MD HB216

Creates a new felony offense prohibiting knowingly recruiting, harboring, transporting, or obtaining individuals to appropriate their government benefits through deception, coercion, exploitation, or isolation

Covered government benefits include Medicare, Medicaid, TANF, WIC, SNAP, Social Security, SSDI, veterans benefits, pensions, TDAP, and PAA

Coercion is defined broadly to include threats of bodily harm, physical restraint, blackmail, confiscating immigration documents, providing controlled substances, financial threats against disabled or elderly adults, and withholding medical care

Penalties include up to 25 years imprisonment and/or fines up to $15,000, with each violation treated as a separate offense that may run consecutively to other sentences

Effective date: October 1, 2026