MD
Maryland House Bill HB768

Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB768 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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33 EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDE D TO EXISTING LAW .
44 [Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
55 *hb0768*
66
77 HOUSE BILL 768
88 L6 5lr2449
99 HB 1436/24 – ENT CF SB 546
1010 By: Delegates S. Johnson, Guyton, and A. Johnson
1111 Introduced and read first time: January 29, 2025
1212 Assigned to: Environment and Transportation
1313
1414 A BILL ENTITLED
1515
1616 AN ACT concerning 1
1717
1818 Municipal Incorporation – County Commissioners or County Council – 2
1919 Required Approval of Referendum Request 3
2020
2121 FOR the purpose of requiring a certain organizing committee to make certain 4
2222 determinations and provide a certain report to the county commissioners or county 5
2323 council of a certain county regarding a proposed municipal incorporation; requiring 6
2424 the county to post a certain report on the county’s website within a certain time 7
2525 frame; requiring the county commissioners or county council to approve a certain 8
2626 referendum request in a certain manner if a valid petition to incorporate an area as 9
2727 a municipality is presented by a certain percentage of the registered voters who are 10
2828 residents of the area proposed to be incorporated; requiring the county 11
2929 commissioners or county council to specify in a certain resolution that a certain vote 12
3030 shall be held in the next general election under certain circumstances; and generally 13
3131 relating to the incorporation of municipalities. 14
3232
3333 BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 15
3434 Article – Local Government 16
3535 Section 4–201 through 4–204 17
3636 Annotated Code of Maryland 18
3737 (2013 Volume and 2024 Supplement) 19
3838
3939 BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 20
4040 Article – Local Government 21
4141 Section 4–205 through 4–207 22
4242 Annotated Code of Maryland 23
4343 (2013 Volume and 2024 Supplement) 24
4444
4545 SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 25
4646 That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 26
4747
4848 Article – Local Government 27 2 HOUSE BILL 768
4949
5050
5151
5252 4–201. 1
5353
5454 (a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 2
5555
5656 (b) “County liaison” means a county official, or the designee of the county official, 3
5757 who coordinates communication between the organizing committee and the county. 4
5858
5959 (c) “Organizing committee” means the group of individuals from the organizing 5
6060 community that works with the county commissioners or county council on the proposed 6
6161 municipal incorporation after a petition for incorporation is verified. 7
6262
6363 (d) “Organizing community” means individuals residing in an unincorporated 8
6464 area who are interested in forming a municipality. 9
6565
6666 4–202. 10
6767
6868 This subtitle governs municipal incorporation. 11
6969
7070 4–203. 12
7171
7272 An area proposed to be incorporated shall contain at least 300 residents before the 13
7373 organizing community may proceed under this subtitle. 14
7474
7575 4–204. 15
7676
7777 (a) A proposal to incorporate an area as a municipality is initiated when a valid 16
7878 petition is presented to the county commissioners or county council of a county by: 17
7979
8080 (1) at least 25% of the registered voters who are residents of the area 18
8181 proposed to be incorporated; or 19
8282
8383 (2) at least 20% of the registered voters who are residents of the area 20
8484 proposed to be incorporated, together with the owners of at least 25% of the assessed 21
8585 valuation of the real property of the area proposed to be incorporated. 22
8686
8787 (b) The Office of the Attorney General shall: 23
8888
8989 (1) create a standard petition form for use by an organizing community; 24
9090 and 25
9191
9292 (2) provide the board of elections of each county with the form for 26
