Commercial Law - Broadband Access - Low-Income Consumer Programs (Maryland Broadband Opportunity and Fairness Act)

Summary

The bill would force broadband companies serving 10,000 or more customers to create affordable internet programs for people who qualify for SNAP, Medicaid, energy assistance, or earn below 350% of the federal poverty line. Providers must meet minimum speed and data limits, limit outages, cap price hikes, and publicly advertise the plans, while the state office collects yearly reports and reviews the program every five years. An advisory board would define what counts as a low‑cost plan, and violations would be treated as unfair trade practices.

AI-generated summary — may be incomplete or inaccurate. Verify against the official bill text.

Hearings

• Economic Matters — Bill Hearing
  Economic Matters · Feb 12, 2026

History

1. Mar 23, 2026Referred Finance
2. Mar 20, 2026Third Reading Passed
3. Mar 19, 2026Second Reading Passed with Amendments
4. Mar 19, 2026Favorable with Amendments Report by Economic Matters
5. Mar 19, 2026Favorable with Amendments {
6. Jan 28, 2026Hearing 2/12 at 1:00 p.m.
7. Jan 21, 2026First Reading Economic Matters

Sponsors

• Fair · sponsor
• Allen
• D. Jones
• Embry
• Feldmark
• Forbes
• Hill
• Kaufman
• McCaskill
• Pasteur
• Patterson
• Pruski
• Qi
• Rosenberg
• Ruff
• Ruth
• Schindler
• Solomon
• Stein
• Stinnett
• White Holland
• Wims
• Woods
• Wu
• Young

And 1 more cosponsors.

Bill text

Opens the legislature’s own copy.

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