Convention of States Action Maryland volunteers testified in the House of Delegates on March 3 and again in the Senate on March 14.
Watch the 2023 Senate Testimony highlight reel.
So what happens next?
Here's how the legislative process works:
- SJ1 was introduced by Senator Justin Ready and assigned by Senate leadership to the Education, Energy & Environment Committee.
- HJ2 was introduced by Delegate Mark Fisher and assigned by House leadership to the Rules & Executive Nominations Committee.
- 18 Maryland volunteers testified before each Committee: in the House on March 3 and in the Senate on March 14.
- Each Committee considers the bills presented before them and deliberate. Committees can either vote on a bill or allow it to expire.
- March 20, 2023 is "crossover day" - the deadline for the House and Senate to pass legislation onto the other chamber.
- Committees vote for or against the bills presented by March 20.
- A favorable vote sends the bill to the opposite chamber for consideration.
- An unfavorable vote in Committee effectively kills the bill.
- No vote at all allows a bill to expire, killing the bill.
- The Legislative Session ends on April 10.
It does not appear that either the Senate or House Committees will be voting on SJ1 and HJ2 this session. A vote was not scheduled in the Senate for voting and it has passed the time to vote it out of the House chamber.
Crossover Day has come and gone.
The Legislative session ends in 7 days.
2023 is the second year in a row that COS Action Maryland has presented bills and offered testimony in both houses. Since 2016, it's our 7th filing in the House of Delegates and our 5th filing in the Senate. And for the 12th time, Committees have allowed our bills to expire without a vote.
Hopefully, our representatives in Annapolis recognize the impact of these messages to Maryland voters. We are proud of every one who testified in favor of SJ1 and HJ2 on behalf of Convention of States Action Maryland. We're grateful for the 31,000 Marylanders who have signed the petition.
We'll be back again in 2024
with more petition signers!
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR NOW
Let them know how you feel about SJ1 & HJ2
We are now more than halfway to our goal to convene a Convention of States! 19 of the needed 34 states have passed the resolution, and we're making progress in the remaining states, including Maryland. Momentum is on our side!
A Convention of States will convene in our lifetime! When we reach the 34 state threshold, Maryland will appoint delegates to debate the three proposed amendments to cut federal spending, reel in federal overreach and enact term limits on Congress. You could be one of those delegates!
To learn more about getting involved, click the image below.
