HB 694 Maryland House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Public Schools - Individuals With Disabilities - Accessibility and Emergency Planning

HB 694 requires Maryland county school boards to annually report (starting September 1, 2025) the number of public school main entrances not accessible for people with disabilities and not meeting federal ADA standards, publishing this data on their websites. It also mandates that local school systems send their updated emergency plans to the state Department of Education by September 1 each year (starting 2025), with the department analyzing these plans and reporting compliance status to the legislature by December 1 annually. The bill further ensures that students with disabilities have emergency evacuation plans included in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans. These provisions directly affect all Maryland public school systems and county boards of education.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 24, 2025 Last action Mar 12, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

First - Public Schools - Individuals With Disabilities - Main Entrance Accessibility and Emergency Planning → Third - Public Schools - Individuals With Disabilities - Accessibility and Emergency Planning · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to expand its scope from focusing solely on main entrance accessibility to also requiring local school systems to identify accessibility issues during safety evaluations and report instances where facilities became inaccessible to students with disabilities. The bill's procedural status was updated to reflect it has been adopted by the House with a favorable committee report.

Scope change

Expanded from only tracking inaccessible main entrances to requiring identification of all accessibility issues during safety evaluations and reporting of accessibility failures that impede evacuation or emergency response.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirement for local school systems to identify accessibility issues during regular safety evaluations of public school facilities.

Added requirement for local school systems to report instances where a public school facility became inaccessible for a student with a disability in a way that could impede evacuation or emergency response.

Modified the bill's title and description to reflect the expanded scope beyond just main entrance accessibility to include broader accessibility and emergency planning concerns.

PROCEDURAL

Added committee report and house action status indicating the bill was favorably amended and adopted by the House.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 28, 2025

How they voted

136–0

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 139

Feb 28, 2025

D Democratic100

97 Yea 3

97% Yea

R Republican39

39 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Referred Education, Energy, and the Environment

upper

Mar 11, 2025

Lower · Passed

Third Reading Passed

lower

Mar 11, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable with Amendments {

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Favorable with Amendments Report by Ways and Means

lower

Feb 28, 2025

House Of Delegates · Passed

House of Delegates Vote: pass (136-0-3)

house of delegates

Jan 24, 2025

Committee

First Reading Ways and Means

lower

18 primary · 0 co-sponsors