The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Maryland law aimed at extending the state’s campaign finance oversight into online political ads to prevent foreign interference in local elections is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment.

The Online Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act, passed by state legislators in 2018, requires newspapers and other media platforms to collect and self-publish information about sponsors of online political ads.

The three-judge panel found that the law targets political expression and compels certain speech, and affirmed a lower court’s ruling to strike down the law.

The state’s attorney general’s office will review the decision and decide whether to file an appeal.

Sen. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam announced she is retiring from the Maryland State Senate District 44 seat, effective December 1.

Nathan-Pulliam cited health issues as the reason for stepping down from the seat.

Both the Baltimore City and Baltimore County state central committees are now accepting resumes and will make a recommendation to Gov. Larry Hogan.

Gov. Hogan officially makes the appointment to fill the vacant seat.

Gov. Larry Hogan has announced the appointment of Nicole Williams to represent District 22 in Prince George’s County.

Williams is replacing Del. Tawanna Gaines, who resigned last month after pleading guilty in federal court to illegally using campaign funds for personal benefit.

Gov. Hogan appointed Williams following the unanimous recommendations by the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee.

The Montgomery County Office of Procurement has launched a new online tool to find the status of a solicitation from issuance to contract execution.

The new system increases transparency by giving the public the ability to view the solicitation process from beginning to end.

The tracker system is located on the procurement website.

Gov. Larry Hogan has set February 4, 2020, as the date for the special primary election to fill the vacant 7th Congressional District seat.

The seat is vacant after Rep. Elijah Cummings passed away earlier this month.

The special general election to fill the remainder of Rep. Cumming’s term will be held on April 28, 2020; the same day as Maryland’s regularly scheduled primary election.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments on Wednesday in a case focused on Maryland’s Online Electioneering and Transparency Act.

Maryland legislators passed the act in order to prevent foreign interference in local elections.

However, the sweeping scope has sparked a First Amendment outcry from multiple newspapers, including The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun.

The newspapers and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association argue in a lawsuit that the act violates the First Amendment because it requires collecting and self-publishing information about sponsors of online political ads.

The act also requires retaining records of the ads for inspection by the state Board of Elections.

The bill became law without the signature of Gov. Larry Hogan, who commended the law’s goals, but had concerns about the constitutionality.

Gov. Larry Hogan will soon issue a proclamation stating a special primary and a special general election will be held to fill the vacant 7th Congressional District seat.

The seat became vacant after Rep. Elijah Cummings passed away early Thursday morning.

A date for the special election has not yet been determined.

In 2018, the Baltimore City Council enacted the Transparency in Lobbying Act requiring lobbyists to file reports twice a year and affirmatively identify their clients when approaching city government officials.

The effective date of the act was contingent on a viable online reporting system being implemented.

The Baltimore City Ethics Board has implemented the online lobbying reporting system.

Lobbyist registrations and reports can now be filed electronically.

The next year-end report is due on or before January 31, 2020, covering all of the reporting period immediately preceding January 1 through December 31, 2019.

The ethics board has advised persons that previously filed paper registration statements to submit the year-end report on paper and not electronically.

Del. Tawanna Gaines resigned from her District 22 seat in advance of federal wire fraud charges.

Prosecutors allege from January 2015 through April 2018, Del. Gaines defrauded her campaign and its contributors by taking more than $22,000 from her campaign account for personal use.

If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Maryland Del. Eric Bromwell resigned from his District 8 seat to serve as Baltimore County’s first opioid strategy coordinator.

Additionally, Del. Stephen Lafferty resigned from his District 42A seat to serve as Baltimore County’s chief sustainability officer.

Gov. Larry Hogan will appoint successors to the vacancies following recommendations from the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee.

Mayor Gavin Buckley introduced a bill at a recent city council meeting outlining how the city should purchase items and services.

A draft of the legislation proposes a procurement process that would create an efficient, cost-effective, and equitable system of public purchasing by the city.

Annapolis currently does not have a set system for procurement.

If passed, the bill would be added to the city code to create a more standardized procurement system.

The Maryland Department of General Services launched the state’s new electronic procurement system, eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA).

The eMMA system is Maryland’s new online platform used to connect the vendor community with contracting opportunities from state, county, and local government entities.

Registered vendors will receive notices of bid opportunities, submit bid responses, and obtain bid results online.

Accounts from the previous system will not be transferred to eMMA.

Vendors will have to register with the new system.

The state is currently training over 825 procurement professionals to help during the transition and provide training to users.

The State Ethics Commission will launch a new lobbying filing system, replacing the current system that has been in use for over 10 years. The current system uses outdated software and there is a limited number of programmers who can work on the system, which necessitated the change. The new system will utilize the latest advancements in software and should be user friendly. The new filing system is expected to go live on September 1.

Gov. Larry Hogan allowed two election law bills to become law without his signature.

House Bill 878 alters fees due for failure to file campaign finance reports or affidavits.

The bill raises the fees from $10 each day a report or affidavit is overdue to $20 for each of the first seven days.

Thereafter, the fee increases to $35 for the next seven days, and $50 for each day after that.

The maximum fee for overdue reports or affidavits has also been raised from $500 to $1,000.

House Bill 1025 authorizes the state administrator of elections or the state administrator’s designee to investigate potential violations of coordinated expenditure provisions.

The bill also authorizes the administrator to, in furtherance of an investigation, issue a subpoena for the attendance of a witness to testify.

The state administrator may also subpoena for the production of records.