On March 3, Associate Policy Director Sarah Sample submitted a letter of information to the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee on HB 1317 – State Government – Data-Sharing Agreements and Personal Identifying Information – Prohibition and Reporting (Maryland Data Privacy and Federal Shield Act).
This bill seeks a policy on sharing data with outside individuals who may use it for various types of federal enforcement or tracking. In doing so, it creates a gray area for local government custodians that could expose them to personal liability while taking good faith actions within the scope of their work.
As federal data-sharing practices continue to evolve, state policymakers are exploring new ways to safeguard personal information held by local governments. While counties share the goal of protecting sensitive personal information when it is not legally required to be shared with federal agencies, they caution that the bill’s procedural requirements could create uncertainty, administrative burdens, and potential personal liability for local record custodians—particularly outside of traditional public safety agencies.
The question of how best to ensure that privacy and access are maintained when a record request is made to a local government agency, and not just public safety agencies, is an important one to address. HB 1317 is attempting to do that, but has a few components that likely demand more clarification as to what would be expected of non-public safety, local government custodians if the bill were to become law.
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