Md. Senate passes bill to investigate Howard County schools' public information law compliance

A bill meant to address allegations that Howard County school officials have illegally withheld public information under Superintendent Renee Foose's leadership is one step away from becoming law.
On Thursday the Maryland Senate voted 60 to 0 to pass House Bill 1105, which, if signed into law by Gov. Larry Hogan, would require the state public information ombudsman to investigate the validity of Howard County school officials' refusals of Maryland Public Information Act requests since Foose took office in July 2012.
A report of the findings would be due Jan. 1, 2017 to allow time for the county's delegation to review it before the start of next year's legislative session.
State Del. Warren Miller proposed the legislation last October in response to concerns among Howard County residents that the school system was systematically breaking public information law.

"They want to hide stuff that taxpayers have paid for," said Miller, a Republican from District 9A, at a meeting of the Howard County Delegation in January.
The bill, which is backed by all 12 of Howard County's representatives to the Maryland General Assembly, passed the House of Delegates 140 to 0 in March and was given a favorable report by the Senate education committee earlier this week...

 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-miller-senate-vote-0414-20160407-story.html