The segments below provide a brief overview of MACo’s work on public information and ethics policies in the 2025 General Assembly session.
County governments gather and maintain public information as part of their various functions. Compliance with federal and state public information mandates and guidelines is paramount. This responsibility and others are maintained with a standard of ethics in all government practices and priorities throughout Maryland’s county governments’ administrative agencies and legislative bodies. Through its advocacy and professional education in public information and ethics, MACo urges a balance between government efficiency, privacy, and public access to information.
Maryland’s 447th legislative session convened amidst a substantial concern over the State’s fiscal situation, with weakened revenues and cost increases for many services at every level of government. Despite the fiscal limitations, a wide range of policy issues received a full debate, with many resolutions arising from the 90-day annual process. MACo’s legislative committee guided the association’s positions on hundreds of bills, yielding many productive compromises and gains spanning counties’ uniquely wide portfolio.
Follow these links for more coverage on our Conduit Street blog and Legislative Database.
MACo supported HB 74 – Legal Advertisement or Legal Notice – Publication in Newspaper or Newspaper in General Circulation – Digital Newspapers. This bill would have allowed a county that does not have a qualifying newspaper for certain legal advertisements or notices, to publish the required information in a comparable digital format to maintain compliance with state law. The bill did not pass.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 821/SB 555 – Public Information Act – Denials – Pending Litigation. This bill would have provided reasonable standards for a local custodian of records to deny inspection of documents when a Public Information Act request is for materials that could be consequential to current or reasonably pending legislation. This would have allowed case specific records to be withheld until resolution along with materials produced for a specific case that were not the direct work product of the supervising attorney. The bill did not pass.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
MACo supported HB 806/SB 544 – Public Information Act – Frivolous, Vexatious, or Abusive Requests – Remedies. This bill would have provided reasonable relief for a local custodian of records for a defined set of “abusive” public information requests. The remedies provided under the bill would ensure custodians can do their job without fear of harassment and threats. This would also have added more speed and efficiency to the process for fulfilling for good faith requests. The bill did not pass.
Bill Information | MACo Coverage
