The General Assembly convenes its legislative session for 90 days each year to act on more than 2,300 bills including the state's annual budget, which it must pass before adjourning sine die.

As ruler, Lord Baltimore owned directly all of the land granted in the charter, and possessed absolute authority over his domain.

[2] An act was passed providing that: from henceforth and for ever everyone being of the council of the Province and any other gentleman of able judgement summoned by writ (and the Lord of every Manor within this Province after Manors be erected) shall and may have his voice, seat, and place in every General Assembly ... together with two or more able and sufficient men for the hundred as the said freedmen or the major part of them ... shall think good.In addition, the Lord Proprietor could summon any delegates whom he desired.

[3] In 1639, noting that Parliament had not been summoned in England for a decade, the free men of Maryland passed an act to the effect that "assemblies were to be called once in every three years at the least", ensuring that their voices would be regularly heard.

[4] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly adjourned early on March 18, 2020, for the first time since the Civil War.

If a vacancy occurs in either house through death, resignation, or disqualification, the Governor of Maryland appoints a replacement whose name is submitted by the State Central Committee of the same political party as the legislator whose seat is to be filled.

The current pattern for distribution of seats began with the legislative apportionment plan of 1972 and has been revised every ten years thereafter according to the results of the decennial U.S. Census.

The Senate is led by a President and the House by a Speaker whose respective duties and prerogatives enable them to influence the legislative process significantly.