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City Council

Baltimore City Charter art. III
in effect

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 1 Legislative Department; Qualification and salary of members.

§ 1. Legislative Department; Qualification and salary of members. (a) Legislative Department. The Legislative Department of the City shall be the City Council, which shall consist of a single chamber. (b) Qualifications. Members of the City Council, except the President whose qualifications are provided for in Section 3, shall be citizens of the United States, at least 18 years old, and registered voters of Baltimore City. They also shall be residents of the districts the members have been chosen to represent for at least 1 year next preceding their election, except as provided in Section 7(e), and during their term of office. (c) Salaries. The salary of each member shall be set as provided in Article VII, §§ 117 through 125 of this Charter. (Res. 11-034, ratified Nov. 9, 2011; Res. 05-009, ratified Nov. 7, 2006.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 2 Members.

§ 2. Members. (a) Election and term. (1) The voters shall elect the members of the City Council on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 2016, and on the same day and month in every succeeding fourth year. (2) Their term of office shall commence on the Thursday next after the first Monday in December succeeding their election and shall continue for 4 years. (b) Number. The Council shall consist of fourteen members in addition to the President. There shall be fourteen districts with one member elected from each district. (c) Districts. The election of members shall be held by council districts, and no person is entitled to vote for any member of the City Council other than member for the district in which the voter is registered. (d) Removal. The City Council, by a three-fourths vote of its members, may remove an individual member from office for incompetency, misconduct in office, wilful neglect of duty, or felony or misdemeanor in office, on charges preferred by the Mayor, the City Council's Committee on Legislative Investigations, or by the Inspector General, and after notice of those charges and an opportunity to be heard by the City Council are given to the individual member. (e) Term Limit. A member of the City Council shall not hold office for more than 2 consecutive full terms of office and in no event shall hold the office for more than 8 years during any 12 year period. This provision shall not preclude an elected member from seeking other elected offices within Baltimore City after two consecutive terms as member. In the event that an elected member takes office as a result of a removal or vacancy as described in §§ 2 or 6 of this Article, that elected member shall only be eligible to hold that office for the remainder of the predecessor’s unexpired term and 1 consecutive full term thereafter. (Res. 20-024, ratified Nov. 3, 2020; Res. 12-003, ratified Nov. 6, 2012; Res. 04-049, ratified Nov. 2, 2004; Initiative “Question P”, ratified Nov. 5, 2002; Res. 99-016, ratified Nov. 2, 1999; Initiative “Question K”, ratified Nov. 8, 2022.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 3 President.

§ 3. President. (a) Election, qualifications, duties, etc. At the same time that they elect the members, the voters shall elect from Baltimore City at large, a person to be the President of the City Council, who shall possess the qualifications required for the Mayor of the City. It shall be the President’s duty to preside over the City Council, vote on all questions and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. The salary of the President shall be set in the Ordinance of Estimates {read: shall be as provided in Article VII, §§ 117 through 125 of this Charter}. (b) Removal. The City Council, by a three-fourths vote of its members, may remove the President of the City Council from office for incompetency, misconduct in office, wilful neglect of duty, or felony or misdemeanor in office, on charges preferred by the Mayor, by the City Council's Committee on Legislative Investigations, a verified petition signed by at least 20% of the qualified voters in Baltimore City, or by the Inspector General, after notice of those charges and an opportunity to be heard by the City Council are given to the President. (c) Term limit. The President of the City Council shall not hold office for more than 2 consecutive full terms of office and in no event shall hold the office for more than 8 years during any 12 year period. This provision shall not preclude an elected President from seeking other elected offices within Baltimore City after two consecutive terms as President. In the event that an elected President takes office as a result of a removal or vacancy described in §§ 3 or 4 of this Article, that elected President shall only be eligible to hold that office for the remainder of the predecessor’s unexpired term and 1 consecutive full term thereafter. (Res. 20-024, ratified Nov. 3, 2020; Initiative “Question K”, ratified Nov. 8, 2022.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 4 Vacancy in presidency.

