MACo Legal and Policy Counsel Les Knapp joined Montgomery County Attorney’s Office Division of Operations Chief Edward Lattner in addressing members of the Maryland Government Finance Officers Association (MDGFOA) on July 18 at their 2015 Summer Conference in Ocean City on Maryland’s Public Information Act (PIA), open data, and government liability caps.
Lattner provided an overview of the PIA and highlighted specific PIA legal issues that budget and finance officers should be aware of. Knapp focused on the significant changes facing the PIA due to 2015 legislation and the recent increase to State and local government tort caps. Both men discussed the specific issue of citizens wanting to record interactions with government officials and answered questions from the audience.
The MDGFOA 2015 Summer Conference ran from June 17-19 and also included presentations on information security; internal fiscal controls; MACo’s shared other post employment benefits (OPEB) trust with the Maryland Association of Boards of Education; state and national budget and economic updates; the allocation of new pension liabilities to local governments in Maryland; public-private partnerships for stormwater management; and banking, payment and technology trends.
