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Md. Code, General Provisions § 5-202

This is the official text of Md. Code, General Provisions § 5-202, part of Maryland’s Code, General Provisions — contains definitions and provisions of general application across Maryland law.

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§5–202.

Official statutory text

(a) (1) The Ethics Commission consists of five members.

(2) The Governor shall appoint:

(i) with the advice and consent of the Senate, three members, at least one of whom shall be a member of the principal political party of which the Governor is not a member;

(ii) one member nominated by the President of the Senate; and

(iii) one member nominated by the Speaker of the House.

(3) The Governor may reject a nominee of the President or of the Speaker only for cause.

(4) If the Governor rejects a nominee under paragraph (3) of this subsection, the appropriate presiding officer shall nominate another individual.

(5) A vacancy shall be filled in a manner consistent with this subsection.

(b) A member of the Ethics Commission may not:

(1) hold elected or appointed office in, be an employee of, or be a candidate for office in:

(i) the federal government;

(ii) the State government;

(iii) a municipal corporation, county, or multicounty agency of the State; or

(iv) a political party; or

(2) be a regulated lobbyist.

(c) Before taking office, each appointee to the Ethics Commission shall take the oath required by Article I, § 9 of the Maryland Constitution.

(d) (1) The term of a member is 5 years.

(2) The terms of members are staggered as required by the terms in effect for members of the Ethics Commission on October 1, 2013.

(3) A member may serve no more than two consecutive 5–year terms.

(4) A member who is appointed after a term has begun serves for the rest of the term.

(5) At the end of a term, a member may continue to serve until a successor is appointed and qualifies.

(e) (1) The Governor may remove a member for:

(i) neglect of duty;

(ii) misconduct in office;

(iii) a disability that makes the member unable to discharge the powers and duties of office; or

(iv) a violation of this title.

(2) Before removing a member, the Governor shall give the member:

(i) written notice of the charges; and

(ii) an opportunity to answer the charges.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.