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Marylanders looking to testify during next week鈥檚 special session on congressional redistricting will have their chance Monday afternoon, but speakers will be limited and sign-up must be done in advance.
Those are among the rules released Wednesday by legislative leaders ahead of the Aug. 3-5 special session, where lawmakers will consider adding a question to the November ballot asking voters whether they would like to change Maryland鈥檚 procedure for congressional redistricting.
The short session will feature a joint hearing by House and Senate election committees at noon Monday in Annapolis. Anyone can submit written testimony but only 50 witnesses will be allowed to speak 鈥� virtually or in person 鈥� and they will be limited to two minutes each.
Marylanders looking to testify Monday must sign up on the General Assembly website between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, by first making a 鈥淢yMGA鈥� account on the site, according to an聽聽Wednesday. If more than 50 people sign up to speak, the committee chairs will decide who gets the microphone.
Legislative leaders posted identical聽听补苍诲听聽of the redistricting bill Wednesday that included language for a potential ballot question.
If approved, the question would essentially overturn a 2022 decision from a Maryland judge that required congressional districts to be 鈥渃ompact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries.鈥� The measure, if passed, would clarify that this requirement only applies to General Assembly districts, and it would send Maryland鈥檚 districts directly to the state Supreme Court for legal review.
No redistricting changes could take effect before the 2028 election.
In a statement Wednesday, Republican leaders in the General Assembly took issue with the 50-person limit, and argued that details about the redistricting proposal had been scant before Wednesday鈥檚 release.
鈥淲e are very concerned with the significant limitations on witnesses, and the reality that any bill hearing is obviously intended to be a brief and meaningless formality,鈥� said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany). 鈥淭he people of Maryland deserve better.鈥�
Heather Mizeur, a spokesperson for House Speaker Joseline Pe帽a-Melnyk (D-Prince George鈥檚 and Anne Arundel), said the 50-person limit is typical procedure for General Assembly committees, though the limit is rarely reached. After the limit, committee staff members often use a random number generator to select those who will testify, Mizeur said.
Pe帽a-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) have聽聽on subjects besides redistricting. They directed legislative staffers not to draft bills that do not focus on the subject, to the chagrin of Republican members, who were aiming to introduce several bills focused on affordability issues.
In their statement, Republicans also expressed concern that聽聽appeared on the General Assembly website, scheduled for Monday鈥檚 hearing. The bill, Democratic leaders say, would merely eliminate an issue that would cause a separate question 鈥� about collective bargaining for state employees 鈥� to appear twice on the November ballot.
鈥淭he Democratic majority is making the rules up as they go along,鈥� said Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-Upper Shore). 鈥淚t is important to note that their exceptions to these rules will still do nothing to ease the struggle for the people they represent.
A map聽聽this past legislative session, which stalled in the Senate, would have connected the red Eastern Shore to blue Annapolis, bridging the Chesapeake Bay. If a map similar to that one is ultimately enacted, it鈥檚 possible that enough Democratic voters would be added to flip the firmly GOP district, currently represented by Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) 鈥� Maryland鈥檚 only Republican representative in Congress.
Maryland Republicans have attacked the redistricting push as an effort to eliminate the only representation in Congress for Maryland Republicans. But Maryland Democrats, who control both chambers in the General Assembly, say they are only responding to congressional redistricting in red states, pushed by President Donald Trump (R) to redraw their districts before the next Census in order to benefit the GOP during this year鈥檚 midterm elections.
Though Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) campaigned hard for redistricting, and a map sailed through the House of Delegates, the idea did not reach the Senate floor. Ferguson was a staunch opponent, arguing that the redistricting plan was legally perilous.
He cited a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia that overturned the legislature鈥檚 2021 map, on the grounds that it did not comply with the 鈥渃ompact and contiguous鈥� requirement. Prior to her ruling, the requirement was believed only to apply to General Assembly districts, not congressional districts.
But Ferguson聽聽in late April, shortly after the legislature adjourned, following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, in which it said that congressional districts drawn to consider race were unconstitutional. Ferguson felt that decision 鈥済utted the Voting Rights Act.鈥�
鈥淢aryland must respond as the ground shifts under us,鈥� Ferguson said in a statement at the time, signaling his intent to evaluate a special session on the topic for the first time.
