Maryland Senate adopts multiple committee reports, special-orders bills and approves executive nominations

The Senate of Maryland on Friday adopted a string of favorable committee reports, ordered several bills printed for third reading and, by roll call, advised and consented to executive nominations in report number 3, the presiding officer announced.

The actions taken included an extension for a retirement-system work group, authorization of local bonds for Carroll County, a technical change to horse-racing law to accommodate the Preakness venue move, a local retirement participation bill for Dorchester County corrections officers, and an emergency clarification of the Consumer Price Index calculation used for cost-of-living adjustments for retirees.

Senator Louis Young, sponsor of Senate Bill 338, told colleagues the bill "would extend it for 1 year" to give a work group studying transfers between state and local retirement and pension systems additional time to complete recommendations. The Senate adopted the committee's favorable report and ordered the bill printed for third reading without objection.

The clerk read Senate Bill 448, a local Carroll County public facilities bond bill that, as read, would authorize the county to issue up to $27,000,000 in general obligation bonds with maturities not to exceed 30 years; the sponsor moved adoption of the favorable committee report and the report was adopted without objection.

Senate Bill 453, intended to clarify that an Arabian horse race historically required to be run at Pimlico may be run at Laurel Park following the Preakness venue change, was also adopted as a favorable report; the sponsor said the change preserves a 12-race card on the Preakness date.

Senate Bill 724, described on the floor as an emergency measure, would set the October 2025 Consumer Price Index value used in certain retirement COLA calculations as the average of the CPI for September 2025 and November 2025. "The reason that we have to do this emergency bill is that the government was shut down during the month of October, and, therefore, the Department of Labor did not issue the data," Senator Louis Young said during floor remarks explaining the methodology.

The chamber also special-ordered several bills for later consideration: Senate Bill 538 was moved to a Wednesday session next week; Senate Bill 108 was special-ordered until March 3 to allow sponsors to finalize amendments; and Senate Bill 56 was special-ordered to the following Wednesday.

Votes at a glance:
- Executive nominations (Report No. 3): the clerk recorded "With 41 votes in the affirmative, the Senate advises and consents affirmatively to the nominations of the executive in report number 3." The action was recorded as adopted (41-0).
- Adoption of favorable committee reports: multiple bills (including SB 338, SB 448, SB 453, SB 614, SB 724) were moved and adopted without objection and ordered printed for third reading.

The presiding officer closed routine floor business by announcing committee and subcommittee meeting schedules for the week and, at the majority leader's motion, recessed the Senate until Monday, March 2 at 8 p.m.

Next steps for the items ordered printed are third-reading consideration on the floor at a future date; bills that were special-ordered will return on the dates set by the chamber.