Maryland State Archives to introduce $0.20-per-page paywall as budget shifts to special funds

The Health and Human Services Subcommittee heard a budget readout on the Maryland State Archives on Jan. 29, 2025, where analysts and agency leaders described plans to put a paywall on the state's land-records website and a related shift in the agency's fiscal 2026 funding mix.

Elizabeth Weibel, a budget analyst who presented the Department of Legislative Services review, said the fiscal 2026 allowance for the State Archives is $11,000,000, an increase of $3.4 million from fiscal 2025 driven mainly by an expected $3.0 million general fund reversion in fiscal 2025. "The allowance is $11,000,000 which is an increase of $3,400,000 from fiscal 20 25," Weibel said during the subcommittee presentation.

That shift toward special funds, Weibel said, stems from a proposed change in how the archives charges for document downloads on MDLandRec.net. Elaine Rice Bachman, the state archivist, told the subcommittee the archives plans to implement a 20-cent-per-page fee for downloading certain land-record documents. "We are currently engaged in the process of developing a paywall of 20¢ per page for MDLandrec.net to be implemented in the fourth quarter of FY 25," Bachman said. She and agency staff said historical land records more than 100 years old will remain free, and public access in the archives' search room and court access will not change.

Why it matters: agency leaders and analysts said the fee is intended to curb automated bulk downloads by for-profit companies that bypass subscription fees, reduce strain on servers and generate revenue that will let the archives rely less on general funds. Weibel said the archives projects the new fee schedule could bring in $1 million in revenue per month even after an expected drop in downloads once the paywall is implemented.

Details and context: the DLS presentation shows that in the fiscal 2026 allowance roughly 74% of the budget supports regular personnel and 11% covers off-site storage for physical collections. The fiscal 2026 budget also includes two contractual conversions to regular positions and a net reduction of three contractual FTEs; the agency reported four vacant regular positions (including two half-time slots the agency intends to combine into a single full-time position).

Bachman said the archives revised its approach after a fiscal-2024 drop in special funds forced agencywide spending restraints. She credited agency accountants and managers with temporary measures to keep services running during that period and said the paywall was part of a longer-term plan to stabilize revenue. The archives reported more than 416,000 cubic feet of physical materials in its collections and more than 190,000 gigabytes of electronic records; DLS noted the archives offered 154 public programs in fiscal 2024, many of which the agency posts to YouTube.

Approvals and timeline: Bachman said the paywall design and timing are being developed with approval from the governor's office, the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Information Services, and the agency expects the fee to be implemented in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. DLS requested an update from the archives on implementation timing and plans to mitigate any access impacts.

Questions from subcommittee members focused on how the archives coordinates with the courts and on the projected revenue. Bachman and staff described the platform's origin with the courts in 1999 and the overnight transfer process that keeps court filings current on MDLandRec.net.

The archives and the DLS analyst agreed to follow up with additional implementation details and hiring updates for vacant positions.