Type more here
Trying to figure out how to align nodes. Got suggestion (from AI) to try different type of sankey. This is that attempt.
Continue reading “Both Houses-New Type of Sankey”This version of the Sankey chart illustrates the education bills that passed the Maryland General Assembly. It makes clear, in visual form, that most bills introduced do not ultimately pass. I wish I could get the chart to line up all first house committee assignments and second house committee assignments.
Continue reading “Both Houses again Again”Another option, but I don’t really like this one either. But it is more colorful.
Continue reading “Both Houses Again”I was able to get the progession of bills from both Houses in one Sankey, but I don’t love how it looks. I’m going to publish it, so I can look at it and try to figure out a better way to present the data.
Continue reading “Both Houses”This Sankey diagram visualizes the journey of education related (File codes F1-F5) bills that began in the Maryland House of Delegates during the 2025 legislative session. Each bill’s path is shown from its orginating chamber to its assigned primariy committee, and then to its final outcome. Doing this is more difficult then I thought it would be, although the data is readily available on the Maryland General Assembly website as a data download. Next I’m going to try to add in education related bills that originated in the Senate. This will be even more techically difficult because the Sankey doesn’t handle the oppisite house committees well. This is a work in progress.
In the 2025 legislative session, the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee received the highest volume of education bills, with 81 bills assigned. Of these, 54 bills (67%) died in the Senate and did not advance.
The remaining 27 bills (33%) were reported out of EEE and referred to other committees or advanced in the legislative process:
Overall, 18 of the 81 education bills (22%) assigned to the Senate EEE Committee passed both chambers, were signed by the Governor, and became law.
In the 2025 legislative session, 11 education bills were assigned to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. Of those, 5 bills (45%) died in the Senate and did not advance.
The remaining 6 bills (55%) were referred to other committees or moved forward in the legislative process:
Overall, 2 of the 11 education bills (18%) assigned to B&T ultimately passed both chambers, were signed by the Governor, and became law.
In the 2025 legislative session, 3 education bills were assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. All 3 bills failed to become law:
Overall, the Finance Committee had a 0% passage rate for education bills in 2025.
In the 2025 legislative session, 1 education bill was assigned to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. The bill died in committee and did not advance.
Overall, the Judicial Proceedings Committee had a 0% passage rate for education bills in 2025.
The Senate Rules and Executive Nominations Committee plays a procedural role by reviewing legislation introduced after the bill introduction deadline and determining whether to re-refer those bills to the appropriate standing committees.
In the 2025 legislative session, 4 education bills were assigned to the Senate Rules Committee. None were re-referred or advanced, and all died at that stage—resulting in a 0% passage rate.
As co-leader of the education workgroup, I’m trying to better understand workloads and what happens to education bills. This is just a simple write up based on the education bills from the 2025 session.
A total of 121 education bills (coded F1–F5) were assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee, the most of any House committee. Of these, 81 bills (67%) died in the House and did not advance to the Senate.
The remaining 40 bills (33%) crossed over and were all referred to the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee (EEE). Of those, 22 bills passed both chambers (55% Senate committee passage rate).
However, 1 of the 22 passed bills was vetoed by the Governor for policy reasons, and therefore did not become law.
In total, 21 of the 121 bills (17%) assigned to Ways and Means were enacted.
In the 2025 legislative session, 43 education bills were assigned to the House Appropriations Committee. Of those, 27 bills (63%) died in the House and did not advance to the Senate.
The remaining 16 bills (37%) crossed over to the Senate, where they were divided between two committees:
Overall, 8 of the 43 bills (19%) assigned to Appropriations ultimately passed both chambers, were signed by the Governor, and became law.
The House Environment and Transportation Committee received 2 education bills. 1 bill died in committee, while the other advanced to the Senate.
The single crossover bill was referred to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, where it passed—resulting in a 100% passage rate for Senate-assigned bills from this committee.
Overall, 1 of the 2 bills (50%) assigned to Environment and Transportation became law.
Three (3) education bills were assigned to the House Health and Government Operations Committee. 1 bill died in the House, and 2 bills (67%) crossed over to the Senate:
Overall, 2 of the 3 bills (67%) assigned to HGO became law.
Only 1 education bill was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. It advanced to the Senate, passed both chambers, and was signed into law—resulting in a 100% passage rate.
