Baltimore City Bills & Ordinances

Following up on an old post from Jan. 23, 2006, on Baltimore City's Legislative Information Center, there's one more point worth mentioning. The site allows you to search Baltimore City bills and ordinances. In Baltimore City, an item of legislation is referred to as a "bill" from the time it is introduced until its final reading in committee. The moment the bill is signed by the Mayor, it becomes an "ordinance." Bills and ordinances, though, have different numbering systems. What makes things a little tricky is that the option to search by "File ID" (on the advanced search option) automatically searches only for bill numbers. So, if you enter an ordinance number into the "File ID" you won't get the bill you're looking for. Therefore, if you only have the ordinance number, the best option is to search using the "Keyword" search option on the main screen. That should help you find what you're looking for. If you're still confused, call the Baltimore City Dept. of Legislative Reference at 410-396-4730. Their staff is very helpful.