HB 81

Motor Vehicles - Police Stops - Secondary Enforcement and Excludable Evidence

Sponsor: N. Scott Phillips (District 10)Committee: JudiciarySubject: Vehicle Laws - Rules of the RoadStatus: Hearing 2/24 at 1:00 p.m. (Judiciary) (as of Sep 4, 2026)

What this bill does

Official synopsis

Requiring a police officer to document all reasons for a traffic stop or other stop on a citation or police report resulting from the stop; establishing that certain evidence obtained from a traffic stop or other stop in violation of certain provisions of law may be excluded as evidence in certain proceedings; authorizing a police officer to enforce certain provisions of the Maryland Vehicle Law only as a secondary action; and applying certain provisions of the Act retroactively.

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Analysis reads the bill text, the fiscal note, and the witness list. It is generated by Claude and reviewed by nobody, so check the source documents before you rely on it.

Testimony (38)

MGA witness list

FAV 19FavorableFWA 7Favorable with amendmentsUNF 9UnfavorableINFO 3Information only

Position	Witness	Organization	Testimony
FAV	Brown, Sebastianlobbyist	ACLU MD	Written (PDF)
FAV	Burbank, Chris	Center for Policing Equity	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Hamer, Lisa	Fair and Just Prosecution	Written (PDF)
FAV	Moore, DaMarqus	Helping Ourselves To Transform	Written (PDF)
FAV	Agarin, Ufuoma	Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland	Written (PDF)
FAV	Dartigue, Natasha	MARYLAND OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER	Oral
FAV	Plante, Cecilia	Maryland Legislative Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	Levi, Deborah	Office of the Public Defender	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Out For Justice, Member	Out for Justice	Position only
FAV	Phillips, N Scott	Phillips Consulting	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	McConney Moore, Kelly	Policing Project at NYU School of Law	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	McNair, Lee	Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice Ministry	Position only
FAV	Warnken, Heather	University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform	Oral + Written (PDF)
FAV	Blocker, Danielle	Young People for Progress	Written (PDF)
FAV	Ali, Mir Usman	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Cichowski, Carol	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Delegate Phillips, Delegate Phillipslegislator	Individual	Oral
FAV	Koul, Michelle	Individual	Position only
FAV	Schmidt, Theo	Individual	Oral + Written (PDF)
UNF	Shellenberger, Scott	Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office	Oral + Written (PDF)
UNF	Guy, Randy	Commissioners of St. Mary's County	Written (PDF)
UNF	Jackson, Samiralobbyist	MD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.	Written (PDF)
UNF	Bailey Thupari, Angelica	Maryland Municipal League	Written (PDF)
UNF	Culver, Allan	Maryland State's Attorney's Association	Oral + Written (PDF)
UNF	Brown, Kirsten	Maryland State's Attorneys' Association	Written (PDF)
UNF	Messersmith, David	Wicomico County State's Attorney Office	Oral
UNF	Rosa, Richard	Individual	Position only
UNF	Tibbals, Trudy	Individual	Position only
FWA	Silver, Joanna	Joanna Silver	Written (PDF)
FWA	Williams, Carrie	Maryland Office of the Attorney General	Oral
FWA	Brown, Anthony	Office of the Attorney General	Written (PDF)
FWA	Hoefner, Ferd	Takoma Park Presbyterian Church	Written (PDF)
FWA	Kaplowitz, Richard KAP	Year	Written (PDF)
FWA	Rice, Mat	Individual	Written (PDF)
FWA	Shifrin, Jo	Individual	Written (PDF)
INFO	Westervelt, Patricia	Maryland Department of Transportation	Written (PDF)
INFO	Roth, Kristina	NAACP LDF	Written (PDF)
INFO	Mowbray, Breanna	Individual	Written (PDF)

Organizations on record

ACLU MDFAV 1

Baltimore County State's Attorney's OfficeUNF 1

Center for Policing EquityFAV 1

Commissioners of St. Mary's CountyUNF 1

Fair and Just ProsecutionFAV 1

Helping Ourselves To TransformFAV 1

Joanna SilverFWA 1

Legislative Black Caucus of MarylandFAV 1

Maryland Department of TransportationINFO 1

Maryland Legislative CoalitionFAV 1

Maryland Municipal LeagueUNF 1

Maryland Office of the Attorney GeneralFWA 1

MARYLAND OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDERFAV 1

Maryland State's Attorney's AssociationUNF 1

Maryland State's Attorneys' AssociationUNF 1

MD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.UNF 1

NAACP LDFINFO 1

Office of the Attorney GeneralFWA 1

Office of the Public DefenderFAV 1

Out for JusticeFAV 1

Phillips ConsultingFAV 1

Policing Project at NYU School of LawFAV 1

Takoma Park Presbyterian ChurchFWA 1

Unitarian Universalist Environmental Justice MinistryFAV 1

University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice ReformFAV 1

Wicomico County State's Attorney OfficeUNF 1

YearFWA 1

Young People for ProgressFAV 1

Registered lobbyists who testified

FAVBrown, SebastianACLU MDRegistered for: ACLU of Maryland

UNFJackson, SamiraMD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.Registered for: Critical Response Group; Dell Technologies Inc.; Empower; Forward Financing; HDR Engineering, Inc.; Maryland Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs…