In a 138-0 vote Thursday morning, Maryland’s House of Delegates passed legislation sponsored by Del. Nick Mosby to end Baltimore’s use of the tax sale process to seize homes and places of worship due to water bill-related debts. Advocates and lawmakers quickly celebrated it as a new protection for Baltimoreans who’ve dealt with erroneous water bills and constantly rising water and sewer bills.

But a surprise came for advocates and sponsors shortly after the vote: Amendments had been added by the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, which apparently went unnoticed, that don’t actually protect all homes and religious sanctuaries from tax sale for water bill debt.

The city’s delegation in Annapolis had already approved the original versions of Mosby’s bill and its twin, sponsored by Sen. Mary Washington, that would bar the city from seizing any water or sewer bill liens on a property. Both lawmakers also wrote in protections for renters and places of worship, which remained unshielded under a one-year moratorium enacted last year on water lien-related tax sales of homeowner-occupied housing.

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