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LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 513

(Senate Bill 1120)

AN ACT concerning

Maryland Public Ethics

FOR the purpose of enacting a comprehensive statute
concerning public ethics; revising, restating, and
recodifying the laws of this State relating to public
ethics, including conflicts of interest, financial
disclosure, and lobbying disclosure; establishing the
State Ethics Commission and specifying certain
personnel and characteristics of it; providing certain
duties, responsibilities, powers, and procedures to the
State Ethics Commission; authorizing the State Ethics
Commission to make and issue advisory opinions;
authorizing certain functions concerned with the
implementation of public ethics law to the Joint
Committee on Legislative Ethics and the Commission on
Judicial Disabilities; providing certain procedures for
the handling of complaints concerning public ethics law
violations; providing certain judicial procedures for
handling public ethics law violations; establishing
certain penalties for public ethics law violations;
abolishing the Maryland Public Disclosure Advisory
Board and the State Board of Ethics; generally
prohibiting officials from acting officially where
there is a conflict of interest; disqualifying members
of the General Assembly from voting where there is a
conflict of interest; forbidding, with an exception,
certain State employees from having certain outside
employment; forbidding certain representational
activities by certain persons in matters before or
involving the state; imposing certain employment
restrictions on current and former officials and
employees; forbidding, with an exception, a financial
interest by certain persons in certain noncompetitive
bid transactions; forbidding, with an exception, the
use of State office for private gain; forbidding
contracting personnel to have certain outside
employment; putting certain restrictions on the
acceptance of gifts by certain persons; prohibiting the
disclosure of certain confidential information by
certain persons; requiring certain persons to file
certain financial disclosure statements with the State
Ethics Commission; establishing certain procedures for
the filing of those statements; establishing certain
sanctions for the failure to file these statements;
authorizing certain financial disclosure requirements
and procedures for judges and candidates for
judgeships; requiring certain financial disclosure
statements and procedures for certain bicounty
officials; establishing certain lobbying disclosure
requirements; providing that the State Ethics
Commission will administer those lobbying disclosure
requirements; requiring certain governmental