Harford News

Harford County Ethics Board met September 19.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

1. Call to Order

The September 19, 2018 meeting of the Harford County Ethics Board was called to order at 6:15 pm by the Chair Doug DeLeaver with all members present.

2. The Board reviewed the draft legislation and discussed the changes necessary for the Harford County Public Ethics Law to comply with the provisions of the State law.

The changes discussed included:

Redacting home addresses from financial disclosure statements;

Removing from the definition of interest college savings plans recognized under the IRS Code and publicly traded stocks and mutual funds not in a particular sector or area regulated by the individual’s agency;

Prohibiting a former lobbyist who becomes an employee or official from participating in a contract or other matter for one calendar year after terminating their registration as a lobbyist if they represented another party in the matter;

Requiring a financial disclosure filer whose spouse is a regulated lobbyist to disclose the entity that has hired the spouse to lobby on their behalf;

Providing that a candidate who fails to file a financial disclosure statement in a timely fashion will be deemed to have withdrawn their candidacy if the financial statement is not filed within 8 days after the County or Board of Elections provides the individual written notice of the failure to file the required statement; and

Increasing the fine for failure to file a timely financial disclosure statement or lobbyist registration or report.

A motion to recommend the changes as discussed and contained within the draft legislation to the County Executive for enactment by the County Council, was made by Board Member Betsy Campion, seconded by Board Member Terri Kearney and approved by unanimous vote.

3. Adjourn

Having no further business the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm.

https://www.harfordcountymd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09192018-994