SB 55

Motor Vehicles - Police Stops - Secondary Enforcement and Excludable Evidence

Sponsor: Charles E. Sydnor, III (District 44)Committee: Judicial ProceedingsSubject: Vehicle Laws - Rules of the RoadStatus: Hearing 1/20 at 1:00 p.m. (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 (34)

MGA witness list

FAV 17FavorableFWA 5Favorable with amendmentsUNF 10UnfavorableINFO 2Information only

Position	Witness	Organization	Testimony
FAV	Brown, Sebastianlobbyist	ACLU MD	Written (PDF)
FAV	Leon, Charmin	Center for Policing Equity	Written (PDF)
FAV	Silver, Joanna	Joanna Silver	Written (PDF)
FAV	Dartigue, Natasha	MARYLAND OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER	Oral
FAV	Enten, robert	Maryland Bankers Assoc	Position only
FAV	Plante, Cecilia	Maryland Legislative Coalition	Written (PDF)
FAV	James, Keisha	National Lawyers Guild - National Police Accountability Project	Written (PDF)
FAV	Brown, Anthony	Office of Attorney General	Written (PDF)
FAV	Levi, Deborah	Office of the Public Defender	Written (PDF)
FAV	Neath, Scarlet	The Policing Project at NYU School of Law	Written (PDF)
FAV	Warnken, Heather	University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform	Written (PDF)
FAV	Blocker, Danielle	Young People for Progress	Written (PDF)
FAV	Cichowski, Carol	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Enagonio, Liz	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Senator Sydnor, Senator Sydnorlegislator	Individual	Oral
FAV	Shifrin, Jo	Individual	Written (PDF)
FAV	Turner, Rebecca	Individual	Written (PDF)
UNF	Shellenberger, Scott	Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office	Written (PDF)
UNF	Guy, James Randy	Commissioners of St. Mary's County	Written (PDF)
UNF	Eaton, Gerald	Harford County	Oral
UNF	Jackson, Samiralobbyist	MD Police Chiefs Assoc. and MD Sheriffs Assoc.	Written (PDF)
UNF	Bailey Thupari, Angelica	Maryland Municipal League	Written (PDF)
UNF	Brown, Kirsten	Maryland State's Attorneys' Association	Written (PDF)
UNF	Dykes, Jamie	Office of the State's Attorney for Wicomico County	Oral
UNF	Lang, Alan	Individual	Written (PDF)
UNF	Rosa, Richard	Individual	Position only
UNF	Tibbals, Trudy	Individual	Position only
FWA	Boatwright, Clyde	Maryland Fraternal Order of Police	Position only
FWA	Brown, Anthony	Office of the Attorney General	Oral
FWA	Kaplowitz, Richard KAP	Year	Written (PDF)
FWA	Miller, Ian	Individual	Written (PDF)
FWA	Weeks, Jed	Individual	Written (PDF)
INFO	Kelly, Catherine	Maryland Department of State Police	Written (PDF)
INFO	Westervelt, Patricia	Maryland Department of Transportation	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

Harford CountyUNF 1

Joanna SilverFAV 1

Maryland Bankers AssocFAV 1

Maryland Department of State PoliceINFO 1

Maryland Department of TransportationINFO 1

Maryland Fraternal Order of PoliceFWA 1

Maryland Legislative CoalitionFAV 1

Maryland Municipal LeagueUNF 1

MARYLAND OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDERFAV 1

Maryland State's Attorneys' AssociationUNF 1

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

National Lawyers Guild - National Police Accountability ProjectFAV 1

Office of Attorney GeneralFAV 1

Office of the Attorney GeneralFWA 1

Office of the Public DefenderFAV 1

Office of the State's Attorney for Wicomico CountyUNF 1

The Policing Project at NYU School of LawFAV 1

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