Maryland continued its broad pushback against Trump administration policies Tuesday with the signing of the “No Kings Act,” which would give anyone in the state a path to sue federal officials who violate their constitutional rights “under color of law.”
It was one of more than 200 bills signed into law during the third bill signing of the year Tuesday. The ceremony veered from emotional moments surrounding “Mason’s Law,” named for a 13-year-old from Mount Airy who drowned last summer in a storm drain, to the celebratory moments around new laws designating ethnic and religious heritage observations and naming an official state shark.
The most controversial bill signed Tuesday was probably the No Kings Act, Senate Bill 346 and House Bill 351. The new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, would let Marylanders or the attorney general’s office pursue civil litigation against a federal official who violated another’s constitutional rights under color of law.
According to the bills sponsored by Montgomery County Democrats Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher and House Majority Leader David Moon, the law would not apply to a person acting under the authority of a joint task force “that primarily enforces the United States Code.”
The “color of law” language came from a bill previously sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), who said the act creates a pathway against “federal lawlessness.”
“We’re watching the federal government and the Trump administration use every tool in their toolbox to dismantle the Constitution and to undermine the rule of law and to consolidate their power,” Charkoudian said in a brief interview before the bills were signed Tuesday.
“No King’s Act was one of many strategies that we put into place this year,” she said, “in this case, a civil remedy for individuals whose constitutional rights are violated.”
The signing was part of an hours-long signing ceremony by Gov. Wes Moore (D), Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) inside a packed Governor’s Reception Room.
Among the measures signed Tuesday were bills proclaiming Jan. 13 Korean American Day, requiring applicants in direct contact with children in a childcare facility to submit to “criminal history record checks” and creating a statewide 3-1-1 nonemergency phone system.
The emotional part of the ceremony came when Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) summarized Senate Bill 189 named for 13-year-old Mason Kearns of Mount Airy, who died in July after being swept into an open storm drain.
Mason’s parents, Erica and Chip Kearns, and his older brother, Clay, traveled to Annapolis to witness the signing. First lady Dawn Flythe Moore beside Erica as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue during the event.
Part of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-Frederick), requires municipalities to inspect open storm drains and have an inventory of them by July 1, 2027. By April 1, 2028, municipalities must have developed a prioritization plan for making improvements to the drainage inlets “that pose the greatest risk to public safety.”
Municipalities have until April 1, 2031, to repair both public and private inlets. Once a municipality installs an approved drainage system, private owners must maintain improvements after that.
“The Kearns family, in their grief, made a choice that I believe is one of the most extraordinary acts of love and kindness that any family can make,” Moore said. “They chose to advocate, and they chose to turn their pain and purpose and say, ‘We’re going to make sure it does not happen.’”
‘It’s all connected’
Moore and the presiding officers signed several commemorative and designation bills such as House Bill 661 – sponsored by Montgomery County Dels. Sarah Wolek and Jared Solomon, both Democrats. The bill, which goes into effect Oct. 1, would proclaim January as Muslim American Heritage Month and May as Jewish American Heritage Month.
But one of the most anticipated bills featured during this year’s 90-day session was whether to name the prehistoric megalodon the official state shark.
The bills, sponsored by Sen. Jack Bailey (R-Calvert and St. Mary’s) and Del. Todd Morgan (R-St. Mary’s), had appeared dead, victims of the legislature’s indifference to the large number of commemorative bills it gets every year.
But on the final day of the session last month, it rose from the dead and was added by the House onto Senate Bill 35, sponsored by Sen. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County), that designates the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state’s official natural history museum. The final version of the bill also designates Oct. 1 as “Purple Lights Night” to honor survivors of domestic violence.
As the bill was being signed into law, a few children stood alongside Moore and the presiding officers, including Jackson’s 8-year-old son, Chase, who received a megalodon tooth inside a small plastic bag. Moore and Ferguson posed for a picture holding a megalodon tooth.
“I’m glad that we could do something to put smiles on kids’ faces with everything that’s going on in our country today. In the world, actually,” Jackson said after the bill signing.
“I learned so much about megalodon in regards to Maryland. It’s a learning opportunity … about not only that, but also natural history,” he said. “It’s all connected.”