Finance Committee advances wide range of bills, advancing funding, health and privacy measures

The Finance Committee met March 20 for a voting session that moved a slate of bills covering economic development, health care, behavioral health policy, and consumer privacy.

Sen. Ready, sponsor or floor manager for multiple measures, described Senate Bill 388 as an administration package that renames the Economic Development Opportunities Program account (the “Sunny Day Fund”) to the Strategic Closing Fund, relocates it to the Department of Commerce, consolidates several small‑business financing funds, and extends the Job Creation Tax Credit to Jan. 1, 2032. The committee recorded a unanimous favorable report on SB 388.

The panel advanced a mix of technical and policy bills on health and human services. SB 340 would require the governor to include at least $2 million in the annual budget beginning FY2027 to support the Office of the Long‑Term Care Ombudsman, with funding drawn from an MCO minimum loss‑ratio remittance fund; committee members confirmed the fund has exceeded $2 million in four of the last five fiscal years and voted unanimously to report the bill favorably. SB 515, which would authorize the Health Services Cost Review Commission to consider certain hospital costs currently not recognized (including specified physician costs) and require a report by June 1, 2027, was also advanced.

On behavioral health, the committee debated SB 707, which revises the statutory definition of a "danger to the life or safety" standard used for emergency evaluations and involuntary admissions. Sponsors presented amended language replacing an "imminent"‑risk test with an assessment based on "recent and relevant conduct" and proposed whether the statute should reference the "immediate future" or the "near future." Sen. Ready argued in favor of using the phrase "near future" to give clinicians some discretion to act before catastrophic events occur, saying "near gives you a... a few days, couple of weeks" rather than requiring proof of an immediately imminent act. The committee adopted the amendment and approved the bill with a reporting requirement for the Behavioral Health Administration.

The panel also approved SB 893, which tasks the Department of Health with conducting an in‑state cost‑of‑dispensing survey for prescription drugs every three years; an amendment removed an automatic required regulatory change to dispensing fees based on the survey, leaving the survey as information to inform policy rather than a fee‑adjustment mechanism.

Several workforce and licensing bills moved forward. SB 777 strengthens local workforce board responsibilities to allocate retraining funds following hospital closures and integrates local boards into quick‑response and apprenticeship programs; SB 489 authorizes limited three‑year medical licenses for certain foreign‑trained physicians employed full‑time by a health care facility and had stakeholder support from MedChi and the Maryland Hospital Association.

The committee approved SB 496, an authorization encouraging Medicaid to cover comprehensive obesity treatment — including behavioral therapy, bariatric surgery and FDA‑approved chronic weight‑management medications — as a legislative signal to the Department of Health; as amended the bill does not itself appropriate new funds.

Privacy and consumer enforcement surfaced in discussion of SB 932, which would require social platforms to display the general geographic location (city and country derived from IP address) of other visible users to a state user, excluding minors. Sponsors narrowed the bill’s definition of "social media platform" to align with other state privacy laws and removed private causes of action in favor of enforcement by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division; committee members pressed for clarity on enforcement capacity but advanced the bill.

Tax and insurance measures drew probing questions. SB 890 would impose a 3% premium receipt tax on reinsurance purchased by captive insurers of nonprofit health systems; members discussed whether hospitals had previously been treated as exempt and whether the bill effectively wipes earlier liabilities while imposing the tax going forward. The committee approved the bill (roll‑call recorded).

On local licensing policy, the committee considered SB 623 (cigar lounge/CPCL/BYO licensing). Members adopted an amendment excluding Montgomery County from the bill’s application and removed language tying licensing criteria to race‑conscious metrics; the amended measure was approved by committee vote.

Votes at a glance (committee actions and outcomes):
- SB 388 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 777 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 947 — Advanced (discussion on fiscal impact and new MTC positions)
- SB 707 — Favorable with amendment adopting "near" standard and reporting requirement
- SB 893 — Favorable (amendment removed automatic fee change)
- SB 340 — Favorable (unanimous); directs $2 million annually beginning FY2027 from specified MCO remittance fund
- SB 489 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 496 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 515 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 742 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 870 — Favorable (unanimous)
- SB 876 (referred as recovery residence certification) — Favorable (roll call, 7–2)
- SB 84 — Favorable with delayed effective date (amendment adopted)
- SB 455 — Favorable (amendments adopted; delayed effective date to July 2027)
- SB 932 — Favorable with amendment (narrowed definition; enforcement via AG)
- SB 890 — Favorable (roll call)
- SB 623 — Favorable as amended (included Montgomery County exemption; roll call)

What’s next: several bills include reporting or regulatory follow‑up (Behavioral Health Administration reports on SB 707; MDH dispensing survey under SB 893; HSCRC report under SB 515; Comptroller rulemaking for SB 455). The committee generally recorded strong bipartisan support across this session; a handful of bills produced substantive policy questions that will carry to floor debate or implementation (notably the captive insurer tax, recovery residence certification and the social‑platform disclosure enforcement model).