The Maryland Senate passed a bill that would require the state to be more transparent about deaths from alleged child abuse or neglect. It will soon go to Gov. Wes Moore for his signature.

The legislation, approved late Friday and already endorsed by the House of Delegates, would require officials to promptly release requested information about children in foster care who die from suspected maltreatment. Compared to other states, Maryland stands apart in its lack of transparency after these deaths.

The measure was authored by Dels. Susan McComas and Robin Grammer Jr. McComas called the bill an accountability tool and a necessary check to the system that cares for children when their families do not, or cannot, care for them.

“The children in the custody and control of the State of Maryland at least deserve the protection of the Fourth Estate, the press and media,” McComas said.

Carter Elliott IV, a spokesperson for Moore, said the governor is eager to sign legislation that makes Maryland safer, but did not say whether he plans to sign HB 1209. The General Assembly has roughly three more weeks to present all passed bills to the governor. He has until late May to deliberate.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers threw unanimous support behind the proposal after The Banner in December reported the growing number of child maltreatment fatalities in Maryland. The state Department of Human Services responded by saying its own data was inaccurate and later released corrected figures that show dozens fewer deaths than the state originally reported. Maryland’s deaths still outpace the national average.

Earlier this year, independent legislative analysts recommended withholding money from the agency until it can fix a slew of other problems with its data.

This was the fourth year in a row that McComas, a Republican from Harford County, introduced legislation that seeks to expand access to records following a death from alleged child abuse or neglect. She found success this year amid lawmakers’ growing concerns about the accuracy of Maryland’s child welfare data.

Last year, a version of the bill cross-filed in the General Assembly’s upper house and carried by Sen. Mary-Dulany James, a Democrat from Harford County, cleared the Senate with unanimous support. But that measure, Senate Bill 89, never got a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

Del. Luke Clippinger in February said he had not previously allowed the panel to consider the bill in part because he took seriously concerns expressed about it by the state human services agency. But this year, the department expressed support for the measure.

The agency’s new position was revealed during a February meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.

In a letter submitted to committee Chair Clippinger, a Democrat from Baltimore, an agency official wrote that the bill aligns well with the Moore administration’s goal to prioritize transparency, honesty and openness. Last year, another agency official expressed concern about a similar bill, writing that it was crucial to limit the information released following a child’s death.

For many years, information about victims of reported child abuse in Maryland was completely confidential.

Then, in the late 1990s, state lawmakers expanded access after Pikesville third grader Rita Fisher died of torture and abuse at the hands of her family. Social workers had failed to protect her despite repeated warning signs.

Now, when a child dies, state law requires officials to release some information upon request, such as dates of reports of abuse, findings by investigators and services provided to the person accused of abuse. But prosecutors can block the records’ release if they think disclosure could jeopardize a criminal case against an accused person. They almost always do.

Officials have so far refused to release records in the death of Zona Byrd, a 5-year-old girl who starved to death in Baltimore last October. She should have been in kindergarten, yet when police discovered her body, she was wearing toddler-size clothing that hung from her skeletal frame. Her parents are facing first-degree murder and child abuse charges.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said last fall he would not allow the state to share Zona’s child welfare records because doing so might harm his case against Byrd’s parents. Had Zona been in foster care at the time of her death, HB 1209 would require Bates to produce those records, upon request.

McComas said greater transparency is needed because it might help prevent the next tragedy.

“This is for those children that slipped through the cracks,” she said.