Executive Director's Message

Welcome to the Department of Legislative Services website. The department supports the members of the Maryland General Assembly and its committees. This includes legal, fiscal, committee, research, reference, auditing, administrative, and technological support. Staff support for the legislature has been formalized since 1916, when the Baltimore City Department of Legislative Reference was tasked with serving the General Assembly in what were then biennial sessions. Maryland changed to annual sessions in 1947 and augmented its staff support through the creation of a Fiscal Research Bureau. This bureau was later to become part of the Department of Fiscal Services in 1968. The Departments of Legislative Reference and Fiscal Services were merged in 1997, creating the current agency.