§ 4. Vacancy in presidency. If it becomes necessary for the President of the City Council to fill the unexpired term of the Mayor, or in case of the death, resignation, removal or other disqualification of the President, the City Council, by a majority vote of its members, shall elect a new president for the unexpired term. The person so elected as President may, but need not, be, at the time of election, a member of the City Council.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 5 Emergency vacancies.

§ 5. Emergency vacancies. If, by reason of any catastrophe, a majority of the members elected to the City Council are killed, or are sick, or incapacitated, missing, or otherwise unavailable, so that for a temporary or indefinite period there is not a quorum of the City Council available to permit that body to function, the Mayor, if the Mayor is available, or the Governor of Maryland or the other person acting in that capacity, if the Mayor is unavailable, is authorized to appoint for a temporary or indefinite period persons to fill the vacancies thus existing. If possible, each of the appointees shall have the qualifications required of members of the City Council. During their tenure, all such appointive members of the City Council shall possess and may exercise the powers and prerogatives of regularly elected members. Each appointee shall continue to hold office during the incapacity or unavailability of the member whose position the appointee was appointed to fill, or until the position is filled pursuant to the regular election and qualification of a successor.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 6 Individual vacancies.

§ 6. Individual vacancies. Each vacancy in the City Council shall be filled without delay. After public notice, the City Council, by a majority vote of its remaining members, shall elect a person possessing the qualifications prescribed in Section 1 of this article to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of the former incumbent. (Res. 04-055, ratified Nov. 2, 2004.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 7 Council districts.

§ 7. Council districts. (a) Criteria for redistricting. The City shall be divided by ordinance into districts for the election of members of the City Council. The criteria in redistricting shall be equality of population, contiguous territory, compactness, natural boundaries, existing council district lines, and the standards established by the Supreme Court of the United States. (b) Redistricting plan. Following each census of the United States the Mayor shall prepare a plan for council redistricting. The Mayor shall present the plan to the City Council not later than the first day of February of the first municipal election year following the census. After the Mayor’s plan is presented to the City Council, the Council may adopt it or amend it or the City Council may adopt another plan. If no plan has been adopted by the City Council within sixty days after the Mayor’s plan is presented, the Mayor’s plan shall take effect as the redistricting ordinance. (c) {Vacant} (d) Incumbent’s residency. No member of the City Council shall be required to vacate that office by reason of a change of boundary lines of that member’s council district made during that member’s term, as long as that member remains a resident of Baltimore City. (e) Residency duration for next election. For elections following the adoption of redistricting plans, members of the City Council shall have been residents of the districts they have been chosen to represent since the preceding July 1. (Initiative “Question P”, ratified Nov. 5, 2002.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 8 Sessions.

§ 8. Sessions. The City Council shall meet annually on the Thursday next after the first Monday in December and may continue in session for such period it deems necessary. The Mayor may convene the City Council in special session when, in the Mayor’s opinion, the public business demands it. The President also may call the City Council to meet in special session whenever in the President’s opinion such action is desirable, and shall call it into special session upon the written request of two-thirds of its members.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 9 Floor privileges of municipal officers.

§ 9. Floor privileges of municipal officers. The heads of departments, municipal officers not embraced in a department, and members of commissions and boards shall appear before the City Council if requested by a majority vote of its members and at other times shall have the privilege of the floor of the City Council at its meetings, and shall be entitled to participate in the discussion of matters relating to their respective departments, offices, commissions or boards, but shall have no vote. In the case of a commission or board, the President, or a member designated in writing for that purpose by the President, shall be entitled to the privilege provided for in this section.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 10 Procedures; Council officers.