9393 distribution to an organizing community. 27
9494
9595 (c) A petition presented under subsection (a) of this section shall: 28
9696
9797 (1) express the interest of the subscribing individuals in the incorporation 29 HOUSE BILL 768 3
9898
9999
100100 of the area; 1
101101
102102 (2) contain a detailed description of the boundaries of the area proposed to 2
103103 be incorporated, including a survey of courses and distances or general landmarks and 3
104104 place names; 4
105105
106106 (3) state the name of the new municipality, which may not be the same as 5
107107 a name used by a municipality or county in the State; and 6
108108
109109 (4) state the names of the individuals who will initially represent the 7
110110 organizing community on the organizing committee. 8
111111
112112 (d) The organizing community shall obtain the minimum number of valid 9
113113 signatures required under subsection (a) of this section within 18 months after the 10
114114 organizing community receives the standard petition form from the county board of 11
115115 elections. 12
116116
117117 (e) Each person signing the petition shall indicate on the petition: 13
118118
119119 (1) the person’s name and residence address; and 14
120120
121121 (2) if the petition is intended to be presented under subsection (a)(2) of this 15
122122 section and the person signing the petition owns real property in the area proposed to be 16
123123 incorporated, the location and assessed valuation of the property. 17
124124
125125 (f) Within 60 days after receiving a petition, the county commissioners or county 18
126126 council shall: 19
127127
128128 (1) verify that each person who signed the petition: 20
129129
130130 (i) resides in the area proposed to be incorporated; 21
131131
132132 (ii) is registered to vote in the elections of that county; and 22
133133
134134 (iii) if applicable, owns real property within the area proposed to be 23
135135 incorporated; 24
136136
137137 (2) verify that the petition meets the requirements of this section; and 25
138138
139139 (3) appoint a county liaison if the petition meets the requirements of this 26
140140 section. 27
141141
142142 (g) A petition, when received, becomes the property of the county commissioners 28
143143 or county council and may not be used to initiate another incorporation. 29
144144
145145 (h) A proposal to incorporate a municipality and to adopt a municipal charter may 30
146146 not be rescinded after the formal submission of the proposal in a manner other than that 31 4 HOUSE BILL 768
147147
148148
149149 of a formal charter repeal as provided in §§ 4–313 and 4–314 of this title. 1
150150
151151 4–205. 2
152152
153153 (a) (1) Within 90 days after the county commissioners or county council has 3
154154 verified that a petition presented under § 4–204 of this subtitle is valid, the organizing 4
155155 committee shall: 5
156156
157157 (i) actively seek information and input from the county; 6
158158
159159 (ii) hold a public meeting to collect testimony on the proposed 7
160160 incorporation; [and] 8
161161
162162 (III) DETERMINE: 9
163163
164164 1. THE LIKELY FISCAL EF FECT OF THE PROPOSED 10
165165 INCORPORATION ON RES IDENTS OF THE PROPOS ED MUNICIPALITY , RESIDENTS IN 11
166166 THE VICINITY OF THE PROPOSED MUNICIPALITY, AND THE COUNTY ; 12
167167
168168 2. THE SERVICES THAT TH E PROPOSED MUNICIPAL ITY 13
169169 IS EXPECTED TO PROVI DE; AND 14
170170
171171 3. ANY ADVERSE ECONOMIC EFFECTS ON THE COUNT Y 15
172172 AS A RESULT OF THE P ROPOSED INCORPORATIO N; AND 16
173173
174174 [(iii)] (IV) provide the county commissioners or county council with a 17
175175 report on issues related to the proposed incorporation. 18
176176
177177 (2) THE COUNTY SHALL POST THE REPORT ON THE CO UNTY’S 19
178178 WEBSITE AS SOON AS THE COUNTY COMMISSIO NERS OR COUNTY COUNC IL RECEIVES 20
179179 THE REPORT. 21
180180
181181 [(2)] (3) During the 90–day period, the county shall cooperate fully with 22
182182 the organizing committee. 23
183183
184184 (b) The organizing committee shall: 24
185185
