---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations"
description: "Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 255"
citation: "Maryland SB 255 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Harris", "Sydnor"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 42
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2026-01-16"
last_action: "2026-04-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d0a8c0ac-0db9-4f35-81af-294fc1a817c2"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0255?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "9babeebfa23b4b1f666c7ff507a53b68acb4e199c1a284dbfbec2c584ff404d5"
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 255 (2026) — Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations

## Version chain

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

1. **Chapter - Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_157_sb0255e.pdf)
2. **Enrolled - Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0255e.pdf)
3. **First - Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0255f.pdf)
4. **Third - Voting Rights Act of 2026 - Counties and Municipal Corporations** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0255t.pdf)

## Votes

- Motion to Limit Debate — **33–13** (pass) · upper
- Previous Question — **90–37** (pass) · lower
- FLA Del. Morgan, M. /123028/1 — **34–92** (fail) · lower
- On Third Reading (Emerg) — **30–15** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading and Final Passage (CCR Adp) — **91–19** (pass) · lower
- FLA Del. Hornberger /493427/1 — **35–86** (fail) · lower
- FLA Del. Buckel /553021/1 — **37–90** (fail) · lower
- FLA Del. Morgan, M. /663122/1 — **36–88** (fail) · lower
- On Third Reading (Emerg/Amend) — **94–35** (pass) · lower
- FLA Del. Buckel /183626/1 — **36–86** (fail) · lower
- Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. — **32–14** (pass) · upper
- FLA Del. Buckel /513920/1 — **37–88** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Harris — primary (person)
- Sydnor — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-16** First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-19** Hearing 1/27 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-02-02** Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-03** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-03** Motion Laid Over (Senator Hershey) Adopted
- **2026-02-05** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-05** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-02-10** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-02-11** Referred Government, Labor, and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-24** Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments Report by Government, Labor, and Elections `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments { `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Committee Amendment Withdrawn
- **2026-04-10** Substitute Committee Amendment {
- **2026-04-10** Favorable with Amendments Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-10** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Floor Amendment {
- **2026-04-11** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Senate Refuses Concur House Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Senate Requests House Recede
- **2026-04-13** Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Kagan, Harris and Simonaire)
- **2026-04-13** Senate Refuses Concur House Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Senate Requests House Recede
- **2026-04-13** Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Kagan, Harris and Simonaire)
- **2026-04-13** House Refuses Recede
- **2026-04-13** House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Wells, Fair and Stewart)
- **2026-04-13** House Refuses Recede
- **2026-04-13** House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Wells, Fair and Stewart)
- **2026-04-13** Conference Committee Report {
- **2026-04-13** Motion Limit Debate (Senator King) Adopted
- **2026-04-13** Conference Committee Report {
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Conference Committee Report {
- **2026-04-13** Motion Vote Previous Question (Delegate Stein) Adopted
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Passed Enrolled
- **2026-04-28** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 157 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d0a8c0ac-0db9-4f35-81af-294fc1a817c2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).