Maryland House adopts joint committee appointments; introductory bills read and referred

Annapolis, Jan. 21, 2026 — The Maryland House convened Thursday morning, adopted several joint committee appointments read into the record by the clerk, and moved introductory legislation and a bond initiative to committee for further consideration.

The clerk announced a quorum at the start of the session, recording 127 members present, and later updated that count to 132. During routine business, the clerk read the list of introductory house bills on the consent calendar and noted that House bills 394 through 444 were read for the first time and referred to the appropriate committees. The clerk also read "Introductory house bond initiative number 2, 01/22/2026," which was referred to the Appropriations Committee.

The clerk read a slate of joint statutory committee appointments for the record, including names submitted to the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics and the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee. After the appointments were entered, the presiding officer heard "no objection" and stated, "The appointments are adopted." No recorded roll-call vote was given in the transcript for those appointments.

The House also received multiple committee and delegation scheduling announcements. Notable scheduling items included the Appropriations Committee meeting at 1:00 PM for a briefing by IAC, the Environment and Transportation Committee meeting at 1:00 PM for a Maryland Energy Landscape briefing, and the Ways and Means Committee meeting at 11:00 AM (SDAT briefing) and again at 1:00 PM (Comptroller briefing).

Speakers used the floor time to recognize visiting delegations and associations, including the Transportation Association of Maryland (TAM) and attendees from the Maryland Bankers Association. The record includes a floor statement that Maryland banks "employ well over 24,000 people and hold almost $190 billion in deposits" (figures read into the record by a member representing the bankers in the gallery).

Before closing, the majority leader moved that "the House stands adjourned until Friday, January 23 at 11:00 AM." The motion was placed on the record; the transcript shows the motion and the session concluded with a blessing.

The session featured routine procedural activity, guest recognitions, and scheduling; no recorded committee votes on bills or substantive floor debate on legislation appear in the transcript for this sitting.