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Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed a suite of justice reform bills into law Tuesday that will make it easier for long-serving inmates to apply for parole, make age and illness a factor in parole considerations and streamline the process for people seeking to expunge their records after serving their time.
The bills, some of which advocates have been pushing for years, demonstrate what House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) called the legislature鈥檚 ongoing efforts 鈥渢o create a more equitable criminal justice system鈥� in a state that 鈥渋ncarcerates the highest percentage of Black people in the country.鈥�
鈥淪o this year, we passed several bills to address these statistics, including the Second Look Act, the governor鈥檚 Expungement Reform Act, and legislation to improve the medical parole process,鈥� Jones said at Tuesday鈥檚 bill-signing, the second since the end of the 2025 legislative session.
Jones, Moore and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) signed 142 bills into law Tuesday. They included a measure aimed at protecting federal workers from Trump administration budget cuts and another aimed at protecting the state from the potentially crushing financial burden of lawsuits brought by people who were abused as children while in state custody, after a then-hailed change to state law in 2023 made it easier to bring such suits.
Moore touted , the Expungement Reform Act, which was part of his legislative agenda. Advocates say that criminal records can prevent people from getting jobs, loans or housing, no matter how long ago the crime was committed, but that the process for expunging a criminal record can be cumbersome and sometimes impossible.
鈥淲e know, that for too many Marylanders, their criminal record 鈥� is tied around their necks for life. They cannot get a loan, they cannot get a home, they cannot get hired and oftentimes it鈥檚 because of an offense that they committed years, if not decades ago,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲e have got to confront this myth that every sentence needs to be a life sentence.鈥�
SB432 expands the current list of more than 100 crimes for which a person may seek expungement to include credit card theft, making a false statement to police and driving without a license, among others. It also corrects a technicality that made parole violations count against the successful fulfillment of a person鈥檚 sentence, effectively barring someone permanently from seeking expungement if they violated parole somewhere along the way.
鈥淎s soon as the bill becomes effective, I think you鈥檙e going to see some impact,鈥� said Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County), a co-sponsor of the act. 鈥淩ight after the effective date, people that wouldn鈥檛 have been helped the day before are going to be helped, so there鈥檚 going to be immediate action.鈥�
Officials also signed into law are measures aimed at giving people still serving time a shot at getting out on parole. Those measures were often the subject of emotional debate during the legislative session, and sometimes surprising personal stories from lawmakers talking about their own experiences as victims of crime.
, the Second Look Act, would give people who have been incarcerated for at least 20 years the ability to petition for a sentence reduction if they met several other criteria. It would not be available to sex offenders, people sentenced to life without chance of parole, those who were older than 25 when they committed their offense or those convicted of killing a first responder.
The last criterion was one of a series of disqualifying crimes that opponents of the bill offered as amendments, all of which failed except for the first responder amendment. It was accepted by the Senate in the waning days of the legislative session, threatening to derail the bill, but the House accepted the change and gave final approval to the bill after years of trying by advocates.
Del. Cheryl Pasteur (D-Baltimore County) said at the time that she was not a fan of the amendment, but was willing to accept it to get the Second Look Act on the books.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a good and promising start,鈥� Pasteur said after Tuesday鈥檚 bill signing. She predicts that the bill will do more than help the incarcerated individuals who might have their sentences shortened, but will benefit communities as well. 鈥淔or those that come out, just think of how they can positively interact with the young people.鈥�
Critics had argued, some passionately, that allowing inmates to petition for a sentence reduction would deny justice to the victims, and force them to relive the crimes again years later. They argued that people who had committed particularly heinous crimes did not deserve a second chance.
Supporters of the bill said repeatedly that it is not a 鈥済et out of jail free鈥� card, but just a way to give a second chance to inmates who have turned their lives around and might be able to contribute to society. The petitions are reviewed by judges in the courts that convicted the petitioning.individual, and an inmaet who is turned down has to wait three years to reapply. Inmates would only be able to petition three times.
Pasteur called the signing 鈥渁n incredible day鈥� and said she has formed a committee to 鈥渕onitor 鈥� everybody that comes out under this bill鈥� to measure its impact.
Sydnor recognized the opposition to the bill, but said he believes it will be a positive overall.
鈥淭here are some people, I believe, may not see the utility in doing things like this. But I believe in grace and the Second Chance bill,鈥� he said.
He could not explain the sudden success in one year of justice reform measures, some of which advocates have been pushing for years.
鈥淎 lot of work by a lot of people 鈥� No one legislator by his or herself,鈥� he said, acknowledging lawmakers in the past who worked steadily on the measures. 鈥淭his happened to be the year, everything came together, just people in the right places at the right time.鈥�
Also signed into law yesterday were and , which would require parole hearings for long-serving inmates over age 60 and for those with severe medical conditions.
Almost lost in the rush of justice reform bills was , the Protect Our Federal Workers Act, which was sponsored by Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George鈥檚) after the scale of budget and job cuts planned by President Donald Trump started to become evident.
The bill would take a current state fund that has been used to help federal workers get over any hurdles from a temporary government shutdown, and would shift that into a new fund that would be used to help federal workers who permanently lose their jobs because of administration budget cutting. The Federal Government Employee Assistance Loan Fund would be buttressed with $5 million from the state鈥檚 Rainy Day Fund.
The bill also gives the Office of the Attorney General new authority to defend federal employees, or take legal action on their behalf, because of federal government shutdowns, firings, office relocations or agency closures.
With 160,000 federal government jobs in Maryland, and 260,000 federal workers living in the state, Moore said 鈥渢hese are our people鈥� and must be defended. His administration has said that weaning the state away from its reliance on the federal government is one of its economic goals.
Jones said the bill would 鈥渇ight back against chaos and hostility caused by the Trump administration.鈥�
鈥淲e knew from Day One that Donald Trump would be coming after our federal workers,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淲e recognize that we might not be able to beat the federal government when it comes to job loss or funding cuts or immigration, but 鈥�. that doesn鈥檛 mean that we are going to stop fighting.
鈥淲ith that, let鈥檚 protect Marylanders and let鈥檚 sign these bills,鈥� she said to applause.
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