The House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee serves a procedural role by reviewing legislation introduced after the bill introduction deadline and deciding whether to re-refer those bills to the appropriate standing committees. In the 2025 session, 5 education bills (coded F1–F5) were initially referred to the Rules Committee. None of these bills advanced, either because they were not re-referred or were ultimately withdrawn—resulting in a 0% passage rate.
What Can Nearly a Decade of Education Bills Tell Us About Legislative Trends?
A look at nine years of bills—introduced, passed, and what it says about the landscape.
Every year, the Maryland General Assembly introduces between 200 and 300 some education-related bills—bills assigned to one of the “F” file codes. As a fiscal and policy analyst, I read and review many of them. When we write the annual 90 Day Report or the Major Issues Review every four years, I reflect on what passed at a policy level—but I’d never actually looked at the full dataset.
To be honest, I didn’t even realize until recently that the General Assembly publishes downloadable data on all introduced legislation going back to 2017. Once I found it, I realized that some of the questions I’ve had—questions that have been simmering since I became a workgroup leader—were just a pivot table and a few filters away.
So I decided to dig in and explore a few basic questions:
Using data from 2017 through 2025, I organized bills by file code, which is how the Maryland General Assembly categorizes legislation by subject area. Each bill in this dataset has only one file code, which helps avoid double-counting and makes trend analysis easier.
Technically, bills can be assigned more than one file code, but they are supposed to have a primary file code, which is what this dataset reflects.
I started in 2017 because that’s when the publicly available dataset begins. The result isn’t a perfect map of education policymaking—but it offers a useful window into what’s introduced, what moves, and where patterns start to emerge.
Education is assigned five file codes. F1 through F5.
Here’s the number of unique bills introduced in each education category over the last nine sessions:
| File Code | Description | Range (2017–2025) | Typical Volume |
| F1 | Primary & Secondary Education | 117–156 bills | Highest volume |
| F2 | Higher Education | 36–97 bills | Moderate |
| F3 | Education – Local Bills | 22–45 bills | Low–moderate |
| F4 | Community Colleges – Local Bills | 0–5 bills | Very low |
| F5 | Education – Miscellaneous | 16–49 bills | Rising |
Primary and Secondary Education (F1) bills consistently dominate the education bills docket. The number of K–12 proposals introduced each year has stayed high—even during COVID disruptions—reaching a second peak in 2024. It is unsurprising that this category remained high during COVID disruptions because
Meanwhile, F5 (Miscellaneous) has quietly grown. These are often bills that touch multiple issues, create new programs, or fall outside the traditional boundaries of K–12 and higher ed. For example, in 2025 it included bills related to child care, data and infrastructure, libraries, adult education, security, and education finance policy.
Not everything introduced becomes law. In fact, many bills stall in committee or get absorbed into larger omnibus legislation. Here’s what passed each year by file code, along with calculated passage rates:
| File Code | What Stands Out |
| F1 – Primary & Secondary | High volume, low pass rates. Often 20–30%. Only 9% of F1 bills passed in 2020, and just 12% in 2025. |
| F2 – Higher Education | Consistently stronger pass rates—often 40–50%. Possibly due to narrower scope, stronger stakeholder alignment, or less controversy. |
| F3 – Local Bills | Mixed. When local delegations are aligned, they move. In 2023, 50% of F3 bills passed. In 2025, only 18% did. |
| F4 – Community Colleges | Almost nothing moved until 2024–2025, when 3 and 2 bills passed respectively. This file code remains very low-volume. |
| F5 – Miscellaneous | Surprisingly effective. With passage rates as high as 81% in 2017, and 40–50% in later years, these bills may be noncontroversial, flexible, or bipartisan in nature. |
This is just a snapshot. I’d like to keep asking questions like:
I’m also curious about the policy signals that aren’t obvious from volume alone. Which bills spark stakeholder debates but never make it out of committee? Which ones fly under the radar?
I like playing with data to see what I might learn.
For this graph, I looked at data published by the University System of Maryland for the University of Maryland, College Park, about the number of applicants and the acceptance and enrollment rates. This graphic shows only Maryland residents. Looking at it this way, you can see that the number of applicants who applied and weren’t accepted and the number of students who enrolled almost doubled from 2008 to 2023. Almost doubled might be slightly exaggerated, but it is a good way to think about it. I wonder if that is the case for institutions that aren’t the flagship.
