It’s déjà vu in the Maryland General Assembly after the House of Delegates cleared a bill on Friday that would change state constitutional language around Congressional redistricting.
Two months ago, House Democrats passed HB0488, which has four key provisions related to a new Democratic-leaning Congressional map — a map they had hoped would be in place for the upcoming November 2026 election.
The first part of the bill is the map itself, which loops more Democratic voters into Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, currently held by Congressman Andy Harris (R-District 1).
Harris is the only Republican representing Maryland at the federal level.
The proposed map was prompted by President Donald Trump’s call to Republican states in the summer of 2025 to redraw their Congressional districts to favor the GOP.
House Bill 488 also includes three constitutional changes, which if approved by Maryland voters, would keep the new map in place through 2030, grant original jurisdiction to the Maryland Supreme Court over cases of Congressional districting and change language within the state constitution around map-drawing guidelines.
But that bill has sat in purgatory since its passage in the House due to staunch opposition from the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has raised a variety of concerns around early redistricting, mainly in relation to legal hurdles.
Ferguson has long referenced a 2021 state court decision from Judge Lynne Battaglia, who struck down a newly drawn Congressional map for “extreme partisan gerrymandering” when Democrats presented her what appeared to be an 8-0 map in their favor.
Lynne pointed directly to Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution as one of the justifications behind her ruling, which reads: “Each legislative district shall consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form, and of substantially equal population. Due regard shall be given to natural boundaries and the boundaries of political subdivisions.”
The phrase “legislative district” has historically been up to interpretation in court cases, but past decisions and ballot referendums largely point to consensus on the phrase referring to state legislative districts, not Congressional districts.
Battaglia’s ruling broke that precedent, arguing Maryland Congressional districts need the same consideration when it comes to compactness and natural boundaries.
The final constitutional change under House Bill 488 would clarify that those map-drawing guidelines only apply to state legislative districts, not Congressional districts, potentially clearing the way for a Democratic-leaning map to pass constitutional muster.
House Democrats attempted to appease the Senate with a compromise after it became clear House Bill 488 would not be advancing this year.
On Tuesday, the chamber shelved the map altogether and opted to only pursue the constitutional changes clarifying that the map-drawing guidelines apply to state legislative districts and granting jurisdiction over redistricting cases to the Maryland Supreme Court.
“At this point, the message is for the Senate: we did everything we can to incorporate your perspective into this discussion,” House Democratic Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery County) said on the House floor Friday.
Giving original jurisdiction the state’s high court would also fast-track any legal challenges to a proposed map, which currently have to go through multiple rounds of appeals before reaching the Maryland Supreme Court.
“I concede your worry that there has been prior court misinterpretation of our constitution that gives you pause about what might happen. We incorporated that concern into this bill, and now we pause here again with the concern I raised,” Moon continued.
Moon is referring to his expressed worry that the country is “confronting a rising dictatorship,” arguing early redistricting is a way to put more Democrats in power as a way to fight back against Trump administration policies.
But part of the catch is that Democrats attached the constitutional amendment to the existing and somewhat unrelated bill, SB0005.
Senate Bill 5, which passed with almost unanimous bipartisan support in the Senate, would amend the Maryland Constitution to require that special elections be held to fill vacant seats in the General Assembly.
Currently, if a lawmaker vacates a seat, the governor appoints someone to fill it based on a recommendation from the former lawmakers’ affiliated political party.
That bill also has bipartisan support in the House, but Republicans withdrew their support for the legislation following the addition of the redistricting amendment.
“A lot of good work went into that bill,” Del. Mike Griffith (R-Cecil and Harford Counties) said during floor debate. “That good work has been hijacked and poison pilled for political purposes, and I'm really disappointed.”
Moon says he supports both special elections and the redistricting changes and refutes arguments from the Senate that time has run out on acting on Congressional redistricting.
“This is not a poison pill. I actually support both of these issues, and I do hope we get this done,” he said.
But Ferguson is holding strong in his opposition, telling reporters Tuesday that his chamber’s focus is elsewhere.
“We have 20 days left of session, and we've got a lot of huge issues, and that's what we're going to prioritize. This is something that doesn't come up until the next census, which is in 2030, and so I think we can take it up when it makes the most sense to prioritize,” Ferguson told members of the press on Wednesday.
Ferguson is referring to the traditional timeline for when maps are redrawn — every 10 years.
The Senate president doubled-down on Friday, saying he does not foresee his chamber taking Senate Bill 5 up for a vote and expressed disappointment in having to table the enabling of special elections.
But the House and Senate were able to find common ground elsewhere on Friday, wrapping up changes to next fiscal year’s almost $71 billion state operating budget with no tax or fee increases.
Gov. Wes Moore submitted the final component of the budget for approval Friday — an additional appropriation of $140 million in General Funds for the current and upcoming fiscal year.
Most notably, the supplemental budget includes $36 million to cover overspending by the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) in the current fiscal year.
DDA is facing $127 million in cuts next fiscal year, but budget leaders are appropriating tens of millions of dollars for analytics and financial management purposes to try and rein in the department’s spending that has soared in recent years.
The conference committee reconciled funding differences over two key economic development funds.
Ultimately, lawmakers opted not to cut funding to the Sunny Day Fund, also known as the Economic Development Opportunities Program Fund, and cut the More Jobs for Marylanders program by $17 million, but only for the upcoming fiscal year.
The budget is expected to receive final approval in the House and Senate on Monday and then head to Gov. Wes Moore for signature.
“It will be the fastest I have seen us pass and agree upon a budget and send to the governor in my tenure here as a presiding officer,” Ferguson said Friday morning.
While next fiscal year’s budget maintains a cash surplus of around $250 million and closes a projected $1.5 billion structural deficit, that deficit is projected to double in the following fiscal year.
However, budget leaders appear confident they will close that gap when they get to it and stress those conversations have already begun.
“Every year we face some obstacle, whether it's budgetary or something else, and every year we sit down, we do the work,” said Secretary of Budget and Management Jake Weissman following the conference committee.“We're going to be having these conversations over the interim, working together and making the tough decisions to ensure Maryland continues to do what we have always done, which is balance our books.”
Part of that projected deficit is due to Maryland’s ambitious education overhaul, known as the Blueprint, which will run out of special funds in FY28, and lawmakers will have to tap into General Funds for the first time to pay for it.
“To say that there isn't a challenge and it isn't significant would be wrong,” Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard County) said. “But that doesn't mean that we give up on the vision and trying to accomplish what we wanted to do all along, and that is ensuring that every single child can live to their potential and get the highest possible quality education they can get.”
Ferguson says he is not anticipating any budgetary vetoes from the governor.
