Vote lets Republicans claim victory over what they derided as the “Condoms for Kindergarteners” bill, which sponsor called a misrepresentation

The House spent days in floor debate last week on a bill that Republicans said would expose kindergartners to condoms, a claim supporters said blatantly misrepresented a measure aimed at decriminalizing access to contraception.

A Senate committee spent all of 10 seconds Friday morning killing House Bill 380 .

“We all know what this bill does. There is a motion for an unfavorable – is everyone comfortable being recorded in the unfavorable?” Sen. Judicial Proceedings Chair Will Smith (D-Montgomery) asks in the opening seconds of Friday’s committee voting session. He quickly got a second.

“All right. We have disposed of House Bill 380 unanimously,” Smith said, before moving on to the rest of the voting list.

HB380 did not even get a hearing before the committee killed it. With no Senate version of the bill, the committee vote means the issue is dead for this session. The vote gave Republicans a rare chance in the Democrat-controlled legislature to take a victory lap.

“The legislation ignored Maryland’s real crises — failing schools, a crippling teacher shortage, and soaring living costs — in favor of radical social policies that strip away parental rights and expose children to inappropriate content at an unthinkably young age,” according to a statement Friday from the conservative Freedom Caucus. Republicans had argued that the bill would expose young kids to all sorts of lewd situations, and called it “one of the most extreme and unnecessary bills pushed by progressive lawmakers this session.”

But Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George’s), who sponsored the bill, said it did nothing of the sort. The bill simply removed a criminal penalty for placing a contraceptive-dispensing vending machine on school campuses, said Williams, but the debate on the bill got off track, which ultimately doomed the measure.

“I think people got very distracted about what this bill actually does,” Williams said after the Judicial Proceedings Committee unceremoniously dispatched it.

“This bill is simply decriminalizing access to contraception. That’s all the bill does. It does not dictate any type of policy as it relates to vending machines and any of our schools or preschools or day care centers,” she said.

HB380 would have removed language from Maryland law that penalizes those who sell or offer contraceptives from a vending machine at a kindergarten, nursery school, or elementary or secondary school. Someone who violates the law faces a misdemeanor charge and is subject to a fine of up to $1,000 per violation.

Williams saw her bill as an extension of previous deregulation of vending machines for reproductive health care. The General Assembly in 2023 removed the restriction, allowing contraceptive vending machine on college campuses. HB380 would have extended that action to all other school campuses in the state, from high schools down to nursery schools.

Republicans had a field day. They latched onto the idea that condom-filled vending machines could show up in elementary schools or younger. They offered an amendment to exclude younger grade levels from the bill, which was rejected.

“I felt that we were getting away from what the bill actually does (with the amendment),” Williams said Friday.

The House ultimately voted 89-41 for the bill, mostly along party lines on Feb. 21, sending it to the Senate for consideration.

Typically, a bill that crosses over to the other chamber is assigned to a committee which schedules hearings and debate before voting to amend it, kill it or sent to the full chamber for a vote. HB380 didn’t get past being assigned to committee before it was killed.

Republicans claimed a “major victory” after the committee vote.

“This is a huge win for Maryland families,” said Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), vice chair of the Freedom Caucus, in a written statement. “The Maryland Freedom Caucus led the charge in exposing the radical nature of HB380, and today’s vote proves that even members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee couldn’t defend it. Maryland parents have spoken, and lawmakers were forced to listen.”

Williams said she was surprised the committee shot down her bill without a hearing on the matter.

“It’s a bit disappointing, not to have at least have had the conversation on the Senate side about the need for making sure that everyone in the state of Maryland has access to contraceptives,” she said.

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