A Bill To Honor Late Washington County Circuit Court Judge Is Before The Maryland State Senate

The bill would help protect judicial officials.Annapolis, Md. (BW)- A Senate Bill to honor the late Judge Andrew Wilkinson is progressing quickly in the Maryland General Assembly.Senate Bill 575 is sponsored in part by State Senator Paul Corderman, who represents Washington and Frederick counties.The bill passed the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday, Jan 31 and will now go back to the Senate for a second reading.The goal of the bill is to increase the privacy and protection of judicial officials across the state.The Maryland General Assembly website states the synopsis of the bill as, “Authorizing a certain protected individual or the Office of Information Privacy in the Administrative Office of the Courts to request that a governmental entity or person not publish personal information of the individual on the Internet, social media, or social networks or remove the information from any existing publication; specifying certain procedures for the protection of personal information of a protected individual; authorizing certain relief for a violation of the Act; etc.”If personal information exists online and is not taken down after requested, violators could face civil or criminal penalties.The creation of this bill is in response to the death of former Washington County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson, who was fatally shot in the driveway of his home in October 2023. Wilkinson ruled against the killer in an earlier family custody case.