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COVID-19 in Maryland

House, Senate Galleries to Re-Open for Special Session; Committees Remain Virtual

During the 2021 General Assembly session, delegates were split between the House chamber and an annex, where temporary barriers separated lawmakers. For the special session next week, lawmakers — who are required to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing — will return to the chamber in the State House. File photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Members of the public will be allowed inside the state Senate and House of Delegates chambers during next week’s special session, but admission will be limited to a fraction of capacity and anyone entering the State House will be required to wear a mask at all times.

During the 90-day session that concluded in April, the public was not allowed to watch legislative proceedings from the galleries. Video from floor and committee sessions were live-streamed, a first for the Maryland General Assembly.

The public will be allowed to watch the two chambers beginning on Monday, when lawmakers gather to draw the congressional districts that the state will use starting next year.

“We want it to be as normal as possible, with safety precautions,” said David Schuhlein, a spokesman for Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). “The Senate President believes that it’s important for the public to be there. It’s also very important for the media to be there.”

During this year’s regular session, senators sat inside plexiglass booths that had been constructed around each desk. Those booths have been removed.

The 141-member House, which has three times as many members as the Senate, split in two. House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and half of the body met in the chamber; Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Dorchester and Wicomico) and the other half met in conjoined conference rooms that were rechristened the “House Annex.”

Those conference rooms have been converted into temporary work space for Department of Legislative Services staffers because of renovations in their building, so delegates are being reunited in the House chamber.

Three delegates will be seated in the gallery.

Although the public will be allowed inside the House and Senate office buildings, they won’t find committee hearings there. Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) have decided that committees will continue to meet virtually, following the practice they adopted soon after the pandemic-shortened 2020 session ended.

The mask requirement also applies to anyone inside a legislative office building.

All members and employees, including those working remotely, are required to be vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. A Maryland Department of Health testing tent, adjacent to the Taylor House Office Building, will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

To keep members from congregating more than necessary, there will not be any receptions or large gatherings in the House Office Building during the 2022 legislative session and committee dinners will not be scheduled.

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House, Senate Galleries to Re-Open for Special Session; Committees Remain Virtual