Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB322 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3		EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4		[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5		-	Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
6		-	Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
7		-	amendment.
8	5		sb0322
9	6
10	7		SENATE BILL 322
11	8		R5 5lr1913
12		-	SB 10/24 – JPR CF ~~HB 470~~
	9	+	SB 10/24 – JPR CF 5lr1912
13	10		By: Senator Kagan
14	11		Introduced and read first time: January 15, 2025
15	12		Assigned to: Judicial Proceedings
16		-	Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
17		-	Senate action: Adopted
18		-	Read second time: March 18, 2025
19	13
20		-	~~CHAPTER ______~~
	14	+	A BILL ENTITLED
21	15
22	16		AN ACT concerning 1
23	17
24		-	Vehicle Laws – Obscured or Modified, Modified, or Blocked Registration Plates 2
25		-	and Registration Plate Covers 3
	18	+	Vehicle Laws – Obscured or Modified Registration Plates 2
26	19
27		-	FOR the purpose of prohibiting a person from obscuring or modifying any vehicle 4
28		-	registration plate in a manner that may prevent identification and enforcing the 5
29		-	prohibition as a secondary offense; prohibiting a person from advertising for or 6
30		-	promoting the sale of certain registration plate covers in a certain manner and 7
31		-	establishing that a violation is an unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practice subject 8
32		-	to certain enforcement and penalties; and generally relating to obscured or modified, 9
33		-	modified, or blocked vehicle registration plates and registration plate covers. 10
	20	+	FOR the purpose of prohibiting a person from obscuring or modifying any vehicle 3
	21	+	registration plate in a manner that may prevent identification; and generally 4
	22	+	relating to obscured or modified vehicle registration plates. 5
34	23
35		-	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 11
36		-	Article – ~~Commercial Law 12~~
37		-	Section 13–~~301(14)(xlii) 13~~
38		-	Annotated Code of Maryland 14
39		-	(~~2013~~ Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 15
	24	+	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 6
	25	+	Article – Transportation 7
	26	+	Section 21–1112.1 8
	27	+	Annotated Code of Maryland 9
	28	+	(2020 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 10
40	29
41		-	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 16
42		-	Article – Commercial Law 17
43		-	Section 13–301(14)(xliii) 18
44		-	Annotated Code of Maryland 19
45		-	(2013 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 20
	30	+	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 11
	31	+	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 12
46	32
47		-	BY adding to 21
48		-	Article – Commercial Law 22 2 SENATE BILL 322
	33	+	Article – Transportation 13
49	34
	35	+	21–1112.1. 14
50	36
51		-	Section 13–301(14)(xliv) 1
52		-	Annotated Code of Maryland 2
53		-	(2013 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 3
	37	+	(a) A person may not obscure or modify any vehicle registration plate [with intent 15
	38	+	to avoid] IN A MANNER THAT MAY PREVENT identification. 16
54	39
55		-	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 4
56		-	Article – Transportation 5
57		-	Section 13–411(c) 6
58		-	Annotated Code of Maryland 7
59		-	(2020 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 8
	40	+	(b) A violation of this section is a moving violation for the purpose of the 17
	41	+	assessment of points under § 16–402 of this article. 18
60	42
61		-	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 9
62		-	Article – Transportation 10
63		-	Section 13–411.1 and 21–1112.1 11
64		-	Annotated Code of Maryland 12
65		-	(2020 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 13
	43	+	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 19
	44	+	October 1, 2025. 20
66	45
67		-	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 14
