Maryland Legislative Process

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Maryland Overview Legislative Process Maryland Legislators

Maryland Legislative Process

In Maryland, an idea or concept must pass through many processes before it becomes law. The major milestones are as follows:

Citizens of Maryland approach their legislators to introduce a bill.
If the legislator agrees to sponsor the legislation, the bill is drafted by the Department of Legislative Services, reviewed by the legislator, and prepared for introduction.
Once a bill is introduced by a Delegate or Senator, the bill is assigned to the appropriate committee where it is discussed and voted upon.
If a bill passes through the committee, then the bill goes to a floor vote of the entire chamber.
If passed, the bill moves to the opposite chamber where it then is assigned to the appropriate committee, discussed, and voted upon.
If the bill then passes through this committee, it then goes to a floor vote of the entire chamber.
If both chambers (House and Senate) have passed the bill, then it is submitted to the Governor for his signature to make the bill into a law, or the Governor can veto the bill.

Joint Resolutions are subject to the same legislative process as are bills, and must be passed by both houses. After passage, however, they are not codified in the Annotated Code. A Governor cannot veto a joint resolution, but may or may not sign it.

Resolutions that call for a Convention of States under Article V of the Constitution, are technically called applications. The terms resolution and application are both often used to describe what we are trying to pass in state legislatures.

The Maryland Constitution mandates that bills be limited to one subject clearly described by the title of the bill. Omnibus bills are not allowed in Maryland like they are in the federal government.

The Maryland Manual Online website has a Legislative Process Page with more detailed information on the process, including bill readings, committees, amending bills and timelines.

This PDF has a great concise summary of the process.

For information on how to identify and contact your Maryland legislators, check out the next section of our Maryland Government Overview >>> Maryland Legislators

Maryland State Director: Michael Rilee
michael.rilee@cosaction.com

Physicians for COS

The diagnosis is clear.

We have a growing cancer today known as the Obamacare.

As a result physicians are no longer free to practice medicine.

No profession feels the full force of the federal government more than physicians. The medical profession is the most highly regulated profession in the United States. The practice of medicine is controlled, taxed, and regulated to the point of being destroyed by the heavy hand of the federal government.

Physicians are told how to bill, how much to charge, and how to treat patients. They are mandated to use expensive electronic medical records. The federally enacted HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act) makes the communication between physicians and atients burdensome, inefficient,and expensive. Every physician is required by federal mandate to register with the government to obtain an NPI (national provider identifier.) We are required by federal law to obtain and pay for a license to prescribe medication through the DEA, which is separate from our state licensure.

This heavy hand of government not only oversees the largest federal health bureaucracy ever created, but by extension reaches into every state, every city, and every small town to regulate how every licensed physician practices the art of medicine and how citizens obtain care.

The treatment is also clear.

The prescription for a cure was written into our constitution by our founders. Article V of our constitution allows for the states to call for a convention of states to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government through the proposal of constitutional amendments. Physicians should be the strongest supporters of this brilliantly-crafted states’ rights tool placed into our constitution by our founders.

I urge my fellow American physicians to join with me in supporting an Article V Convention of States to take back control of the practice of medicine. It’s the only way that we can return the practice of medicine back to the intimate relationship between a doctor and patient without interference by the heavy hand of a distant, national government.

Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D.

Family Physician Newport Beach, CA

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