The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives. Members of both houses serve four-year terms. Each house elects its own officers, judges the qualifications and election of its own members, establishes rules for the conduct of its business, and may punish or expel its own members.
The General Assembly meets each year for 90 days to act on more than 2,300 bills including the state's annual budget, which it must pass before adjourning sine die. The General Assembly's 443rd session convened on January 11, 2023.
History
The forerunner of the Maryland General Assembly was the colonial institution, an Assembly of Free Marylanders (and also Council of Maryland). Maryland's foundational charter created a state ruled by the Palatine lord, Lord Baltimore. As ruler, Lord Baltimore owned directly all of the land granted in the charter, and possessed absolute authority over his domain.
However, as elsewhere in British North America, British political institutions were re-created in the colonies, and the Maryland General Assembly fulfilled much the same function as the House of Commons. An act was passed providing that:
from henceforth and for ever everyone being of the council of the Province and any other gentleman of able judgement summoned by writ (and the Lord of every Manor within this Province after Manors be erected) shall and may have his voice, seat, and place in every General Assembly ... together with two or more able and sufficient men for the hundred as the said freedmen or the major part of them ... shall think good.
In addition, the Lord Proprietor could summon any delegates whom he desired. In 1639, noting that Parliament had not been summoned in England for a decade, the free men of Maryland passed an act to the effect that "assemblies were to be called once in every three years at the least", ensuring that their voices would be regularly heard. During the American Revolution the colonial Assembly ceased to exist, and was replaced by its modern successor.
Starting in 1867, the Assembly became increasingly unrepresentative. As the population of Baltimore increased, it and other urban areas were not granted additional seats. By 1918, the city's population had increased 175% while the entire state gained only 46% with no reallocation of political power. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly adjourned early on March 18, 2020, for the first time since the Civil War.
Qualifications and membership
Each senator or delegate must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Maryland for at least one year preceding his or her election. A prospective legislator must have resided in the legislative district the candidate seeks to represent for the six months prior to election. A senator must be at least twenty-five years of age at the time of election and a delegate at least twenty-one. Military officers other than members of the reserves are not eligible for election to the General Assembly.
Each term lasts four years. However, members of the General Assembly are not term-limited. If a vacancy occurs in either house through death, resignation, or disqualification, the Governor of Maryland appoints a replacement whose name is submitted by the State Central Committee of the same political party as the legislator whose seat is to be filled.
Legislative districts
The current pattern for distribution of seats began with the legislative apportionment plan of 1972 and has been revised every ten years thereafter according to the results of the decennial U.S. Census. A Constitutional amendment, the plan created 47 legislative districts, many of which cross county boundaries to delineate districts relatively equal in population. Each legislative district elects one senator and three delegates. In most districts, the three delegates are elected at large from the whole district via block voting. However, in some more sparsely populated areas of the state, the districts are divided into subdistricts for the election of delegates: either into three one-delegate subdistricts or one two-delegate subdistrict and one one-delegate subdistrict.