§ 10. Procedures; Council officers. (a) Attendance of members. The City Council may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as it may provide by ordinance. (b) Vice-President — in general. The City Council, by a majority vote of its members, shall appoint from its members a Vice-President, who in the absence, sickness or disqualification of the President shall preside at all its meetings. The Vice-President also shall be an acting member of the Board of Estimates in the absence, sickness or temporary disqualification of the President. (c) Vice-President — as acting Mayor. In case of, and during, necessary absence, sickness or the temporary disqualification of both the Mayor and the President of the City Council, the Vice-President shall be acting Mayor. (d) Judge of member qualifications. The City Council shall be judge of the election and qualifications of its members, subject to appeal by petition of the party aggrieved as provided by law. (e) Rules of procedure; Officers. The City Council shall adopt rules of procedure not inconsistent with the Charter, appoint its own officers, regulate their respective compensation, not to exceed in the aggregate the amount appropriated therefor in the Ordinance of Estimates, and remove them at pleasure. (f) Journal of proceedings; Public deliberations. The City Council shall keep a journal of its proceedings and enter yeas and nays on any question, resolution or ordinance at the request of any member, and the deliberations of the City Council shall be public. (Res. 20-024, ratified Nov. 3, 2020.)

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 11 Legislative powers.

§ 11. Legislative powers. The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore shall have power to pass all ordinances, not inconsistent with the Charter, necessary to give effect and operation to all powers vested in the City.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 12 Evidence of legislative acts.

§ 12. Evidence of legislative acts. Ordinances and resolutions of the City may be read in evidence from the printed volumes thereof published by its authority.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 14 Passage of ordinances and resolutions.

§ 14. Passage of ordinances and resolutions. (a) In general. Every legislative act of the City shall be by ordinance or resolution. No ordinance or resolution shall be passed by the City Council except by a majority vote of its members, and on its final passage the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of members voting for or against the same shall be entered on the Journal. (b) Single-subject, title, and content requirements. Every ordinance enacted by the City shall embrace but one subject, which shall be described in its title, and no ordinance shall be revived, amended or enacted by mere reference to its title, but the same shall be set forth at length as in the original ordinance. (c) Readings and printing requirements. No ordinance shall become effective until it be read on three different days of the session, unless the City Council by a vote of three-fourths of its members shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays to be recorded on the Journal, and no ordinance shall be read a third time until it shall have been actually printed or engrossed for a third reading. (d) Oaths and witnesses. The City Council, by resolution, may authorize any standing or special committee to administer oaths and to summon witnesses as to any matters relevant to its investigation of any municipal agency.

Baltimore City Charter, Article III, § 15 General Counsel.

§ 15. General Counsel. (a) Authority to employ. The City Council may employ the services of an independent General Counsel. The selection and employment of the General Counsel shall be consistent with this section, as supplemented by the Rules of the City Council. (b) Qualifications. The General Counsel: (1) must be a member of the Maryland Bar; (2) must meet all other qualifications for the position set by the Rules of the City Council; (3) during his or her term, is subject to the Rules of the City Council that generally govern officers and employees of the Council; and (4) during her or his term, may not engage in any other practice of law unless: (i) it is uncompensated and in the nature of community service, such as pro bono advice to or representation of indigent clients; or (ii) it is on behalf of her- or himself or her or his parent, spouse, or child. (c) Term. The General Counsel serves at the pleasure of the City Council. (d) Duties. As the City Council directs, the General Counsel shall: (1) provide independent legal advice to the City Council, its committees, and subcommittees; (2) assist the City Council in investigations undertaken by the City Council or any of its committees or subcommittees; and (3) generally serve as attorney for the City Council. (e) Compensation; Expenses. (1) The General Counsel’s compensation shall be at least equal to that of a full-time Chief of the Law Department’s General Counsel Division. (2) The Board of Estimates shall annually include in the Ordinance of Estimates submitted to the City Council an amount sufficient to fund the General Counsel’s compensation and necessary expenses. (3) The amount appropriated for the General Counsel’s compensation and expenses shall be in addition to and may not supplant, be deducted from, or serve as a basis for reducing any part of the operating budget of the City Council. (Res. 13-013, ratified Nov. 4, 2014.)
Source: City of Baltimore Department of Legislative Reference, City of Baltimore Law Library (codes.baltimorecity.gov; Open Law Library bulk XML)URL: https://codes.baltimorecity.gov/us/md/cities/baltimore/charter/IIIFetched: 10/25/2026

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