MD Legislation

Telemarketing, Public Records Top MDDC Legislative Efforts in MD

The MDDC Press Association’s legislative efforts this year have had some successes and seem poised for more, especially on the freedom-of-information front, as the 2001 session of the Maryland General Assembly enters its last month.

Heading the list of good news is the defeat of a Senate bill that would have imposed severe restrictions on telemarketing, a practice that newspapers generally rely on for attaining 60 percent of their new subscribers. On the negative side, two bills curtailing public notice advertising in Baltimore City are moving through the legislature with strong support. (The status of these and other bills of interest to newspapers can be found on the Legislative Checklist enclosed with this newsletter.)

As for FOI issues, at press time, the way seemed clear for introduction and positive consideration of two bills MDDC developed in the aftermath of last year’s public records audit that discovered that government agencies were denying access to public information in half of the cases tested.

MDDC Government Affairs Committee Chair Carol Melamed of The Washington Post and FOI Subcommittee Chair Tom Marquardt of The Capital worked with leaders of the Maryland Association of Counties and the Maryland Municipal League to reach consensus on the bills. With that accomplished, House of Delegates Speaker Casper Taylor and Senate President Mike Miller have agreed to support the measures.

The first measure (no bill number yet) consists of several provisions aimed at clarifying the existing Public Information Act to help bring about enhanced compliance. The provisions are aimed at improving the response time to PIA requests and clarifying existing provisions regarding fees, identification of requestors and other matters.

The second bill would establish a task force to study dispute resolution concerning access to public records, possibly through creation of an ombudsman or some other entity.

On the telemarketing issue, SB 641, introduced by Sen. Jean Roesser of Montgomery County, would have created a mandatory, statewide do-not-call list that telephone solicitors would have to buy and follow. A five-member panel of Maryland newspaper executives testified against the bill at a Finance Committee hearing Feb. 21. The committee subsequently killed the bill for the second year in a row on a 6-5 vote. Voting against the bill were Sens. Bromwell, Exum, Astle, Teitelbaum, DeGrange and Hafer.

The newspaper panel consisted of Gus Floyd of The Prince George’s Post, Carol Melamed of The Washington Post, Richard H. Amberg of The Washington Times, Mark Kukiela of The Herald-Mail and Gary Olszewski of The Baltimore Sun.