HB 563 — Criminal Law - Emergency Response Animal - Prohibited Actions Against
MD 2026RS session · introduced 2026-01-28
Repealing the prohibition against intentionally inflicting bodily harm, permanent disability, or death on an animal owned or used by a law enforcement unit; prohibiting a person from harassing, interfering with, injuring, or killing or causing serious physical injury to an emergency response animal; and establishing that a person who violates the Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to imprisonment for up to 2 years, or a fine of up to $10,000, or both upon conviction.
Latest action: — Approved by the Governor - Chapter 402
Sponsors (13)
- Dylan Behler (D, MD-30) — sponsor · 2026-01-28
- Jon S. Cardin (D, MD-11) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- William Valentine (R, MD-2) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- N. Scott Phillips (D, MD-10) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Sean A. Stinnett (D, MD-41) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Gary Simmons (D, MD-12) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Susan K. McComas (R, MD-34) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Gabriel M. Moreno (D, MD-13) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Lauren Arikan (R, MD-7) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Nino Mangione (R, MD-42) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- David Moon (D, MD-20) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Frank M. Conaway (D, MD-40) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Jamila J. Woods (D, MD-26) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
Action timeline (9)
- · house — First Reading
- · house — Hearing — Judiciary
- · house — Second Reading — Passed with Amendments
- · senate — First Reading (cross-filed)
- · house — Third Reading — Passed
- · senate — Second Reading — Passed with Amendments
- · house — Committee Report — Favorable with Amendments
- · senate — Third Reading — Passed with Amendments
- · senate — Committee Report — Favorable with Amendments
Text versions (0)
No text versions on file yet — same ingest as the action timeline populates these. Each version has direct links to the XML / HTML / PDF at govinfo.gov.
Bill text (extracted)
Amendments
Congressional Research Service briefs (0)
CRS reports that cite this bill in their relatedMaterials — what Congress was reading on the topic. Click any report for its summary, formats, and bill-citation walk.
No CRS reports cite this bill yet.
Connected on the graph
2 typed relationships in the influence graph — 0 inbound, 2 outbound, grouped by type.
referred to committee (2)
| date | dir | entity | amount | role | source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | → | Senate judicial proceedings | — | md-leg | |
| — | → | House judiciary | — | md-leg |
Who matters on this bill
Who matters
Members ranked by combined influence on this bill: role (sponsor 5 / cosponsor 1), capped speech count from the Congressional Record, and recorded-vote engagement.
| # | Member | Role | Speeches | Voted | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Behler (D, state_lower MD-30) | sponsor | 0 | — | 5 |
| 2 | David Moon (D, state_lower MD-20) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 3 | Frank M. Conaway (D, state_lower MD-40) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 4 | Gabriel M. Moreno (D, state_lower MD-13) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 5 | Gary Simmons (D, state_lower MD-12) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 6 | Jamila J. Woods (D, state_lower MD-26) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 7 | Jon S. Cardin (D, state_lower MD-11) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 8 | Lauren Arikan (R, state_lower MD-7) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 9 | N. Scott Phillips (D, state_lower MD-10) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 10 | Nino Mangione (R, state_lower MD-42) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 11 | Sean A. Stinnett (D, state_lower MD-41) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 12 | Susan K. McComas (R, state_lower MD-34) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 13 | William Valentine (R, state_lower MD-2) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
Stance (positions taken)
Predicted vote
Aggregated from: actual roll-call votes (when present) → sponsor → cosponsor → party median (predicts YES when ≥25% of the caucus sponsored/cosponsored). Each row labels its confidence tier so you can see why a position was predicted.
0 predicted yes (0%) · 543 predicted no (100%) · 0 unknown (0%)
By party: · R: 0 yes / 277 no · D: 0 yes / 263 no · I: 0 yes / 3 no
Timeline
Every typed-graph event involving this entity, newest first. Each row is one edge in the influence graph; the inline strip under the row shows the counterpart's own context (a bill's latest action, a hearing's chamber + date, a filing's form type + filed date, a clip's source + excerpt) so the timeline reads like a Wikipedia citation rail.
- 2026-05-24 · was referred to Senate judicial proceedings · md-leg
- 2026-05-24 · was referred to House judiciary · md-leg