# Maryland SB 0279: Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act Maryland SB 0279, Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act, is a 2025 Regular Session Senate bill sponsored by Bryan W. Simonaire (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-04-08 (Approved by the Governor - Chapter 5); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MD-SB0279-2025RS - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Maryland SB 0279 - State: Maryland - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: Employment and Insurance Equality for Service Members Act - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-01-10 - Last action: 2025-04-08, Approved by the Governor - Chapter 5 - Sponsor: Bryan W. Simonaire (Republican) - Cosponsors: 5 - 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 (183 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 19 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Insurance protections for returning military members: benefit, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, insurers cannot deny, cancel, refuse renewal, or raise auto or homeowners rates solely for certain coverage gaps. This protection covers members returning from overseas active duty whose continuous-coverage failure did not exist before the assignment. Homeowners also rece… - Paid leave for military family needs: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2026, covered workers can claim paid leave to care for a service member as next of kin. The member must have a serious health condition resulting from uniformed service. Leave also covers qualifying family deployment needs, including deployment notice within seven days, care arran… - Faster licenses for military families: benefit, medium. Maryland licensing units must issue licenses within 60 days of a complete application from qualifying service members, veterans, and spouses. Applicants must meet Maryland licensing requirements and show a Maryland duty-station assignment or legal residence. They must hold an out-of-state license i… - Insurance licensing relief for military members: benefit, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, qualifying military experience no longer carries a one-year post-discharge deadline for insurance producer license applications. Other licensing requirements remain. The Insurance Commissioner may waive reinstatement steps when uniformed service prevents compliance with r… - License renewal relief for military members: benefit, medium. Active-duty licensees do not pay the $100 fee for each covered two-year license renewal. When deployment outside Maryland directly causes late renewal, licensing units may waive penalties and reinstatement fees. They may also allow extra time after renewal to finish continuing education or competen… - Military training counts toward civilian careers: benefit, medium. Maryland licensing units must count active service members’ relevant experience toward required years of practice. They must also count military training and education that they find substantially equivalent and consistent with other licensing requirements. Beginning October 1, 2025, relevant milit… - More job support for military spouses: benefit, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, military spouses qualify as dislocated workers after job loss directly caused by a permanent duty-station move. The definition also covers qualifying spouses who provided unpaid family services at home. Those spouses must be unemployed or underemployed and having trouble… - Unemployment protections for military households: benefit, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, inactive-duty training alone does not make National Guard or other reserve members employed or unavailable for work. Training pay cannot reduce their weekly unemployment benefits. Leaving work to follow a spouse’s mandatory job transfer can also be a valid reason for unem… - Credit-report protections for deployed military members: benefit, low. Maryland’s credit-reporting law includes eligible active service members as protected consumers. Members must be assigned to service away from their usual duty station. The supplied provision does not describe the specific protections attached to this status. - Utility waiver eligibility for military call-ups: benefit, low. Beginning October 1, 2025, a call to active uniformed service qualifies under optional utility charge-waiver agreements. The customer must have an agreement covering the charges, and the call-up must occur during its defined waiver period. Such agreements provide waivers of some or all covered char… - Easier mortgage licensing for military families: benefit, low. Maryland’s financial regulator may waive or suspend state requirements to speed mortgage loan originator license renewals or status changes. This relief covers active service members, eligible veterans, and eligible spouses. The regulator may also speed issuance for applicants holding a valid mortg… - Hiring preferences for veterans and spouses: benefit, low. Beginning October 1, 2025, Maryland employers may give hiring or promotion preferences to veterans and specified spouses. Covered spouses include spouses of active service members, spouses of veterans with service-connected disabilities, and surviving spouses of deceased veterans. Veterans must mee… - Leave for military departures and returns: benefit, low. Beginning October 1, 2025, employees can take leave on an immediate family member’s departure or return day. The departure or return must involve active duty outside the United States in the uniformed services. This provision does not say the leave is paid. - No-interest loans for military-affected small businesses: benefit, low. Maryland’s no-interest loan program covers businesses owned by reserve-component members called to active duty and qualifying businesses employing them. Employer applicants must average 50 or fewer employees on business days during the preceding calendar year. Loans depend on available funds. The s… - Stronger protections for military identities: benefit, low. Maryland’s impersonation and unauthorized-insignia prohibitions apply to uniformed services and other covered organizations. Only people entitled under the relevant group’s rules may use or wear its insignia. Businesses cannot knowingly use a fallen active service member’s name or image in advertis… - Broader insurance exception for service associations: benefit, low. Beginning October 1, 2025, an insurance-law exception recognizes qualifying associations serving uniformed-services members, rather than only Armed Forces or Sea Services members. Associations must have formed before 1880, with a principal purpose of providing insurance and benefits to members or t… - Long-term care limits for military conditions: cost, medium. Beginning October 1, 2025, long-term-care insurance policies may limit or exclude coverage for conditions arising from uniformed service. This also applies to service in auxiliary units. Affected policyholders may have to pay more of those care costs themselves. - Service identification rules for sales and lodging: mixed, low. Precious-metal dealers can accept a uniformed-services identification card as one of at least two forms used to identify a seller. Innkeepers may require guests to show a valid uniformed-services identification card. These rules apply in those transaction and lodging settings, not as a general hous… - Shared veteran definition across Maryland laws: mixed, low. Beginning October 1, 2025, Maryland’s general veteran definition follows the federal definition, except where another rule applies. State finance and procurement law uses that shared Maryland definition. The supplied text does not identify which people gain or lose eligibility under related program… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Bryan W. Simonaire (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Jack Bailey (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Jason C. Gallion (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: J.B. Jennings (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Johnny Mautz (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Johnny Ray Salling (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-01 | House | Third Reading Passed | pass | 136 | 0 | | | 2025-03-12 | Senate | Third Reading Passed | pass | 47 | 0 | | ## Actions (12) - 2025-04-08: Approved by the Governor - Chapter 5 - 2025-04-02: Returned Passed (Senate) - 2025-04-01: Third Reading Passed (136-0) (House) - 2025-03-31: Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed (House) - 2025-03-31: Favorable Report by Economic Matters (House) - 2025-03-13: Referred Economic Matters (House) - 2025-03-12: Third Reading Passed (47-0) (Senate) - 2025-03-11: Second Reading Passed with Amendments (Senate) - 2025-03-11: Favorable with Amendments {783629/1 Adopted (Senate) - 2025-03-10: Favorable with Amendments Report by Finance (Senate) - 2025-01-20: Hearing 2/05 at 2:00 p.m. (Finance) (Senate) - 2025-01-10: First Reading Finance and Education, Energy, and the Environment (Senate) ## Bill text - Enacted, 2025-04-08: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/Chapters_noln/CH_5_sb0279t.pdf) - Third Reading, 2025-03-11: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0279t.pdf) - First Reading, 2025-01-10: [PDF](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0279f.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_5_sb0279t.pdf) - [Third Reading (PDF)](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0279t.pdf) - [First Reading (PDF)](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2025RS/bills/sb/sb0279f.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-SB0279-2025RS (as of 2026-10-17).