MD · constitutions
Md. Const. art. III, § 5
Following each decennial census of the United States and after public hearings, the Governor shall prepare a plan setting forth the boundaries of the legislative districts for electing of the members of the Senate and the House of Delegates.
The Governor shall present the plan to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Delegates who shall introduce the Governor’s plan as a joint resolution to the General Assembly, not later than the first day of its regular session in the second year following every census, and the Governor may call a special session for the presentation of the plan prior to the regular session. The plan shall conform to Sections 2, 3 and 4 of this Article. Following each decennial census the General Assembly may by joint resolution adopt a plan setting forth the boundaries of the legislative districts for the election of members of the Senate and the House of Delegates, which plan shall conform to Sections 2, 3 and 4 of this Article. If a plan has been adopted by the General Assembly by the 45th day after the opening of the regular session of the General Assembly in the second year following every census, the plan adopted by the General Assembly shall become law. If no plan has been adopted by the General Assembly for these purposes by the 45th day after the opening of the regular session of the General Assembly in the second year following every census, the Governor’s plan presented to the General Assembly shall become law.
Upon petition of any registered voter, the Supreme Court of Maryland shall have original jurisdiction to review the legislative districting of the State and may grant appropriate relief, if it finds that the districting of the State is not consistent with requirements of either the Constitution of the United States of America, or the Constitution of Maryland.
History
(1949, ch. 226, ratified Nov. 7, 1950; 1956, ch. 99, ratified Nov. 6, 1956; 1969, ch. 785, ratified Nov. 3, 1970; 1972, ch. 363, ratified Nov. 7, 1972; 1977, ch. 681, ratified Nov. 7, 1978; 2021, ch. 82, § 1, ratified Nov. 8, 2022; ch. 83, § 1, ratified Nov. 8, 2022.)
Provenance
- Source
- mgaleg.maryland.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
4176c075d783d232a89e0dca8a48e623071282121508169853d4f232bd00ec0b
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.