‘Good Cause' Evictions Legislation Gets Surprise Revival As Session Winds Down

By Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters

April 2, 2026

A bill to protect tenants from being kicked out of their housing without justification, given little chance this year and voted down in committee as recently as Monday, was unexpectedly brought back to life on Wednesday and sent to the full House for consideration.

The so-called “good cause evictions” legislation, which has stalled repeatedly in recent years, still has a long way to go to final approval, say advocates on both sides of the issue. But the House Economic Matters Committee vote Wednesday puts a wrinkle into the final days of the legislative session, and tenants’ rights advocates welcomed the change.

“We’ll see how the bill plays out in the full legislative process,” said Ninfa Amador-Hernandez, policy analyst with the immigrant advocacy group CASA. “But the key component of this bill is to protect families – and right now, that’s essential.”

House Bill 774 is the most recent version of legislation that is also known as “just cause evictions.” Such legislation would let local jurisdictions require that landlords who want to cancel a lease have to inform tenants of the reason, from a specified list of reasons outlined in the bill. They could include not paying rent, engaging in disorderly conduct or breaching the lease agreement, among other issues.

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Landlords and housing developers say the legislation would contribute to an already “overregulated” housing market that is less friendly to future housing projects.

Senate leadership, like Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) are empathetic to the developers’ concerns, especially at a time when state leaders are pushing for new development to solve a 96,000-unit housing shortage.

Good cause evictions legislation passed the House in 2024, but the bill never came to a vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Last year, Judicial Proceedings took the lead, but tried to amend the bill to make local jurisdictions pick between rent-control measures or good cause evictions.

The goal was to find a middle ground between accommodating developers, who feel burdened with too many local regulations, while protecting renters from unjustified evictions. But that “poison amendment” caused renter advocates to back off, and the conversation died once again in Judicial Proceedings.

Many were suspecting a repeat this session, as both HB 744 and the Senate counterpart, Senate Bill 462, languished in committee after their February hearings.

When Economic Matters Chair Kriselda Valderrama (D-Prince George’s) called for a favorable vote on the bill Monday, it did not pass – just nine of the 20 delegates on the committee voted for it. Seven voted no, one abstained and three were absent.

“The bill was basically dead,” said Del. April Rose (R-Frederick and Carroll), who was not present for Monday’s vote but said she would have opposed the legislation.

On Wednesday, Del. Veronica Turner (D-Prince George’s), who opposed the legislation Monday, called to reconsider the bill. She voted with 10 others in support of the bill, two voted no, one was excused and six were absent, including several Republicans who were present at the start of the meeting but walked out discussion on the bill.

“We were showing our frustration with the process,” Rose said, as one of the delegates who walked out.

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HB 774 now heads to the full House for consideration, but if approved there it would head back to Judicial Proceedings — assuming it does not just get stuck in Senate Rules, where it will go first as a late-referred bill.

Renter advocates appreciate the momentum in the House, but know the Senate remains a hurdle.

“The fact is, the House supported this legislation…. It has been stalled in the Senate,” said Matt Losak, executive director of the Montgomery County Renters Alliance. “This is an unfortunate political move that is impacting hundreds of thousands of renters in the state of Maryland.”

Brian Anleu, with the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, said he was unsurprised by Wednesday’s commitee vote, but expects that the bill’s odds are lower in the Senate.

“It’s late in session, so I am not entirely sure about the bill’s prospects in the Senate,” he said. “Until there’s some sort of agreement on some of these issues, then it sort of faces dim prospects, but that could change. It’s the last few weeks of session, and things tend to happen very quickly.”

Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who sponsored HB 744, said she was “thrilled” to see it come out of committee. She said she was not dismayed by Monday’s committee vote – nor by the short timeframe remaining in the 2026 legislative session.

“The timeframe should not be an issue. We have plenty of time. I’ve seen bills pass in one day,” Wilkins said. “Once we move this bill out, the Senate has the bill … so it’s a matter of them choosing to move forward.”

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: scrane@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and Twitter.