TEDCO CEO Backs Reform Bill As Senate Passes Measure to House
The Maryland Senate unanimously backed a bill to reform the Maryland Technology Development Corporation on Thursday ― and so did TEDCO’s CEO.
“We take our charge from Annapolis and this makes it very clear on some things that we need to do,” George M. Davis, the CEO, said Thursday morning. “I’m quite happy with the way it took place, and I think at the end of the day it gives us some clarity to move forward.”
Senate Bill 340 is a 16-page measure crafted by a bipartisan and bicameral workgroup to require certain reforms at TEDCO after an audit released early this legislative session raised concerns about investment practices and transparency.
Davis, during his first legislative session filling the CEO role alone, made repeated treks to Annapolis to answer questions from lawmakers, defend the corporation’s budget and testify on legislation.
“I think generally speaking people are big fans of what TEDCO has done and what we can do. We got off course a little bit with some of these audit findings, and we’re going to correct them really quickly and move forward,” Davis said Thursday morning just before the Senate vote.
He said new reporting requirements included in the bill – for everything ranging from the salaries of top corporation officials to regular reports on the business entities that have received TEDCO funding – will increase transparency and further data gathering on the state’s tech industry, possibly adding an economic benefit.
The bill also functions to clean up bits of language that conflicted with one another or left gray area for interpretation.
“TEDCO’s been evolving for 20 years. And over those years, we’ve had a lot of statutes tacked on to us with different programs and different funds,” Davis said. “And this [bill] clears that up. We have real good clarity. We can move forward with all of our investing in a proper fashion.”
Did someone forward this to you?
Get your own daily morning news roundup in your inbox. Free. Sign up here.
Danielle E. Gaines
Contributor
Danielle Gaines worked for Maryland Matters from September 2018 to January 2024. She covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position, ultimately serving as editor-in-chief for nearly three years. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.
Related Articles
The issue of nosebleeds in the emergency room connects to a larger concern about extended wait-times in Maryland’s emergency departments.
Some chairs have been shuffled at the top of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. TEDCO announced four new board officers and a new acting…
The CEO of Maryland’s Technology Development Corporation has resigned, the latest in a series of departures from the investment agency that has struggled since a…
Creative Commons Attribution