Committee passes amended bill expanding 'sensitive locations' to include courthouses and school-related sites

The House Judiciary Committee voted to pass House Bill 13-41 as amended on Feb. 24, advancing an expanded definition of “sensitive locations” and adding new notification requirements for public-school personnel and courthouses.

Unidentified Speaker 4, who walked the committee through the reprint, said the amendment retitles the measure "immigration enforcement expanding sensitive locations notification and guidance, the Maryland Values Act of 2026," and incorporates material from last year’s House Bill 12-22 (chapter 7-18, 2025). Speaker 4 told members the amendment adds courthouses to the list of sensitive locations and requires courthouses that operate at a sensitive location to implement a policy consistent with guidance from the attorney general on or before Oct. 1, 2026.

Speaker 4 described specific changes to definitions: public-school personnel (under education article 7-15-8.1) now includes positions such as school resource officers, principals, counselors and school security employees for the purposes of notification; the amendment also adds designated school bus stops (transportation article 11-15-4) and locations that provide state-funded food-distribution services to the list of sensitive locations. Under the amendment, the attorney general must update guidance as necessary and each covered entity must implement policy consistent with that guidance.

During committee discussion, Delegate Eric Hahn (first mentioned in the transcript at SEG 188) pressed whether the bill violated the single-subject rule because it pulls language from the education, criminal-procedure and state-government articles. He also questioned the emergency designation, saying for the record he believed there had been no documented occurrences in the state and cautioned against overusing emergency procedures.

Speaker 2 and other members responded that the topic—sensitive locations—spans those statutory articles and that adding courthouses and food-distribution sites fell under the same policy purpose. Speaker 2 and others cited witness testimony and local incidents, including a cited incident at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, as part of the rationale for expedited action and for directing the attorney general to issue guidance promptly.

The committee first approved the amendment via a voice/hand count called by Speaker 2. On a subsequent roll call (clerk: Speaker 6), House Bill 13-41 as amended passed the committee. The clerk recorded individual votes and announced the bill "is passed as amended." (Committee roll-call statements appear in the transcript.)

The committee record shows the measure will move to further consideration on the floor; Speaker 2 said members will have an opportunity to discuss the bill further on the floor.

Notes on legal references and next steps: the amendment references the state-government article section 6-111 (sensitive-location guidance), the education article provisions defining public-school personnel (7-15-8.1), and portions of the transportation article used to define school vehicles; the attorney general is directed to provide guidance by Oct. 1, 2026, and courthouses that qualify must adopt conforming policies by that date.

The committee’s passage was procedural; additional debate and potential floor amendments remain possible.