Senate Passes Both MACo Body-Worn Camera Initiative Bills

SB 40 and SB 330 clear the first major hurdle and move to the House chambers for consideration.

Following major police reform legislation in 2021, all county law enforcement officers were required to be equipped with body-worn cameras by 2025. This mandate brought with it a number of complications that counties have been eager to address in the 2023 General Assembly. The procurement process for cameras and the public release of body-worn camera footage were the most critical areas of focus and are the subjects of two MACo initiative bills this session.

With four weeks left in the legislative session, both of these body-worn camera bills, SB 330  and SB 40,  have cleared the first hurdle. As of this week they have been passed by the Maryland Senate and will now begin to make their way through the House. SB 330 enables counties to opt-in to the body-worn camera provisions that are managed and negotiated by the state in an effort to avoid a mass duplication of effort and take advantage of the cost sharing benefits of multi-user contracts. SB 40 creates more clear guidelines for sensitive footage that is captured by cameras and then requested for public release.

To learn more about these bills and their implications for county government, please refer to MACo’s previous Conduit Street coverage:

For more on MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2023 legislative session, visit MACo’s Legislative Tracking Database.