Legislative Wrap-Up 2025

The 447th session of the Maryland General Assembly began on January 8, 2025 and ended on April 7, 2025.

Health Choice Maryland sent out action alerts for 21 bills. Thanks to all of you who took action. Of these, five bills passed both houses and as of this writing, one of these has been signed by the Governor. Pay particular attention to HB1315 which gives pharmacists expanded authority for vaccinating children. You can click on the link to read the bill yourself.

Also click on the bottom link for an interview with RFK, Jr. on the first 100 days.

PASSED and was signed by the Governor:

HB0114 – Establishing requirements for the commercial application of general use pesticides.

PASSED both houses but is not yet signed by the Governor:

SB0399 – Would allow overhead transmission lines to be be constructed in certain protected wild land areas by exempting them from protection but would require the applicant to provide wild land impact mitigation guarantees.

HB0996 – Requiring a retailer to disclose certain information about Phenibut products; prohibitions related to the preparation, distribution, and sale of phenibut products; prohibiting the marketing/sale of phenibut to individuals under the age of 21 years.

HB1007 – Prohibiting insurance carriers that offer life insurance or disability insurance policies from discriminating against an individual based on certain medical information; prohibiting certain carriers from accessing medical information without consent or mandating genetic testing as a prerequisite for life insurance or disability insurance.

HB1315 – This bill allows a pharmacist to vaccinate a child as young as 3 with a flu vaccine, COVID vaccine or in response to a public health emergency. It also does not say anything about the need for informed parental consent for vaccination for any child under 18 years of age.

With regard to health issues including vaccines for children, we have linked an interview with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. concerning the first 100 days of his tenure and the plan ahead.