2023 MD Legislative Scorecard

HB967 proclaims October 5 annually as Dashain Day, codifying into law a Hindu religious festival in honor of Durga, the Universal Mother Goddess.

The Senate passed HB967 on April 10, 2023, by a vote of 34 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because this bill is antithetical to Maryland’s distinct Christian heritage—treating with disdain the life and character upon which its civil institutions were founded. For example, the original Constitution of Maryland, adopted in 1776, required a “declaration of a belief in the Christian religion” to hold public office in the State (Article XXXV). Moreover, the Great Seal of Maryland, which dates back to 1632, is encircled with Psalm 5:12 of the Holy Bible and still used to authenticate acts of the General Assembly. Nevertheless, rather than perform their duty to defend Christian principles, and be “grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty,” as expressed in Maryland’s current Declaration of Rights, legislators in Annapolis have decided to patronize multicultural polytheism. “We, the People,” on the other hand, have been assured by this nation’s forefathers, who gave us the American Republic, that apart from a firm reliance on God, not to mention the removal of His commandments from capitols, courthouses, and elsewhere, our efforts shall succeed “no better than the Builders of Babel.”

HB3 directs the Maryland State Police Gun Center to track all firearms surrendered under final protective orders and creates a statewide database for law enforcement agencies to report information on individuals who surrender firearms.

The Senate passed HB3 on April 7, 2023, by a vote of 41 to 2. We have assigned pluses to the nays because state and federal laws prohibiting or tracking firearm possession by individuals subject to protective orders are inherently unconstitutional. They amount to blanket “searches and seizures” that automatically disarm an entire class of citizens. Protective orders often pertain to civil—not criminal— matters, but regardless, every law-abiding citizen, including those who have made just restitution for their past wrongs, retains an “unalienable” individual right to self-defense. Persons not guilty of a violent capital or first-degree crime (e.g., murder or rape) need not suffer a permanent loss of their constitutional privileges or immunities. The Second Amendment guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” and the Fifth and the 14th Amendments prevent “any State” from depriving or denying “any person” of their “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

HB705 proposes to amend the Maryland Constitution to declare a “fundamental right” to “reproductive freedom,” including but not limited to the ability to “prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”

The Senate passed HB705 on March 31, 2023, by a vote of 33 to 14. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the care of human life—not its destruction—is the greatest responsibility of government. Maryland ought to forbid all methods of abortion and other grotesque methods of population control entirely and uphold the sanctity of life for every person, especially preborn children. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and unalienable right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

HB283, the “Trans Health Equity Act,” requires Medicaid to provide coverage for “gender-affirming treatment” to all “transgender, nonbinary, intersex, two-spirit, and other gender diverse individuals.”

The Senate passed HB283 on March 31, 2023, by a vote of 31 to 13. We have assigned pluses to the nays because health care, let alone sex mutilation, is not the role of government. No person has a right to harm another using the pretext of “trans health” or LGBTQ+ ideology, and Medicaid, like other so-called ‘entitlement programs,’ is financed by immoral and anti-constitutional forms of taxation (e.g., personal or corporate income taxes) that take from citizens the wages they have duly earned. Not only do both the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment affirm the basic humanity (i.e., right to life and limb) of every person, but Medicaid remains an ever-expanding and unsustainable Federal-State program that is not authorized under Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution.

SB36 authorizes a family court to grant an “absolute divorce” on the grounds of either a six-month separation between the parties or “irreconcilable differences” based on reasons stated by the complainant.

The Senate passed SB36 on March 20, 2023, by a vote of 33 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the nays because ‘no fault divorce’ is blatantly unjust and unconstitutional. It permits persons to commit serious acts of injury against their spouses and children (e.g., adultery or abandonment) with impunity—thereby aiding and abetting violators of the marital covenant while denying victims due process of law. Innocent parties are sued with no right to their day in court. It also mistakenly assumes that valid grounds for divorce, along with marriage itself, are to be determined exclusively, even frivolously, by the government. Yet, nothing in the Bill of Rights or the 14th Amendment can be used to render marriage vows as meaningless. On the contrary, marriage, being coeval with mankind, is ordained by God, not the State. The most sacred of all human institutions, marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, whose one-flesh union serves as the foundation of the family. God-honoring marriages are essential to securing the blessings of liberty and self-government for our children, whereas the fallout from ‘no-fault divorce’ has been devastating. Maryland should seek to protect families rather than tear them apart.