---
type: "Bill"
title: "Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act"
description: "Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 279"
citation: "Maryland HB 279 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bagnall", "Bartlett", "Belcastro", "Bhandari", "Carr", "Charles", "Chisholm", "Crosby", "Cullison", "Henson", "Hill", "Johnson", "K. Young", "Kaiser", "Kelly", "Kerr", "Kipke", "Krebs", "Landis", "Love", "Morgan", "Patterson", "Pena-Melnyk", "R. Jones", "R. Lewis", "Reilly", "Rogers", "Rosenberg", "Saab", "Sample-Hughes", "Szeliga", "Williams"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2022-01-17"
last_action: "2022-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/de4e20b0-1917-4b36-80cb-bebedbff88fa"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0279?ys=2022RS&search=True"
source_hash: "423554eaf7d3b01be4f905db56473c4644001a007c349afa2a309fe639ec9d63"
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 279 (2022) — Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/Chapters_noln/CH_72_hb0279e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0279e.pdf)
3. **First - Veterans Affairs - Office of Communications and Public Affairs - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0279f.pdf)
4. **Third - Veterans Affairs - Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy Program - Veterans Advocacy and Education Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0279t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading and Final Passage (Hse concurred) — **138–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading (Amend) — **47–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **129–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bagnall — primary (person)
- Bartlett — primary (person)
- Belcastro — primary (person)
- Bhandari — primary (person)
- Carr — primary (person)
- Charles — primary (person)
- Chisholm — primary (person)
- Crosby — primary (person)
- Cullison — primary (person)
- Henson — primary (person)
- Hill — primary (person)
- Johnson — primary (person)
- K. Young — primary (person)
- Kaiser — primary (person)
- Kelly — primary (person)
- Kerr — primary (person)
- Kipke — primary (person)
- Krebs — primary (person)
- Landis — primary (person)
- Love — primary (person)
- Morgan — primary (person)
- Patterson — primary (person)
- Pena-Melnyk — primary (person)
- R. Jones — primary (person)
- R. Lewis — primary (person)
- Reilly — primary (person)
- Rogers — primary (person)
- Rosenberg — primary (person)
- Saab — primary (person)
- Sample-Hughes — primary (person)
- Szeliga — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-17** First Reading Health and Government Operations `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-18** Hearing 2/08 at 2:30 p.m.
- **2022-01-25** Hearing canceled
- **2022-01-25** Hearing 2/08 at 3:00 p.m.
- **2022-02-21** Favorable with Amendments Report by Health and Government Operations `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-02-22** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-02-22** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2022-02-24** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2022-02-25** Referred Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-29** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-29** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-29** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2022-03-31** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2022-04-07** House Concurs Senate Amendments
- **2022-04-07** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2022-04-07** Passed Enrolled
- **2022-04-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 72 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/de4e20b0-1917-4b36-80cb-bebedbff88fa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).