A pro forma session of the Maryland House of Delegates on Friday. Some Republicans claim the meetings violate the Maryland Constitution. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
A group of hardline conservatives in the House continued their campaign to end pro forma sessions for a second day Friday, and for a second day their arguments got nowhere.
Members of the Freedom Caucus — a seven-delegate subset of the House Republican Caucus — attended a scheduled pro forma session of the House Friday morning. At the end of the session, which took less than two minutes, the group attempted to question the constitutionality of such meetings but was essentially ignored.
Del. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert) told a reporter Friday that the meetings violate a section of the state constitution that requires a “quorum of the majority” of members of the House of Delegates in order to hold a floor session.
“They don’t have a quorum,” Fisher said, referring to the Maryland Constitution. “That’s crystal clear. The question is, are Democrats violating the constitution. I think the answer is clear. At the very least, are they violating the trust of the public?”
Rules for pro forma sessions were first enacted during the COVID-19 session in 2021. Pro forma meetings survive as part of the post-pandemic rules of the House and Senate. Each chamber adopts those rules at the start of each 90-day session.
Both the House and Senate have scheduled two pro forma days a week during the slow-business early weeks of the General Assembly session, though that is likely to change as the pace of work picks up. Republicans in the Senate are not challenging the sessions.
Maryland House of Delegates rule book. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Under the rules, the House and Senate can meet with three people — the presiding officer and the majority and minority leader of each party, or their designees. The trio are limited in the business that can be conducted during the abbreviated sessions and cannot pass bills.
Under House rules adopted last week, “a quorum is deemed present” for a pro forma session when speaker and party leaders are present.
But Fisher said the Maryland Constitution overrides House rules. On Thursday, members of the Freedom Caucus pushed unsuccessfully to get a vote by the full House on a motion to block the scaled-back session Friday.
Friday’s meeting lasted just 92 seconds, long enough to introduce legislative bond initiatives and assign them to the House Appropriations Committee and reassign one bill.
Just as House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) was about to gavel the brief session to a close, Fisher tried to raise question on whether a quorum was present.
Instead of recognizing Fisher, Jones ended the meeting.
The video for the floor session continues for another 19 seconds, but the chamber’s microphones were turned off at that point, so the exchange between Jones and Fisher was only audible to reporters, delegates and staff on the floor.
“You didn’t recognize me,” Fisher called from the floor.
Jones acknowledged that she had not.
Fisher then began to raise the constitutional issue, holding up a printed copy with the passage highlighted in yellow.
“It’s in the House rules,” Jones said.
Fisher responded that the rules do not supersede the state constitution. Jones left the rostrum for her office.
Afterward, Fisher said the Freedom Caucus is asking for a legal opinion about the constitutionality of pro forma sessions from both the attorney general’s office as well as “outside counsel.” But he said he and other Freedom Caucus members are not yet contemplating legal action.
“We’re hoping that by pointing out the concerns some corrections are made,” Fisher said.
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