Public Safety - Militia - Active Duty Combat (Defend the Guard)

HB 548 restricts Maryland's Governor from deploying the state militia (including the National Guard) into "active duty combat" without specific congressional action. It prohibits such deployments unless the U.S. Congress has passed an official declaration of war (per Article I, Section 8, Clause 11) or taken a specific action under Clause 15 to "call forth" the militia for federal purposes. The bill explicitly preserves the Governor's authority to deploy the militia under Title 32 of U.S. law for domestic support, such as disaster response within Maryland. This directly affects the Governor's power to commit state military forces to overseas combat roles without federal congressional authorization.