History
The City Ethics Board was created by a 1963 Charter Amendment to enforce certain new prohibitions against conflicts of interest. Financial disclosure requirements were added to the law in 1974.
In 1981, the State enacted a new, comprehensive Maryland Public Ethics Law; among other things, the new State law mandated each local jurisdiction to adopt its own, local ethics law that would be "similar" or, in some instances, "substantially similar" to the State's. Accordingly, in 1982 and 1985, the City Charter and the City Code were revised and expanded to conform to that State law.
More recently, in 2004, the City Ethics Law was again revised, expanded, and clarified by Ordinance 04-795 {"Ethics - 'Raising the Bar'"}. This new law, which reflects many "lessons learned" over the preceding two decades, became effective January 1, 2005.