ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland General Assembly will hold a special session from August 3 to August 5, 2026. Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk introduced legislation to amend the Maryland Constitution regarding congressional redistricting.

A joint hearing by the House and Senate election committees is scheduled for noon on Monday, August 3, 2026, in Annapolis. Oral testimony at the joint hearing is limited to 50 witnesses, with each witness limited to two minutes of oral testimony.

Witnesses may testify virtually or in person, and anyone may submit written testimony without limit. Individuals wishing to speak must sign up on the General Assembly website between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2026. Sign-up requires creating a 'MyMGA' account on the General Assembly website.

If more than 50 people sign up to speak, committee chairs will decide who testifies. House Minority Leader Jason Buckel criticized the constraints placed on public participation during the upcoming proceedings.

"We are very concerned with the significant limitations on witnesses, and the reality that any bill hearing is obviously intended to be a brief and meaningless formality," Buckel said. He added that the people of Maryland deserve better.

Heather Mizeur, spokesperson for House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, defended the procedural rules governing the hearing. She stated that the 50-person limit is typical procedure for General Assembly committees.

Mizeur said committee staff members often use a random number generator to select witnesses if the limit is reached. The legislative body is the official assembly for the State of Maryland, United States.

House Bill 2100 clarifies that the constitutional requirement for compact and contiguous districts applies only to General Assembly districts, not congressional districts. The bill also grants the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction to review congressional districting plans directly.

House Bill 2100 states that the Maryland Constitution provides no applicable criteria for the boundaries of a congressional districting plan. The proposed constitutional amendment requires a three-fifths vote in both the Senate and House of Delegates to pass.

If passed by the legislature, the constitutional amendment will appear on the November 2026 general election ballot. The ballot question asks voters whether certain standards in the Maryland Constitution apply only to General Assembly districts.

The measure authorizes the Supreme Court of Maryland to review congressional districting plans and requires congressional district criteria to be determined by applicable federal laws. No redistricting changes resulting from this process could take effect before the 2028 election.

Senate President Bill Ferguson reversed his opposition to a special session on redistricting in late April 2026. He cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais as a reason for reevaluating the special session.

In Louisiana v. Callais, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that congressional districts drawn to consider race were unconstitutional. "Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us," Ferguson said.

The legal landscape shifted previously in 2022, when Judge Lynne Battaglia overturned the legislature’s 2021 congressional map because it did not comply with the 'compact and contiguous' requirement. Prior to the 2022 ruling, the 'compact and contiguous' requirement was believed to apply only to General Assembly districts.

Democrats control both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly. Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) is Maryland’s only Republican representative in Congress.

A map passed by the House of Delegates in the previous legislative session would have connected the Eastern Shore to Annapolis. The map passed by the House stalled in the Senate during the previous legislative session.

Governor Wes Moore campaigned for redistricting. Democratic leaders stated that a second bill on the agenda would eliminate a duplicate ballot question about collective bargaining for state employees.

Republican leaders criticized the addition of a second bill to the special session agenda. Matt Morgan, Maryland Freedom Caucus Chair, offered a sharp assessment of the primary legislation under consideration.

"HB 2100 is not a clarification, it is a confession," Morgan said. He described it as a direct response to court rulings that prevented the majority party from treating congressional districts as nothing more than instruments of partisan power.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey accused the majority of altering procedures without sufficient notice or justification. "The Democratic majority is making the rules up as they go along," Hershey said.

The special session addresses a constitutional framework for congressional districting that has been subject to judicial reinterpretation. The 2022 ruling by Judge Lynne Battaglia established that existing state constitutional standards applied to congressional maps, a determination that prompted the current legislative effort to clarify those boundaries.

The outcome of the November 2026 ballot question will determine whether the Supreme Court of Maryland retains authority to review congressional plans under state law or if federal statutes become the sole determinant. This shift in jurisdiction reflects the broader legal context established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais, which restricted the use of race in district drawing.

The procedural limits on testimony have been questioned by minority party leaders who argue the process lacks transparency. With Democrats controlling both chambers, the three-fifths vote requirement represents the primary legislative hurdle before the measure reaches voters. Any changes approved through this process will not affect congressional representation until the 2028 election cycle.

Why It Matters

The proposed amendment seeks to overturn a 2022 state court ruling that invalidated Maryland's congressional map for failing to meet compactness standards. By clarifying that these criteria apply only to state legislative districts, the measure would restrict future legal challenges to federal grounds alone. Any changes approved by voters in November 2026 would not take effect until the 2028 election cycle.