On March 15, 2022, Associate Policy Director Dominic Butchko testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in opposition to SB 777 – Public Information Act – Records Relating to Police Misconduct – Fees. This bill prohibits counties from charging a fee for the search and preparation of the first 500 pages of certain records concerning administrative or criminal investigations of misconduct by a police officer.

From the MACo testimony: 

Under the Maryland Public Information Act, counties may not charge for the first two hours needed to search and prepare public records. For many public records, this is an adequate amount of time for counties to fulfill a request. Unfortunately, document preparation is often a more involved process, requiring input from multiple sources. For example, just one page of document review and preparation for a sensitive personnel matter could, by itself, take two hours of time for a county-employed attorney or other official.

More on MACo’s Advocacy:

Follow MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2022 legislative session on MACo’s Legislative Tracking Database.
Learn more about MACo’s 2022 Legislative Initiatives.
Read more General Assembly News on MACo’s Conduit Street blog.