Moore’s housing package among more than 270 new laws approved at final bill signing

Gov. Wes Moore (D) approved new laws Tuesday that will encourage housing development around transit hubs and grant developers so-called vesting rights that will keep approved housing projects from being held up by new regulations from local jurisdictions.

The bills were part of the governor’s housing priorities this session, and came a year after the administration saw lawmakers reject its push for legislation that would grant more “certainty” for developers as a project progressed.

Moore said he hopes the Housing Certainty Act and the transit-oriented development law will help whittle down the state’s 94,000 housing unit shortage, making housing more affordable by increasing supply.

“We’re grateful that more people are coming to Maryland – in fact, our state population is growing faster now than it has in any point in the past decade. That is a good thing,” Moore said. “However … it doesn’t just highlight that we have a housing shortage in Maryland, we have a housing crisis in Maryland.”

The two housing bills were among a dozen highlighted by officials of the more than 270 bills signed Tuesday, the last bill signing for the 2026 legislative session.

‘Vesting rights’ bill heads to governor’s desk, his other housing bills less certain

They bring the number of new laws enacted this year to more than 860, according data from the General Assembly. Nine Senate bills and five House bills will go into effect without the governor’s signature, and Moore plans to veto a handful of bills.

It’s also the final bill signing of Moore’s current term as governor. He is seeking reelection this fall.

Moore said the bills approved Tuesday will help make Maryland more affordable and ease day-to-day challenges Marylanders may face — including the ongoing housing shortage.

He said state policy has been getting in the way of new development and that the bills signed Tuesday would smooth the path to development of more housing. Officials say developers are often deterred or unable to finish housing projects because they have to adapt to new building requirements in the middle of construction.

House Bill 548 and Senate Bill 325, the Maryland Housing Certainty Act, will delay the payment of certain fees to county officials for new housing development and create “vesting rights” for developers: The assurance that a project would be subject to the local regulations in place when its application is completed, and not subject to later changes.

Moore’s second housing bill, the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act, will encourage new housing around transit hubs by restricting parking minimums and other local decisions in specific situations. It also prohibits the collection of certain county taxes until a project is close to completion.

“Let’s make sure we can put better use to underutilized land,” Moore said. “The two bills that we’re signing into law today allow us to open up more than 300 acres of land near transit, and we’re going to build at least 7,000 new homes in Maryland. We’re going to make sure that once a project is approved, that rules cannot change, and costs cannot soar.”

The third bill in Moore’s housing package died in committee. The “Starter and Silver Homes Act”  would have encouraged the development of smaller units to help new families find starting homes and give older Marylanders a chance to downsize, but it failed to get a committee vote in either chamber.

The governor was joined by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), who both voiced their support for the housing bills.

“The Housing Certainty Act makes one promise, that once a project is underway, the rules don’t move out from under it and kills the homes that families are counting on,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson also highlighted juvenile justice reform efforts and legislation to expand collective bargaining options for graduate students and nontenured university faculty, as well as come less complicate bills, like House Bill 474. It requires that drivers clear snow and ice from the tops of their vehicles before getting on the road, to prevent sheets of ice from flying off while on the highway, posing a safety hazard for those behind.

Ferguson called Tuesday’s bill signing “the culmination of all the excellent and productive, important work over our last 90-day session.”.

Peña-Melnyk flagged Senate Bill 829 and House 1121 to help “women of a certain age” receive care when going through menopause. The legislation adds training on menopause, to better identify and provide care for it, as part of continuing education for health providers.

“Menopause is a natural and inevitable result of aging, yet it remains one of the most under-researched, underdiscussed and stigmatized stages of life. It’s time to change that,” she said.  “Women deserve providers that can recognize the signs, understand the physiological changes occurring during this transition and offer appropriate evidence-based health care.”

Among the hundreds of other bills signed without fanfare Tuesday were Senate Bill 169 and House Bill 447, ensuring that women who need abortions in emergency medical situations can terminate their pregnancy at any Maryland health care institution.

House gives final OK to bill codifying guarantee to emergency abortions

Reproductive rights activists had pushed for the bill as the Trump administration moves to weaken federal emergency abortion protections laid out in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The bill enshrines EMTALA in state law as it relates to emergency abortion care, requiring a hospital to treat and stabilize a patient with an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition, including the termination of a pregnancy if needed — or transfer that patient to another facility, so long as the patient’s risk would not be worsened by the transfer.

Opponents had argued that the bill could infringe on the religious freedoms of physicians and medical institutions that oppose abortion.

Another bill signed into law Tuesday will require statewide police training on “elopement,” when people with certain disabilities, such as autism or dementia, run away or wander off from supervision. The LEAD Act, for Laila’s Elopement Awareness and Dissemination Act, was named for a young autistic girl who wandered away from her family before being found safe.

While relatively common, elopement can be traumatizing or even deadly when those individuals are not found quickly. House Bill 634 and Senate Bill 745 will train law enforcement to more quickly find those individuals and guide officers on how to interact with them once found.

Peña-Melnyk said she wished she had time to talk about more of the measures being signed into law.

“When you put it all together,” Peña-Melnyk said, “the overarching message today is we are … making it easier for Marylanders to live here, work here, do business here, raise a family here and grow old here.”