House passes first major ethics bill in over a decade Brown meets with Trump in Washington

The Maryland House of Delegates unanimously passed a bill Friday that would update the state's ethics laws. It would require more disclosure of lawmakers' conflicts of interest and put some new limits on legislators' advocacy for private businesses.

The bill would make the first major changes to state ethics rules in more than a decade.

Gov. Larry Hogan sought an even more sweeping rewrite of the rules that would have subjected legislators' conduct to oversight by an executive branch commission. The attorney general's office advised that such a move would probably violate the state constitution by breaching the separation between different branches of government.

Doug Mayer, a spokesman for Hogan, said the bill as passed represented a compromise that the Republican governor's office was happy to see moving forward.

Several of the provisions in the bill that passed the House Friday are designed to deal with ethical questions raised about Del. Dan Morhaim, who worked on medical marijuana policies without fully disclosing that he was being paid by a medical marijuana company and would work for it if the company was licensed by the state.

The General Assembly's ethics committee found that Morhaim's conduct violated the spirit of the ethics rules, if not the letter. The bill would make clear that such conduct is barred by law.

The measure would require legislators to make more extensive disclosures about their and their spouse's sources of income. It would require records disclosed to the legislative ethics committee and executive branch commission to be posted online for the public to inspect.

The bill also would create an independent advisory board that would recommend future changes to ethics laws. That provision became a high priority for the governor.

Brown meets with Trump in Washington

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus -including Rep. Anthony G. Brown - said they were encouraged by a long-awaited meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday and suggested there may be room for agreement on issues like infrastructe.

The lawmakers, led by Louisiana Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond, said they also raised "candid" concerns with Trump about cuts included in his proposed budget, how to address urban crime and his rhetoric during the campaign. The lawmakers said the president committed to continue the conversation.

Trump spoke with the lawmakers in the Cabinet Room after weeks of speculation about whether the meeting would be scheduled.

Credit: By Ian Duncan - The Baltimore Sun