Maryland's government just got a little more transparent, thanks a
revision in the state's Public Information access protocols.
First enacted in 1970, the Public Information Act covers all state
and local government agencies. Anyone can request access to public
records. The tricky part is that some documents are exempted from
public access, such as juvenile court records, adoption records,
personnel records and others.
Approved by the General Assembly
during its last session, the revision creates a new compliance board
to consider complaints about fees, and an ombudsman in the Maryland
Attorney General's Office to mediate disputes between those seeking
access to records and those who keep them. The new requirements put
more responsibility on government agencies to justify exempting
records from public access. The attorney general's office has also
drafted guidelines for denying access, said David Nitkin, director of
communications.
"Our proposed regulations on denials are: If a request is
denied, the custodian shall provide the applicant, at the time of the
denial or within 10 working days, a written statement that gives the
reason for the denial," Nitkin said. Just as well, in
situations where the law allows the agency to decide whether to allow
access, a custodian must also provide a brief explanation of why
denial is necessary and why the harm from disclosure would be greater
than the public interest, he explained.
If there's any disagreement over whether records should be made
available, or if it's taking too long to produce them, the ombudsman
should attempt to resolve it. However, its decisions aren't binding,
and if the dispute is not resolved, the next step is to go to court.
If a judge finds against the government, the new rules allow the
court to impose statutory damages of up to $1,000 for the case.
Neither the compliance board, which only considers whether fees
for looking up and copying records are reasonable, nor the ombudsman
have been appointed yet. "We are awaiting the appointments to
the compliance board by Gov. (Larry) Hogan," Nitkin said. "The
office of the attorney general will accept complaints in the interim,
and the board will act on them when a quorum exists." No funding
was provided in the current budget for the ombudsman position,
leaving the attorney general's office to wait to fill it, he said. (News Source)
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