The Minority Leader Leads, The Wave, An April Caucus, In Political Notes Foolishness

By Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters

April 2, 2026

Maryland Matters will never play April Fools prank on our readers – but we will report on them when it’s lawmakers playing jokes on each other on April 1, leading to hijinks in the typically serious body.

The April Fools’ Day silliness started in the House — in fact, most of the pranks were in the House — at the very beginning of the floor session.

Instead of House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) taking the rostrum to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and announce the person giving the day’s prayer, Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) stepped up.

Buckel then told the chamber the daily prayer would be offered by Del. Jon Cardin (D-Baltimore County).

“Hopefully, they know who they are,” Buckel said looking toward the area where members of the Baltimore County delegation sit.

Before Cardin began the prayer, to note the beginning of Passover, he paused to say, “Thank you … Misterrrr Speaker.”

Buckel nodded in approval and said, “I like it. Let’s move Sine Die.”

After Cardin gave the prayer, Buckel enjoyed a few more moments at the rostrum.

“Move to expel the gentleman from Catonsville,” Buckel joked, drawing plenty of laughs, including from Peña-Melnyk.

“April Fools to you. Thank you so much,” Peña-Melnyk said as Buckel walked back to his normal seat at the front of the chamber to a round of applause.

The April Caucus

There are a lot of different caucuses in Annapolis. Dels. April Miller (D-Frederick) and April Rose (R-Frederick and Carroll) decided on April 1 that there should be an April Caucus to recognize the endless times they have been mixed up by their peers, their constituents and others trying to talk to either of them.

“Whereas, it has come to the attention of this body that the residents of our districts and our colleagues have spent a cumulative 4,000 hours over the last year, squinting at their phones, scratching their heads and asking, ‘Wait – which April are we talking about?’” said Miller, reading out a joke House resolution to create the April Caucus.

“Whereas, it is uniquely auspicious and perhaps a little suspicious that today is April Fools’ Day, our least favorite day of the year,” she continued.

“Be it resolved that the House of Delegates should officially designate this day, the Day of the April Caucus,” she said, adding that any bill sponsored by both delegates should be immediately passed as an emergency bill, among other non-serious demands.

A faux resolution was printed and read out by Reading Clerk Rhoades Whitehill to give it a veneer of authenticity on a day of frivolity.

“The House of Delegates officially designates this day as the day of the April Caucus, in recognizing that some coincidences are so profound that they border on a Constitutional Crisis,” Whitehill read, as Rose and Miller took a photo with the speaker and the April Caucus resolution.

This time they weren’t joking

When Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) called for a second session Wednesday evening, a time many legislators would want to head home for Passover, it soon became very clear that he was playing an April Fools’ joke on senators.

Not so in the House. When Peña-Melnyk called for a second session Wednesday, it was clear that she was not joking.

That’s because the House had to reconsider its vote on Senate Bill 283, the part of the budget package that deals with capital bonds.

The House had just voted to approve the bill 123-13, after significant debate to amend the legislation, and Peña-Melnyk had already declared the work at the desk finished for the day, when Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) approached the dais to talk with the speaker.

It was later explained that the amendment that had just been approved by the chamber had some technical errors that needed to be cleaned up.

While Peña-Melnyk, Barnes and staff worked out scheduling for the day to correct the issue, delegates attempted to start a stadium-style wave going in the chamber.

More than half participated, but they didn’t quite get to a full wave before Barnes returned to his desk and called to reconsider the bill and special ordered it for later in the day. The House returned for second session at 2:30 p.m., when Del. Malcolm P. Ruff (D-Baltimore City) withdrew the earlier faulty amendment and substituted a new one, saying that the changes were technical.

Buckel clarified that the new proposed amendment didn’t make substantive changes to the Capitol Bonds bill, just to make sure everyone was on the same page despite the general foolishness.

“It sounds like to me, what happened is, there was some typo … or mix-up of the amendment you submitted,” Buckel said. “Some intelligent staff person caught it after we already voted on it and scanned it into the computers – and it doesn’t change the substance, the monies, the programs of what we originally voted for or against earlier today — is that fair?”

Ruff agreed.

“There was a technical error, it has been corrected, and I much appreciate your question,” Ruff said.

With that, the House voted again to approve the Capitol Bonds bill, this time on a 120-10 vote. The second attempt to approve the bill only took 10 minutes, giving lawmakers plenty of time to wrap up work for the day.

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