# Maryland HB 0895: Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act Maryland HB 0895, Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act, is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Mike Rogers (Democratic); status signed, last action 2025-04-08 (Approved by the Governor - Chapter 6); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB0895-2025RS - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Maryland HB 0895 - State: Maryland - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-01-30 - Last action: 2025-04-08, Approved by the Governor - Chapter 6 - Sponsor: Mike Rogers (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Subjects: State Government - Agencies, Offices, and Officials, Business Regulation, Insurance - Other than Health, Private Sector Labor and Industry, Economic Development, Business Occupations and Professions, Financial Institutions, Unemployment Insurance, Commercial Law - Generally, State Government - Procurement, Armed Forces -see also- Military Department; Veterans, Classifications and Designations, Commerce and Business -see also- ElectrComm; ForeignTr; etc., Community Development, Dependents -see also- Minors; Vulnerable Adults, Identification -see also- Biometrics; Fingerprinting; DrLics, Insurance -see also- Health Ins; MAIF; Motor Vehicle Ins, Licenses -see also- AB Lic; Certifications; DrLic; Permits, Military Families, Records -see also- Land Records; Vital Records, Recruitment and Hiring, Rules and Regulations, Small Business, Spouses, Time, Veterans, Work, Labor, and Employment -see also- JobTrn; Leave; etc. - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 2 (179 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 17 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - State veteran definition broadens program access: benefit, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, the law aligns uniformed-services terms across Maryland licensing, employment, insurance, business, and financial laws. State programs offering veterans benefits, rights, or privileges must include people meeting the State Government § 9-901 veteran definition. This defin… - Insurance protections after overseas military service: benefit, medium. Insurers cannot deny, cancel, refuse renewal, or raise car or home insurance rates solely for specified overseas-service coverage gaps. This protection covers uniformed-services personnel returning from active duty overseas, unless the lapse began before the assignment. Home insurers also cannot ta… - Faster licenses for military families: benefit, medium. Maryland must issue expedited licenses within 60 days of a complete application from qualifying service members, veterans, and spouses. Applicants must meet Maryland licensing requirements and generally hold an out-of-state license in good standing for at least one year. Maryland duty-station or le… - License renewal relief for service members: benefit, medium. Active-duty uniformed-services licensees receive the applicable license renewal fee exemption. Professional or trade renewal applications count as timely when filed within one year after active service ends. Licensing units may waive penalties and reinstatement fees when deployment outside Maryland… - More job help for military families: benefit, medium. Employers may favor veterans, spouses of disabled veterans, active service members' spouses, and deceased veterans' surviving spouses in hiring or promotion. The veteran's disability must be service-connected; preferences are optional and do not violate state or local equal employment opportunity l… - Unemployment protections for military households: benefit, medium. Inactive-duty Guard or reserve training does not make an otherwise eligible claimant employed or unavailable for work. Training pay cannot reduce weekly unemployment benefits. Leaving work to follow a spouse's employer-required transfer can qualify as a valid reason for quitting. The spouse must se… - No-interest loans for military-linked small businesses: benefit, medium. Maryland's named military and veteran small-business fund supports no-interest loans to businesses employing or owned by reservists called to active duty. Small-business employers generally must average 50 or fewer employees on business days in the prior calendar year. Specified related businesses… - Deployed members gain protected-consumer status: benefit, low. Maryland adds active service members assigned away from their usual duty station to its protected-consumer categories. Those members gain access to protections tied to that status. The supplied provision does not describe the specific protections or their dollar value. - Optional utility waivers cover active service: benefit, low. A call to active uniformed service qualifies as an event covered by an optional utility-charge waiver agreement. The customer and utility must have an agreement stating which charges are waived and for how long. The law does not automatically cancel bills or require utilities to offer these agreeme… - Service identification accepted in more transactions: benefit, low. Valid uniformed-services identification is recognized for check cashing and identifying sellers of precious-metal items. Precious-metal dealers must still check at least two forms of identification. Innkeepers may also require guests to present a valid uniformed-services identification card. These… - Insurance license relief for service members: benefit, low. Insurance producer applicants qualifying through armed-forces experience no longer face a one-year application deadline after discharge. Other licensing requirements remain. The Commissioner may waive reinstatement