Maryland AG’s office seeks narrower public‑records exemption for documents created for litigation

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General told the Health and Government Operations Committee on April 1 that it supports a narrowly tailored amendment to the Public Information Act that would allow custodians to withhold records created for the purpose of pending or reasonably anticipated litigation.

The proposal, carried to the panel by Patrick Hughes of the Attorney General’s Office, would not create a blanket bar on records related to litigation. “As amended, the bill would apply only to records created for purposes of pending or reasonably anticipated litigation,” Hughes said, adding that the amended language defines “reasonably anticipated litigation” as “a situation where there’s concrete evidence that the litigation is expected to occur based on the current facts and circumstances at the time of the request.”

Committee members pressed the AG’s office on what counts as “concrete evidence,” who makes the…