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SENATE

STANDING COMMITTEES

FINANCE COMMITTEE

ORIGIN & FUNCTIONS

[photo, Miller Senate Office Building, 11 Bladen St., Annapolis, Maryland] The Finance Committee started in December 1831. Originally, it bore responsibility for reviewing all bills concerned with fiscal matters. In 1975, the review of budgetary and tax matters was assigned to a separate committee - the Budget and Taxation Committee.


Miller Senate Office Building, 11 Bladen St., Annapolis, Maryland, December 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

Legislation relating to banks and other financial institutions; commercial law, including consumer protection; credit regulation and consumer financing; economic and community development; and health and welfare matters is considered by the Committee. Bills concerned with horse racing and lotteries; insurance; labor and employment; State personnel issues; social programs; transportation; unemployment insurance; utility regulation; and workers' compensation also are reviewed by the Committee.

The Committee has eleven members (Senate Rules 18; Code State Government Article, secs. 2-1103 through 2-1105).

SUBCOMMITTEES

Over time the Finance Committee has used subcommittees and work groups to review legislation. In 1976, the Committee had three subcommittees: Consolidation of Services to the Blind; Control and Issuance of Birth Certificates; and Licensing of Professional Counselors. The Health Subcommittee, 1995-97, and the Welfare (later Welfare Reform) Subcommittee, 1995-2000, functioned at the same time that various work groups considered bills. By the 2004 session, the Committee had only one subcommittee: it was concerned with health matters. In 2008, the Transportation Subcommittee was added.

HEALTH SUBCOMMITTEE
In January 2003, the Health Subcommittee formed to consider issues related to health and health insurance.

TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE
The Transportation Subcommittee organized in January 2008 to consider transportation policy issues that come under Finance Committee jurisdiction.

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