Policy Overview: Maryland Public Ethics Law
Purpose
The Maryland Public Ethics Law (Title 5 of the General Provisions Article of the Maryland Code) has the purpose of guarding against improper influence on government officials’ and employees’ actions in order to ensure officials’ and employees’ impartiality and independent judgment in conducting the government’s business.
The Law's Provisions
The Ethics Law guards against improper influence by establishing:
- Conflict of Interest Provisions – prohibitions and requirements that primarily guard against the potential for a government official’s or employee’s personal financial interests, outside employment, or certain other private interests or actions to influence their actions as a governmental official or employee (Title 5, Subtitle 5, “Conflicts of Interest”);
- Financial Disclosure Requirements – requirements that government officials and candidates for office as a State official disclose their financial interests, their outside employment, and certain other information, to help ensure that officials do not have interests that may improperly influence their governmental actions (Title 5, Subtitle 6, “Financial Disclosure”); and
- Lobbying Provisions – requirements and prohibitions applicable to persons (lobbyists) seeking to influence government officials or employees in the conduct of their duties (Title 5, Subtitle 7, “Lobbying”).
The Law's Scope
The Ethics Law directly applies to State government officials (including certain elected officials who have not yet taken office) and employees, candidates for office as a State official (in the case of financial disclosure requirements), and lobbyists who seek to influence State government officials and employees. It also requires local governments, county school boards, and bicounty commissions to establish similar laws or regulations (Title 5, Subtitle 8, “Local Government Provisions”).
Administration/Enforcement
The Ethics Law is primarily administered and enforced by the State Ethics Commission; however:
- the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics administers/enforces the conflict of interest provisions of the law that are applicable to members of the General Assembly; and
- while subject to portions of the Ethics Law, judges, and judicial appointees (magistrates, examiners, auditors, and District Court commissioners), are primarily held instead to ethics standards and requirements found in codes of conduct, and financial disclosure requirements, established by the Supreme Court of Maryland, which are largely administered/enforced by the Commission on Judicial Disabilities (which enforces ethics/conduct standards for judges), the Judicial Ethics Committee (which primarily provides advice), and the State Court Administrator (which administers financial disclosure filing).
Other State Laws That Guard Against Improper Influence
Other State laws that guard against improper influence on government officials and employees are:
- State Criminal Law – applicable when improper influence reaches the level of the crimes of bribery (§ 9-201 of the Criminal Law Article) and/or misconduct in office (a common law crime, see Koushall v. State, 26); and
- State Campaign Finance Law (Title 13 of the Election Law Article) – applicable to candidates for elected office and elected officials, limiting the amount of money that can be contributed to a candidate or elected official for an election campaign and requiring public disclosure of candidates’ and elected officials’ campaign fundraising (including identifying contributors of funding) and spending.
See the fact sheet, the State Ethics Commisson website, and the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics’ Ethics Guide (to the left) for more information on public ethics in the State.