After a 90-day session largely devoted to Democratic priorities, the Maryland House of Delegates devolved into a Republican-led shouting match with just six minutes before the General Assembly adjourned for the year.
With a fresh term, an ally in Democratic Gov. Wes Moore and new seats gained by the party following the 2022 general election, the members of the party in control of the General Assembly had focused their eyes on their priorities this session.
Members of the minority party, meanwhile, objected from the start to legislation at the top of Democrats’ lists, particularly bills to address U.S. Supreme Court decisions last year that disrupted abortion access across the country and rendered Maryland’s concealed carry gun policy unconstitutional.
Tensions grew Monday in the push-pull over legislation on major issues facing the state and the Democrats’ firm control over both chambers, particularly the House. After flaring in the afternoon, they erupted into yelling at night.
It was a rare breach of the usual decorum and one that GOP delegates aimed at Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first Black and first woman leader of either legislative chamber, by name.
The House began its last day with a two-hour debate Monday afternoon on Senate Bill 1, which would ban people from carrying firearms at certain public locations, like schools, bars and restaurants.
Republican delegates lobbed four amendments at the bill — each of which failed. Though they had several more to offer, Jones accepted a motion to force a final vote on the bill, which the minority party deemed unfair because it cut the debate short.
The bill passed out of the House chamber on a vote of 93-42.
Then, near midnight, an issue related to Maryland’s pending legalization of recreational cannabis came to the House, thanks to a last-minute maneuver.
Sponsored by Montgomery County Democrat Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, House Bill 1071 would prohibit law enforcement officers from conducting traffic stops and searches based solely on the odor of cannabis. Under the legislation, police would not be prohibited from conducting traffic stops based on other justified reasons, like speeding or erratic driving, or questioning drivers based on signs of impairment.
The House passed Crutchfield’s bill in mid-March. The Senate took up the bill Monday in a surprise move, invoking special rules to return it to the House for final approval of its amendments just before both chambers adjourned for the year.
Jones acknowledged that there were still several more bills to vote on after the cannabis odor bill. Using her discretion as speaker, Jones wasn’t granting House lawmakers the ability to explain their votes. The bill was sent to Moore’s desk on a vote of 101-36.
The House never got to the next bill on the agenda.
Del. Nic Kipke, a Republican from Anne Arundel County, called on Jones to leave the rostrum with six minutes left in the session, arguing she was out of order for failing to recognize GOP delegates who wanted to speak.
“You know I love you, but you have to sit down,” Kipke yelled to Jones from the back of the chamber, leading to an eruption of shouts over House rules from members of both parties as Democrats Moore, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller and Comptroller Brooke Lierman watched from the gallery and Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates looked on from behind the area for the media.
At the urging of House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, Republican delegates got up from their seats and began moving toward the exits at the back of the chamber.
But the clock struck midnight and the House adjourned before any GOP members could leave.
Buckel largely blamed inter-chamber relations for the late-night ruckus.
“When you’re doing things at 11:45, 11:55 at night, that’s not the Republicans were against you — that’s the Democrats couldn’t make the railroads run on time for 90 days,” Buckel said after the session had ended. “There’s no other explanation for it. Democrats have a supermajority in the Senate and the House. If they want to move important bills ... they have a tremendous amount of ability to do that.”
Buckel said the disruption was not a tactic to keep further legislation from passing.
Maryland Legislative Black Caucus Chair Jheanelle Wilkins, a Democrat from Montgomery, said she wants a public apology for the behavior directed at Jones.
“The Black Caucus demands an apology to the speaker and to the body for the disrespectful and out-of-order outburst,” she said after the chamber adjourned.
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