steps when uniformed service prevents compliance with renewal or reinstatement proce… - Mortgage license relief for military applicants: benefit, low. Maryland's financial regulator may waive or suspend mortgage loan originator requirements to speed license renewal or status changes. It may also speed licensing for qualifying applicants with valid out-of-state licenses. Applicants must still meet minimum federal licensing standards. Eligible vete… - Stronger safeguards against service-related misrepresentation: benefit, low. The law extends false-impersonation and unauthorized-insignia prohibitions to uniformed services. Insignia restrictions cover seeking aid or recognition, but not use allowed by the organization's rules. Commercial advertising using a member's name or image requires consent if the member died on dut… - Older service associations gain insurance exemption: benefit, low. The law extends an insurance-law exemption to qualifying uniformed-services associations organized before 1880. Their main purpose must be providing insurance and other benefits to members and their dependents or beneficiaries. Membership must consist of qualifying regular or reserve personnel who… - Service-related long-term care exclusions allowed: cost, medium. Long-term care insurers may limit or exclude coverage for illnesses, treatments, or conditions arising from uniformed service or auxiliary-unit service. The law permits these exclusions but does not require insurers to use them. Affected policyholders can have less coverage for service-related care. - Active-duty members face insurance requirements: cost, low. Active-duty uniformed-services members must meet Insurance Article § 20-502 requirements despite otherwise falling within its subsection (c)(1) exception. The supplied provision does not describe those requirements. It therefore does not establish a specific household charge or coverage effect. - Leave benefits for military family needs: mixed, medium. Beginning July 1, 2026, covered people may file paid-leave claims for next-of-kin care of service members with serious service-related conditions. Claims also cover qualifying deployment-related family needs, including child care, legal arrangements, counseling, and reintegration; certification is… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Mike Rogers (Democratic), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-03 | Senate | Third Reading Passed | pass | 47 | 0 | | | 2025-02-25 | House | Third Reading Passed | pass | 132 | 0 | 1 | ## Actions (14) - 2025-04-08: Approved by the Governor - Chapter 6 - 2025-04-04: Returned Passed (House) - 2025-04-03: Third Reading Passed (47-0) (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Second Reading Passed (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Favorable Adopted (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Favorable Report by Finance (Senate) - 2025-02-26: Referred Finance Education, Energy, and the Environment (Senate) - 2025-02-25: Third Reading Passed (132-0) (House) - 2025-02-20: Second Reading Passed with Amendments (House) - 2025-02-20: Floor Amendment {223128/1 (Delegate Rogers) Adopted (House) - 2025-02-20: Favorable Adopted (House) - 2025-02-19: Favorable Report by Economic Matters (House) - 2025-01-30: Hearing 2/12 at 1:00 p.m. (House) - 2025-01-30: First Reading Economic Matters (House) ## Bill text - Enacted, 2025-04-08: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_6_hb0895t.pdf) - Third Reading, 2025-02-20: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0895t.pdf) - First Reading, 2025-01-30: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0895f.pdf) ## Related bills - HB 0384: Maryland Disability Service Animal Program - Established (vetoed) - SB 0227: Workers' Compensation - Payment From Uninsured Employers' Fund - Revisions (vetoed) - HB 0482: Occupational Licensing and Certification - Criminal History - Predetermination Review Process (vetoed) - SB 0157: Maryland Disability Service Animal Program - Established (vetoed) - HB 1294: Commercial Law - Credit Regulation - Earned Wage Access and Credit Modernization (became law) - HB 0228: Maryland Veterans Trust – Assistance to Members of the Maryland National Guard (signed) ## Sources - [Enacted (PDF)](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_6_hb0895t.pdf) - [Third Reading (PDF)](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0895t.pdf) - [First Reading (PDF)](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/hb/hb0895f.pdf) ## Related - [HB 0384: Maryland Disability Service Animal Program - Established](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB0384-2025RS) - [SB 0227: Workers' Compensation - Payment From Uninsured Employers' Fund - Revisions](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-SB0227-2025RS) - [HB 0482: Occupational Licensing and Certification - Criminal History - Predetermination…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB0482-2025RS) - [SB 0157: Maryland Disability Service Animal Program - Established](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-SB0157-2025RS) - [HB 1294: Commercial Law - Credit Regulation - Earned Wage Access and Credit Modernization](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB1294-2025RS) - [HB 0228: Maryland Veterans Trust – Assistance to Members of the Maryland National Guard](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB0228-2025RS) - [Maryland bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/maryland/bills) - [Maryland state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/maryland) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-HB0895-2025RS (as of 2026-10-17).