Maryland

Recent / Pending Legislation

• SB 0678 (2026, pending/legislature adjourned) – Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Search – Affidavit for Judicial Authorization; expanding eligibility of cases to go to FGG.
• SB 202 (2025) (2025, enacted) – mandates sex offender register DNA collection. Samples cannot be analyzed until specific statutory conditions are met.

Arrestees: Yes. Not Booking Station Rapid Ready – Sample cannot be analyzed until a formal legal verification occurs – judicial probable cause finding, there is warrant, formal indictment/information. If arrest for crime not supported by probable cause, the sample must be immediately destroyed.

Qualifying Crimes: Charges for a crime of violence (or an attempt), or for burglary (or an attempt).

Time of Collection: Collected at charging — but no testing or entry into the DNA database may occur unless:

(1) A judge or commissioner of the or District Court or a judge of the circuit court finds probable cause for a qualifying crime based on a statement of charges filed by a police officer or State’s Attorney;

(2) The person is arrested on a warrant for a qualifying crime based on a statement of charges;

(3) A charge by information is filed for a qualifying crime in accordance with § 4-102 of the Criminal Procedure Article; or

(4) An indictment is returned for a qualifying crime.

Testing may occur earlier if the individual requests or consents solely to compare against a sample that has been processed from the crime scene or hospital and is related to the charges against the individual. If taken pursuant to a search warrant, another collection shall be taken at charging.

Expungement: Automatic where the charges are found unsupported by probable cause; the criminal action ends without a conviction; the conviction is finally reversed or vacated with no new trial permitted; or the person receives an unconditional pardon. A sample collected but never tested from a person charged with a qualifying crime must be destroyed and expunged where two years have passed since collection and the sample failed testing requirements. No automatic destruction or expungement occurs while the action is on the stet docket, the person receives probation before judgment, or the trial on a qualifying crime remains pending for any reason.

If the DNA sample or DNA record was obtained or generated only in connection with a case in which eligibility for expungement has been established, the DNA sample shall be destroyed and the DNA record shall expunged. DNA record that is required to be expunged must be expunged from every database into which it has been entered.

Statutes / Case Law

MD Code Public Safety § 2-504. Collection of DNA samples

§ 2-511. Destruction or Expungement of DNA Information

MD Code Regs. § 29.05.01.04 Collecting Samples

Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1958 (2013) (“When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”)

Walker v. State, 2022 WL 1416675 (Md. Ct. App. May 4, 2022) (holding DNA obtained pursuant to a search warrant was not subject to the DNA Act and thus was properly not expunged).

Convicted Offender: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes: Any felony, fourth-degree burglary, or breaking and entering a motor vehicle. S.B. 202 (2025) additionally mandates DNA collection from registered sex offenders.

Time of Collection: At sentencing or upon intake to a correctional facility; or as a condition of sentence or probation if not sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

Expungement: Automatic – where the conviction is finally reversed or vacated and no new trial is permitted, or the person receives an unconditional pardon. A DNA sample or DNA record may not be destroyed or expunged automatically from the State DNA data base if the criminal action is put on the stet docket, the individual receives probation before judgment, or the trial for a qualifying charge remains pending for any reason. If the DNA sample or DNA record was obtained or generated only in connection with a case in which eligibility for expungement has been established, the DNA sample shall be destroyed and the DNA record shall expunged. DNA record that is required to be expunged must be expunged from every database into which it has been entered.

Statutes / Case Law

MD. Code Public Safety § 2-504. Collection of DNA samples;

MD. Code Public Safety, § 2-511. Destruction or expungement of DNA information

MD. Code Regs. §29.05.01.04 Collecting Samples

Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1958 (2013) (“When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”)

Walker v. State, 2022 WL 1416675 (Md. Ct. App. May 4, 2022) (holding DNA obtained pursuant to a search warrant was not subject to the DNA Act and thus was properly not expunged).

