Records requests overwhelm agencies

State agencies in Maryland are struggling to handle thousands of public records requests from reporters, attorneys and other members of the public and lack consistent policies for complying with the state disclosure law, according to a survey by the state’s public access ombudsman.

Several of the 23 cabinet-level agencies that responded to the survey said they lacked policies for retaining certain kinds of records that are covered by the Maryland Public Information Act, such as emails and text messages, and many said they need more training and resources to meet the law’s retention and timely disclosure mandates.

The agencies reported receiving nearly 10,000 requests in fiscal 2019. The Department of the Environment, which estimated it alone received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests, failed to track data showing the disposition of those cases. Calling the requests an “extremely large burden on the department financially and operationally,” it requested more training, better software for tracking responses and the ability to “hire additional employees and to increase salaries of existing PIA personnel in an effort to retain them.”

Excluding the Department of Environment and the Department of Budget and Management, which did not track data, the remaining 21 agencies received 5,521 records requests, of which 2,410 resulted in records being fully disclosed. In other cases, records did not exist, were fully denied or partially redacted. Agencies provided the required initial response within 10 days in less than half of the cases.

The survey responses don’t paint a full picture of the law’s application. The agencies submitted incomplete data, in part for a lack of tracking it, and a vast array of local agencies that are subject to the law and receive large numbers of requests under it did not participate.

Still, backers of the survey said they hope it will help provide one of the clearest pictures to date of how the public records law is being applied in the state, and inform improvements to the law moving forward.

“The report is not intended to be all encompassing, but it will provide an important start for reviewing the efficacy of the current PIA system that we have in Maryland,” said Del. Brooke Lierman, the Baltimore Democrat who shepherded language mandating the survey last legislative session.