Pressure on state resumes for inspector general records access fix

HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — A bill that would have guaranteed the Howard County inspector general's direct access to records failed last month, and the issue now falls to the state once again.

"It was disappointing," IG Kelly Madigan said, reacting to Howard County Council's 3-2 vote against Council Bill 69. "Was it surprising? I don't know."

"This problem shouldn't even exist. And it shouldn't be up to us to fix it," District 5 Councilman David Yungmann (R) said during the last voting session. Yungmann was the decisive no vote.

Since Madigan began in January, she says the office has been making good progress. So far, it has received 119 complaints, with 23 going on to become cases. They've even got a brand new sign on their door.

But denials of some records under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) are making the job more of a challenge, like personnel files.

“How can I have the authority to subpoena somebody's bank record, and I can't get a copy of a performance evaluation about an employee?" Madigan said. "When you can't have access to their resume, their application. You know, those are kind of bread and butter things for any employee misconduct case."

Madigan promises the office's first reports are coming soon, but there may be some parts missing due to the records they can't get.

"Oversight can be uncomfortable, but oversight is necessary, unfortunately, because there's such low confidence in government," she said. "So when you're going to give oversight over government, the person overseeing it has to have access to all the information."

Howard County code guarantees the IG's "right to obtain full and unrestricted access to all records and files." But a change that began in Baltimore City, and seemingly bled into neighboring jurisdictions, started a couple of years ago.

One where governments have held their independent IGs to the required denials under the MPIA, though there's been no formal legal guidance from the Attorney General's Office and a Baltimore City judge determined that IGs are exempt from the MPIA denials.

Madigan points out that the practice not only delays the investigative process but also makes it less confidential by looping in more county staff in order to gather information.

Amid a legal challenge in Baltimore City between its inspector general and mayor, calls for change at the state level fell flat last session. That includes a local bill championed by District 9A Delegate Chao Wu (D).

"On this issue, unfortunately, the bill [was] filed a little late and then it went to the rules committee, and the bill died," Wu explained.

Wu says the heart of this issue is good governance. He plans to reintroduce similar legislation that would further enshrine inspector general access to records by carving out an exemption to the MPIA law, but only in Howard County.

More than 85% of voters approved of the measure establishing the IG office in November 2024.

"I definitely would like to have Howard County leading the effort, make sure our government works in a transparent and accountable way," Wu said.

A public hearing on the bill in front of the Howard County delegation is scheduled for Monday, December 21st at the George Howard building. Madigan plans to testify in support.

"I think the cleanest remedy can be this state exception," she said.

Baltimore County delegate Ryan Nawrocki (R) of District 7A confirmed with WMAR-2 News that he also plans to reintroduce several pieces of IG related legislation, including one bill that exempts all IGs from MPIA restrictions.

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