New MD Laws For 2022: Organ Donors, Gas Meters, Music Therapists

MARYLAND — Marylanders will awaken to several new laws that take effect Jan. 1, 2022. They affect everything from music therapists, who must be licensed, to first responders, who are no longer are required to search people whose deaths are imminent for documentation of organ donation.

The minimum wage is also increasing, as Maryland takes steps toward a $15 minimum wage in 2025.

Here are some of the laws taking effect Jan. 1, 2022:

Music therapists must be licensed to practice music therapy by Jan. 1, 2022, with the State Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists. The board was renamed to reflect the addition of the new license, and it will include two board members who are Maryland music therapists.

The Flower Branch Act, inspired by a deadly 2016 explosion at a Silver Spring apartment complex, requires gas companies to plan to relocate gas regulators so they are outside multifamily residences. Plans must be filed with the Public Service Commission by Jan. 1, 2022. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the explosion at the Flower Branch Apartments was caused by an indoor service regulator with an unconnected vent line that allowed natural gas into the meter room, where the gas then accumulated and ignited on Aug. 10, 2016.

Health Care

Medicaid enrollees who qualify by virtue of pregnancy will be given 12 months of postpartum Medicaid coverage (including full dental coverage) rather than two months of coverage, effective January 1, 2022.

The Maryland Medical Assistance Program is prohibited as of Jan.1, 2022, from requiring more than 120 days between preventive dental or oral health care exams.

The Maryland Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act repeals requirements of first responders and hospitals to search a dead person or a person whose death is imminent for documents about whether the person is an anatomical gift donor. When a hospital refers an individual who is dead or whose death is imminent to a procurement organization, the organization shall make a reasonable search of any national and local donor registration for the geographical area where the person lived. Starting in July, Marylanders who want to be organ donors will be able to designate whether they want their anatomical gift to be for research and education or transplantation and therapy.

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage will increase, following legislation that passed in the 2019 session and is taking effect incrementally over the next several years. Each year, Maryland will increase the minimum wage until it is $15 by 2026.

For employers with at least 15 employees, this is the minimum wage:

• Jan. 1, 2021 — $11.75
• Jan. 1, 2022 — $12.50
• Jan. 1, 2023 — $13.25
• Jan. 1, 2024 — $14
• Jan. 1, 2025 — $15

For employers with 14 or fewer employees, this is the schedule:

• Jan. 1, 2021 — $11.60
• Jan. 1, 2022 — $12.20
• Jan. 1, 2023 — $12.80
• Jan. 1, 2024 — $13.40
• Jan. 1, 2025 — $14
• Jan. 1, 2026 — $14.60
• July 1, 2026 — $15

Through the Secure Maryland Wage Act, employees who work at least 50 percent of the time at a heightened security interest location such as Baltimore-Washington International Airport or Penn Station must be paid at least $13.50 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2022.

The Local Tax Relief for Working Families Act of 2021 calls for a minimum tax rate of 2.25 percent in local jurisdictions and requires the use of income tax brackets in locations looking to increase local tax rates.

County-Specific Law

A new law in Montgomery County will impact people who live in multifamily buildings.

Montgomery County is requiring window guards in multi-tenant buildings with children under age 10. The new legislation is called Ezechiel's Law, named for the 2-year-old boy who died when he fell from an apartment window in Takoma Park in October 2020.

What's Coming In 2022

The next session of the Maryland General Assembly convenes Jan. 12 and runs through April 11.

Hundreds of bills have already been pre-filed.

Bills must be presented by April 30 to the governor, who will have until May 30 to veto or accept them.

Most new laws will take effect Oct. 1, except for budgetary, tax, and revenue bills , which tend to have effective dates of July 1.

A major bill from 2021 that will take effect July 1, 2022, is the Maryland Police Accountability Act.

See Also:

• New MD Laws Take Effect October 1 On LGBTQ+ Rights, Crime, More
• Ezechiel's Law Signed: Landlords Must Install Window Guards