District Court** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_474_hb0493e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Washington County - Judgeships - District Court** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0493e.pdf)
3. **First - Judgeships - Circuit Court and District Court** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0493f.pdf)
4. **Third - Judgeships - Circuit Court and District Court** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0493t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading and Final Passage (Hse concurred) — **126–7** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **138–0** (pass) · lower
- Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. — **45–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chair, Judiciary Committee — primary (organization)
- Maryland Judicial Conference — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-27** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-29** Hearing 2/18 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-21** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-21** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-23** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-23** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Motion Recommit to Committee (Senator Smith) Adopted
- **2026-04-13** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-13** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-13** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Motion Rules Suspend Two Readings Same Day Const/Rule 24 (Senator Smith) Adopted
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** House Concurs Senate Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Passed Enrolled
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 474 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/76947201-6c97-4620-985d-bde9641c8a1c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).