Yellow Jacket Initiative
Ballot questions · Maryland

Maryland Question 1: Funding state employee contracts, and binding arbitration

Constitutional Amendment · On every Maryland ballot · Election Day Tuesday, November 3, 2026

This page explains what the question does. It does not tell you how to vote.

What your ballot says

Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act of 2026

Providing that each budget submitted by the Governor shall include proposed expenditures necessary to implement wages, hours, fringe benefits, health benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment in each collective bargaining memorandum of understanding with State employees, whether the State and State employees reached those terms and conditions by mutual agreement or through a neutral decider’s order.

(Amending Article III of the Maryland Constitution)

For the Constitutional Amendment -A vote FOR this amendment means that the Governor has to include money in the proposed State budget to pay for agreements between the State and its employees. Agreements might include changes to wages, hours, fringe benefits, health benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. The Governor must put enough money in the State budget to cover the agreed upon pay and benefits for employees, whether those terms were negotiated or decided by a neutral decision-maker.

Against the Constitutional Amendment - A vote AGAINST the amendment means that the law about funding agreements between the State and State employees stays the same.

In plain terms

Question 1 changes the constitution directly, and it switches on a set of statutory changes in the same bill (House Bill 604) that take effect only if the amendment passes.

1. The amendment itself: the Governor’s proposed budget must include money for union contracts. When the state and a state employees’ union reach a contract (a “memorandum of understanding”), the amendment requires the Governor’s proposed budget to include the money to pay for all of its terms. The General Assembly still decides the final budget. That includes wages, hours, fringe benefits and health benefits. It covers state agencies, state colleges and universities, and the Maryland Environmental Service. The budget would also have to list the changes in pay and benefits under each contract.

2. The statutory changes that come with it, including binding arbitration. The phrase “a neutral decider’s order” on your ballot refers to binding arbitration. If Question 1 passes, these changes in state law take effect:

The arbitration process does not cover employees of state colleges and universities. BWI Marshall Airport’s uniformed firefighters and Maryland Transit Administration workers keep the arbitration systems they already have.

Limits written into the arbitration law

The statutory changes also say:

What a vote FOR does

The Governor’s budget must include the money for every state employee union contract, whether the terms were agreed to or ordered by an arbitrator. The statutory changes listed above take effect, and binding arbitration becomes the way deadlocked talks with most state employee unions end. State colleges and universities are not covered, and BWI firefighters and MTA workers keep their existing arbitration systems.

What a vote AGAINST does

The constitution stays as it is, and none of the statutory changes above take effect. Under current law, when talks with most state employee unions deadlock, either side can ask for a fact finder, who makes written recommendations that are not binding. The Governor must already include in the budget the cost of negotiated items for the coming year. A few groups of state employees already have binding arbitration under existing law (Maryland Transit Administration workers and the uniformed firefighters at BWI Marshall Airport).

Who put it on the ballot

The Maryland General Assembly, in its 2026 regular session. The bill was House Bill 604. It passed the House of Delegates 93–35 on March 20, 2026, and the Senate 35–11 on April 10, 2026. A constitutional amendment needs three-fifths of each chamber; both votes cleared that bar. It became Chapter 155 of 2026. A cross-filed Senate bill (Senate Bill 28, Chapter 156) was withdrawn in the August special session, so only this version is on the ballot.

Cost

The Department of Legislative Services’ fiscal note says that if voters approve, state spending rises “likely by at least $150,000, if not significantly more” a year starting in fiscal year 2028, for arbitrators and added labor-relations staff. It says the effect on state pay and benefits “cannot be reliably estimated” but is “potentially significant,” starting as early as fiscal 2029, depending on what arbitrators decide. It notes the General Assembly’s control over appropriations could reduce that effect. It also notes that Maryland Environmental Service employees are not currently in a bargaining unit, that the bill “likely affects” the Service’s status as an agency funded by its own fees rather than the state budget if they unionize, and that this possible cost is not included in the estimate.

Sources

Checked against these documents on October 17, 2026. Found an error? Tell us.