ANNAPOLIS – Local and state officials would be required to post their financial disclosure records online under a state senate bill aimed at addressing ethics problems.
Legislation introduced by Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, would give citizens easier access to records that are now available only by request in person at the state’s offices in Annapolis.
Raskin intended for the bill to apply only to state officials, but Sen. Robert Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, proposed an amendment to include local officials too, citing recent reports of Maryland’s lack of transparency. The Washington Examiner recently reported that Maryland ranked as one of the states most at risk of malfeasance by public officials. Zirkin’s amendment passed by a 32-13 vote.
“If the concept here is to shine the light on public officials for ethics issues, I see no reason why we should exempt … [local] officials from the same requirement,” he said.
Lawmakers would be required to post information on property owned, business interests, employment details and gifts with a value over $20.
Zirkin’s change requires the governing body of a county to post financial disclosure statements of “certain local officials” online. The bill is expected to add $70,000 in expenses to the State Ethics Commission, which would be responsible for posting financial disclosures of state officials online.
Similar costs would be required at the county level to manage the online postings, which could be too expensive for local jurisdictions to handle,according to Sen. Roy Dyson, D-Calvert.
“If you think your counties are not happy with the shift of the pensions and everything else, this is a heck of a burden to put on them,” Dyson said.
Senators must vote once more on the bill, which would then move to the House of Delegates for approval.
Elected officials such as county executives and council members would have their financial disclosures put online, Zirkin said.
The same disclosures could also happen for high-ranking county officials who are appointed or hired rather than chosen by voters. The distinction of what constitutes a local official would be left up to each county, according to Zirkin’s staff.
Lawmakers pushed the bill in response to ethics violations by Sen. Ulysses Currie, D-Prince George’s, who was acquitted of all federal charges stemming from his work for Shoppers Food Warehouse, but censured for failing to submit proper financial disclosures, among other conflicts of interest.