Legislative History

• 1994 Md. Laws ch. 458 — created Maryland’s statewide DNA database program, originally codified in Article 88B (State Police). Collection was limited to persons convicted of a crime of violence, with samples taken on intake to a correctional facility or as a condition of sentence or probation. Bill number not available through the General Assembly’s digital records, which begin in 1996.
• SB 1 (2003) — Ch. 5 — housekeeping recodification. Moved the DNA statutes out of Article 88B into the newly created Public Safety Article, renumbering the collection mandate to § 2-504 and the subtitle to §§ 2-501 through 2-514. No substantive change to who must give a sample or how.
• HB 575 (2003) — Ch. 240, “Criminal Procedure – DNA Evidence – Postconviction Review and Felony Convictions,” by Delegates Anderson and Vallario. Far broader than retroactivity: it expanded the collection trigger from “crime of violence” to any felony or a violation of Criminal Law § 6-205 or § 6-206 (breaking and entering), moved the retroactive confinement date from October 1, 1999 to October 1, 2003, and replaced the enumerated list of authorized collectors with any individual appointed by the Director and trained in crime lab procedures. It also added the budget contingency — collection required only “if adequate funds for the collection of DNA samples are appropriated in the State budget” — and authorized a second sample where needed to obtain sufficient DNA. On the postconviction side it rewrote Criminal Procedure § 8-201, expanding the definition of “law enforcement agency,” clarifying “biological evidence” and “scientific identification evidence,” specifying when a court may order DNA testing, requiring evidence-preservation orders and disposition hearings, and repealing the statute’s termination date.
• HB 1052 (2004) — Ch. 66, “Public Safety Corrective Bill,” an emergency measure introduced by the Speaker at the request of the Department of Legislative Services. Corrected errors, omissions, and obsolete references in the Public Safety Article following the 2003 recodification, amending § 2-504(a)(2) and § 11-116. Expressly not intended to affect any law other than to correct technical errors.
• SB 622 (2005) — Ch. 325, “Public Safety – Collection of DNA Samples – State Budget,” by Sen. Kelley. Repealed the requirement that appropriations be available in the State budget before an individual is required to submit a DNA sample, amending § 2-504(a). This removed the funding escape hatch that HB 575 had inserted two years earlier, making collection mandatory regardless of whether the legislature funded it.
• SB 213 (2005) — Ch. 448, with companion HB 240 — Ch. 449, “Department of State Police – Collection of DNA Samples,” introduced by the President at the request of the Administration with fourteen cosponsors. Authorized collection at the time of sentencing and at a specified location following imposition of sentence, rather than only on intake to a correctional facility. Amended § 2-504.
• SB 211 (2008) — Ch. 337, “Public Safety – Statewide DNA Data Base System – Crimes of Violence, Burglary, and Breaking and Entering a Motor Vehicle – Sample Collections on Arrest Charge – Postconviction DNA Testing,” approved by the Governor May 13, 2008, effective January 1, 2009 with a five-year sunset. Added § 2-504(a)(3), requiring collection from individuals arrested for or charged with a crime of violence or attempt, burglary or attempt, or a violation of Criminal Law § 6-206, collected at the facility processing the arrest by the arresting agency or booking facility. Built in safeguards: the arrestee must be given notice that the record may be expunged, the sample may not be tested or entered into the database before the first scheduled arraignment absent the individual’s request or consent, and if all qualifying charges are found unsupported by probable cause the sample must be immediately destroyed with notice to the defendant and counsel. Also required crime scene and hospital sexual assault evidence deemed relevant to identification or exoneration to be tested as soon as reasonably possible, and expanded postconviction database-search and new-trial procedures. This is the statute upheld in Maryland v. King, 569 U.S. 435 (2013).
• SB 187 (2021) — Ch. 682, “Criminal Procedure – Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis, Searching, Regulation, and Oversight,” enacted under Article II, § 17(c) of the Maryland Constitution May 30, 2021, effective October 1, 2021. Maryland’s landmark FGG statute and the first comprehensive state regulation of the technique. Requires judicial authorization before an FGG analysis and search may be initiated, on certification of specified information to the court; bars using samples subjected to FGG profiling to determine other information about the donor; requires the sequencing laboratory to hold a license; and imposes written informed consent requirements for third-party samples, including a training requirement for the person obtaining consent and a prohibition on collecting a sample where the third party declines. Carries phased compliance dates of October 1, 2022 and October 1, 2024.
• SB 202 (2025) — Ch. 92, “Public Safety – Statewide DNA Database System, DNA Collection, and Penalties – Alterations,” approved by the Governor April 8, 2025, effective October 1, 2025. Requires a DNA sample to be collected from an individual required to register as a sex offender, and specifies the individual or location for collection in certain circumstances. Places an affirmative duty on custodial agencies and correctional facilities to ensure samples are collected properly, bars testing or database entry until specified conditions are met, and prohibits an individual from refusing to provide a required sample. Adds destruction and expungement requirements for samples and records tied to § 2-504(a)(3) arrest-based collection, with a transition provision addressing samples that failed the prior subtitle’s requirements before November 1, 2027.

No program or law found.

Maryland enacted Md. Code Ann., Pub. Safety § 2-507 (Ch. 695, Acts of 2021) — one of the first two state FGG statutes in the nation. The law limits FGG use to violent crimes and unidentified remains, requires a court authorization order (based on probable cause equivalent), mandates use of publicly available databases only, and requires the AG to publish FGG policies.

Maryland’s framework is frequently cited as a national model.

No program or law found.

Maryland State Police, on its own initiative (without state law to force it) has begun implementation of a CODIS Hit Outcome tracking system.