This week, Senator Bailey introduced two more bills from his legislative agenda for the 2026 Session. The first bill, Senate Bill 558, would make permanent the Chesapeake Bay Enhancement Program to provide funding for oyster propagation and replenishment projects that mitigate the effect that the construction or maintenance of the Port of Baltimore has on our State’s oyster population. The second bill, Senate Bill 559, would improve data on Maryland’s striped bass population by requiring recreational anglers to report striped bass that they catch to DNR to better inform conservation decisions.
Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 245
On Tuesday, the Senate passed two bills related to law enforcement.
Senate Bill 1 creates a civil offense against law enforcement officers who wear masks. The bill was introduced in response to concerns about their use by federal ICE agents in recent months.
As written, this legislation applies to federal officers as well as state and local law enforcement. However, under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, it is highly unlikely that this law will ever be effectively used against federal officers. This means it will ultimately be another legal obligation that will be imposed on our State and local police officers on top of the numerous changes that were made in the 2021 police reform legislative package. This bill also puts an officer who attempts to enforce it against federal law enforcement in legal jeopardy of potential federal charges for obstructing a federal officer in the performance of their duties. If the State or local governments want to address this issue for officers under their jurisdiction, it could have been done through departmental policy rather than creating a civil offense. Since this bill is likely unconstitutional as applied to federal officers and overly punitive as applied to State and local officers, Senator Bailey voted against this legislation.
Senate Bill 245 requires counties, including St. Mary’s County, to end 287(g) agreements that enhance cooperation between the County’s correctional division and ICE. It is important to note that St. Mary’s County, as in all other Maryland counties who have these agreements with ICE, these are only used to enforce immigration law for those individuals who are already in the custody of the county jail.
The safety of our citizens should be our highest priority in any legislation that we pass. As a 30-year retired law enforcement officer with extensive experience working with Federal officials to combat crime, Senator Bailey knows first-hand the importance of cooperation between all levels of government in protecting the public. It is vital that our sheriffs have all of the tools at their disposal that they need to remove criminals from our community. These written formal agreements provide a framework to carry out transfers from our local jails to ICE in an orderly and transparent way. Further, this legislation nullifies the decision of our Sheriff in St. Mary’s County, who is elected by and accountable to the voters of the County, to participate in this program. Because of the detrimental effects this will have on public safety and this further reduction in local control and discretion, Senator Bailey voted against this bill.
Anti-Second Amendment Bills
Senator Bailey is monitoring and opposes two bills that would infringe upon our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms and the rights of our Maryland sportsmen. They are:
Senate Bill 181 – Hunting – Lead and Lead-Based Ammunition – Phase-Out would ban the use of lead ammunition by hunters gradually over the next three years. This is particularly troubling because there are many models of hunting rifles for which there is no alternative ammunition available, meaning this bill would effectively ban the use of these rifles in our State for hunting.
Senate Bill 118 – Comprehensive Community Safety Funding Act is similar to legislation Senator Bailey has opposed for the past two years that would impose an 11% excise tax on retail firearm sales in Maryland.