Public Ethics - Local Government and School Boards - Requirements

HB 1297 requires counties, municipalities, and school boards to adopt ethics rules that meet or exceed Maryland’s state-level conflict of interest standards. Specifically, local rules must include provisions allowing governing bodies to remove officials for ethics violations and mandate that ethics commissions publicly share recommendations about such removals. The bill also sets minimum requirements for financial disclosure and lobbying regulations at the local level. These changes apply directly to local government officials and school board members across Maryland. The law aims to standardize ethics enforcement without altering existing state ethics frameworks.