---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law - Distribution of Controlled Dangerous Substances - Fentanyl"
description: "Criminal Law - Distribution of Controlled Dangerous Substances - Fentanyl"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 539"
citation: "Maryland SB 539 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Law - Substantive Crimes", "Controlled Dangerous Substances", "Crimes and Punishments", "Death", "Drugs", "Emergency Bills", "Good Samaritan", "Penalties and Sentences"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["The President (By Request - Administration) and Bates"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-01"
last_action: "2017-05-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d60fdea4-ea55-423d-948b-dcac4be54066"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB539&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2017rs"
source_hash: "295ccc61ebe4c42448478d089417d1484a361106b936bff75cacf29588471b68"
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 539 (2017) — Criminal Law - Distribution of Controlled Dangerous Substances - Fentanyl

## Version chain

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

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2017RS/bills/sb/sb0539f.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **46–1** (pass) · legislature
- Third Reading — **132–8** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- The President (By Request - Administration) and Bates — primary (person)
- Eckardt — cosponsor (person)
- Edwards — cosponsor (person)
- Hershey — cosponsor (person)
- Jennings — cosponsor (person)
- Ready — cosponsor (person)
- Salling — cosponsor (person)
- Serafini — cosponsor (person)
- Simonaire — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-01** First Reading Senate Rules `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-15** Rereferred to Judicial Proceedings
- **2017-02-16** Hearing 3/02 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-03-13** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-14** Favorable with Amendments {498670/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-14** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2017-03-15** Third Reading Passed (46-1) `passage`
- **2017-03-15** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-16** Hearing 3/28 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2017-04-07** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-07** Favorable Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-07** Second Reading Passed
- **2017-04-10** Third Reading Passed (132-8) `passage`
- **2017-04-10** Returned Passed
- **2017-05-25** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 569 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d60fdea4-ea55-423d-948b-dcac4be54066`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).