186186 (1) notify the county liaison of all meetings and deliberations of the 25
187187 organizing committee; and 26
188188
189189 (2) give the county liaison full opportunity to participate in all meetings 27
190190 and deliberations of the organizing committee. 28
191191
192192 (c) Within 45 days after receiving the report required under subsection 29
193193 [(a)(1)(iii)] (A)(1)(IV) of this section, the county commissioners or county council or its 30 HOUSE BILL 768 5
194194
195195
196196 designee may review the report and provide comments to the organizing committee on 1
197197 issues relating to the proposed incorporation. 2
198198
199199 4–206. 3
200200
201201 (a) The organizing committee shall present to the county commissioners or county 4
202202 council a proposed municipal charter: 5
203203
204204 (1) within 45 days after receiving the comments submitted to the 6
205205 organizing committee under § 4–205(c) of this subtitle; or 7
206206
207207 (2) if the county commissioners or county council has not submitted 8
208208 comments, within 90 days after the report is submitted by the organizing committee under 9
209209 [§ 4–205(a)(1)(iii)] § 4–205(A)(1)(IV) of this subtitle. 10
210210
211211 (b) The organizing committee shall submit statements with the proposed 11
212212 municipal charter describing: 12
213213
214214 (1) the likely fiscal effect of the proposed incorporation on residents of the 13
215215 proposed municipality, residents in the vicinity of the proposed municipality, and the 14
216216 county; 15
217217
218218 (2) the services that the proposed municipality is expected to provide; and 16
219219
220220 (3) the impact that the proposed incorporation is expected to have on 17
221221 property tax rates. 18
222222
223223 4–207. 19
224224
225225 (A) IF THE COUNTY COMMISS IONERS OR COUNTY COU NCIL RECEIVES A 20
226226 REFERENDUM REQUEST P RESENTED BY AT LEAST 40% OF THE REGISTERED VO TERS 21
227227 WHO ARE RESIDENTS OF THE AREA PROPOSED TO BE INCORPORATED , THEN THE 22
228228 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OR COUNTY COUNCIL SHALL : 23
229229
230230 (1) APPROVE THE REFEREND UM REQUEST ; 24
231231
232232 (2) SPECIFY, BY RESOLUTION , THAT A VOTE ON THE P ROPOSED 25
233233 INCORPORATION BY THE VOTERS OF THE AREA T O BE INCORPORATED SH ALL BE 26
234234 HELD IN THE NEXT GEN ERAL ELECTION ; AND 27
235235
236236 (3) INCLUDE IN THE RESOL UTION THE EXACT TEXT OF TH E 28
237237 PROPOSED MUNICIPAL C HARTER AS SUBMITTED BY THE ORGANIZING CO MMITTEE. 29
238238
239239 [(a)] (B) (1) If the county commissioners or county council approves [the] A 30
240240 referendum request PRESENTED BY LESS TH AN 40% OF THE REGISTERED VO TERS 31
241241 WHO ARE RESIDEN TS OF THE AREA PROPO SED TO BE INCORPORAT ED, THEN, 32 6 HOUSE BILL 768
242242
243243
244244 between 40 and 60 days after it receives the proposed municipal charter, the county 1
245245 commissioners or county council shall specify, by resolution, the day and hours for a vote 2
246246 on the proposed incorporation by the voters of the area to be incorporated. 3
247247
248248 (2) The resolution shall include the exact text of the proposed municipal 4
249249 charter as submitted by the organizing committee. 5
250250
251251 [(b)] (C) (1) If the county commissioners or county council rejects the 6
252252 referendum request, the county commissioners or county council shall: 7
253253
254254 (i) provide in writing and make available to the public within a 8
255255 reasonable time the reasons for the rejection; and 9
256256
257257 (ii) establish reasonable procedures by which the county 10
258258 commissioners or county council shall reconsider a referendum request, including an 11
259259 opportunity for a public hearing with sufficient advance public notice. 12
260260
261261 (2) After the hearing and reconsideration process is completed, the county 13
262262 commissioners or county council, by resolution, shall affirm the rejection or approve the 14
263263 referendum request. 15
264264
265265 SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 16
266266 October 1, 2025. 17
267267