House Bill 692 (HB692): Legislation prohibiting the State’s Attorney for Carroll County from engaging in the private practice of law passes the House and Senate and moves on to the Governor for signature.
The final vote in the House was 123-0 (on March 6th) and the final vote in the Senate was 47-0 (on March 26th).
Of Note with the votes: Delegate Shoemaker was “Excused from Voting” on the House vote.
Noted in the fiscal analysis:
Current Law: The State’s Attorney for Carroll County must serve full time but is not statutorily prohibited from engaging in the private practice of law. State’s Attorneys in most jurisdictions are specifically prohibited in statute from engaging in the private practice of law. (See, generally, §§ 15-402 through 15-424 of the Criminal Procedure Article.)
Here is a look at the history of this legislation:
This was a little controversial when it came up for discussion in Carroll County, specifically between the candidates running for State’s Attorney in 2022 (Delegate Haven Shoemaker and David Ellin). Here is an article written on Scott E’s Blog back in November 2021:
Two very different press releases concerning proposed legislation to prohibit Carroll County State’s Attorney to conduct private legal practice while in office (READ HERE).
If you have 10 minutes to spare I highly recommend watching this video on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqYgqdmz3rM
This legislation could be an ongoing topic during the 2022 Primary season.
As a reminder to the readers…you can see both of these candidates for Carroll County State’s Attorney on April 21st in Westminster at the 2022 Candidate Forum presented by the Republican Women of Carroll County:
Get more information and your tickets here: http://carrollcountyrepublicanwomen.yolasite.com/candidate-forum-april-21.php