68		-	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 15
69		-
70		-	Article – Commercial Law 16
71		-
72		-	13–301. 17
73		-
74		-	Unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices include any: 18
75		-
76		-	(14) Violation of a provision of: 19
77		-
78		-	(xlii) Section 12–6C–09.1 of the Health Occupations Article; [or] 20
79		-
80		-	(xliii) Title 14, Subtitle 48 of this article; or 21
81		-
82		-	(XLIV) SECTION 13–411.1(C)(2) OF THE TRANSPORTATION 22
83		-	ARTICLE; OR 23
84		-
85		-	Article – Transportation 24
86		-
87		-	13–411. 25
88		-
89		-	(c) (1) At all times, each registration plate shall be: 26
90		-
91		-	(i) Maintained free from foreign materials, including registration 27
92		-	plate covers as defined in § 13–411.1 of this subtitle, and in a condition to be clearly legible; 28
93		-	and 29
94		-
95		-	(ii) Securely fastened to the vehicle for which it is issued: 30
96		-
97		-	1. In a horizontal position; 31 SENATE BILL 322 3
98		-
99		-
100		-
101		-	2. In a manner that prevents the plate from swinging; and 1
102		-
103		-	3. In a place and position to be clearly visible. 2
104		-
105		-	(2) For a violation involving the placement of an object framing or 3
106		-	bordering the edges of a registration plate, a police officer may enforce this subsection only 4
107		-	as a secondary action when the police officer detains a driver of a motor vehicle for a 5
108		-	suspected violation of another provision of the Code. 6
109		-
110		-	13–411.1. 7
111		-
112		-	(a) In this section, “registration plate cover” means any tinted, colored, painted, 8
113		-	marked, [clear,] or illuminated object that is designed to: 9
114		-
115		-	(1) [Cover] OBSCURE OR BLOCK any of the characters of a vehicle’s 10
116		-	registration plate; or 11
117		-
118		-	(2) Distort a recorded image of any of the characters of a vehicle’s 12
119		-	registration plate recorded by a traffic control signal monitoring system under § 21–202.1 13
120		-	of this article. 14
121		-
122		-	(b) A person may not sell or offer for sale a registration plate cover. 15
123		-
124		-	(c) (1) A person may not advertise for the purpose of promoting the sale of 16
125		-	registration plate covers. 17
126		-
127		-	(2) A PERSON M AY NOT ADVERTISE FOR OR PROMOTE THE SALE OF 18
128		-	AN UNLAWFUL REGISTRA TION PLATE COVER BY FALSELY CLAIMING THA T THE 19
129		-	REGISTRATION PLATE C OVER IS LAWFUL IN TH E STATE. 20
130		-
131		-	(D) A VIOLATION OF SUBSECT ION (C)(2) OF THIS SECTION IS: 21
132		-
133		-	(1) AN UNFAIR, ABUSIVE, OR DECEPTIV E TRADE PRACTICE WIT HIN 22
134		-	THE MEANING OF TITLE 13 OF THE COMMERCIAL LAW ARTICLE; AND 23
135		-
136		-	(2) IN ADDITION TO THE PE NALTY UNDER § 27–101 OF THIS ARTICLE, 24
137		-	SUBJECT TO THE ENFOR CEMENT AND PENALTY P ROVISIONS CONTAINED IN TITLE 25
138		-	13 OF THE COMMERCIAL LAW ARTICLE. 26
139		-
140		-	21–1112.1. 27
141		-
142		-	(a) A person may not obscure or modify any vehicle registration plate [with intent 28
143		-	to avoid] IN A MANNER THAT MAY PREVENT identification. 29
144		-	4 SENATE BILL 322
145		-
146		-
147		-	(b) A violation of this section is a moving violation for the purpose of the 1
148		-	assessment of points under § 16–402 of this article. 2
149		-
150		-	(C) A POLICE OFFICER MAY E NFORCE THIS SECTION ONLY AS A SECONDARY 3
151		-	ACTION WHEN THE POLI CE OFFICER DETAINS A DRIVER OF A MOTOR VE HICLE FOR 4
152		-	A SUSPECTED VIOLATIO N OF ANOTHER PROVISI ON OF THE CODE. 5
153		-
154		-	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 6
155		-	October 1, 2025. 7
156		-
157		-
158		-
159		-
160		-	Approved:
161		-	________________________________________________________________________________
162		-	Governor.
163		-	________________________________________________________________________________
164		-	President of the Senate.
165		-	________________________________________________________________________________
166		-	Speaker of the House of Delegates.