City Council Strengthens Ethics Requirements and Gun Offender Registry

City Council Strengthens Ethics Requirements
and Gun Offender Registry

Gun Offender Bill Marks Third Law Passed From Council President’s Legislative Agenda

BALTIMORE, MD (December 5, 2019) — At this evening’s meeting, the Baltimore City Council passed legislation strengthening financial disclosure requirements for city officials and the city’s gun offender registry.

“Elected Officials - Financial Disclosure” (19-0457), sponsored by Councilman Ryan Dorsey (District 3), requires elected officials to report businesses of which they or their spouse own 30% or more and requires reporting of their clients on their annual financial disclosures. This bill, which now heads to the Mayor’s desk for a signature, requires officials to list any client who pays them or their spouse $1,000 or 5% of their business’ gross income.

Council President Scott made the following statement after the final passage of this bill:

“When I became Council President, I named ethics reform as my top priority. This City Council has done a good job putting that into action through legislation. I worked closely with Councilman Dorsey to ensure this bill made it through the legislative process.

Baltimore residents deserve to have faith in their city government. Learning from what we’ve been through as a city, we as a Council are focused on laying the groundwork so this never happens again. And we must approach the issue in a systematic way because we know this isn’t about any one person. 

In my short time as Council President, we have also passed bills prohibiting retaliation against whistleblowers (19-0377) and requiring more city employees file financial disclosures (19-0376).

I also committed to delivering funds to the Board of Ethics because what we’re seeing in Baltimore is the direct outcome of budgeting $0 for ethics enforcement as a city.”

The gun offender registry measure (19-0443), sponsored by City Council President Brandon M. Scott, was announced as a priority in July to better identify straw purchasers, illegal users of assault weapons, and individuals who sell guns to minors. These offenses were previously omitted from the gun offender registry.

Firearm trace data shows that 60% of firearm recoveries by police in 2018 originated outside of Maryland.

“People who purchase guns for people who shouldn’t have them, knowing they might be used to commit a crime in Baltimore, must be held responsible. Targeting the supply of guns is one tool for creating a safer Baltimore,” said Council President Scott. “I thank my colleagues on the City Council for unanimously supporting this measure, which is critical to stopping the flow of illegal guns into Baltimore City.”

Members of the public can use the Council President’s Legislative and Policy Tracker to follow the policy process for this bill and other initiatives outlined in Council President Scott’s Legislative and Policy Agenda released in July 2019.