Council delays Johns Hopkins data-sharing resolution for committee review

Council on May 12 agreed to refer a proposed data-sharing agreement with Johns Hopkins University to committee for additional review after Councilwoman Deborah L. Gross said she wanted the administration to explain why the item was being expedited.

"I just asked the administration why they wanted it to be expedited and if you wouldn't mind waiting until the other bills are read to see if I get an answer," Gross said during the bill introductions. She told colleagues she expected more information later in the day and asked that the item appear on the standing-committee agenda for the following day.

Resident Rick Smith urged the council to make public what data would be shared and what the anticipated benefit to the city would be. "Please make it easier for the public to understand what data is being shared and what the anticipated benefit to the city is," Smith said.

Gross moved to waive Rule 8 so bill 4 72 could be added to tomorrow's committee agenda for fuller review; council approved the motion by voice vote. The resolution, described in the agenda as a data-sharing agreement under the Data Science for Social Good program at no cost to the city over three years, will be discussed in committee before any final vote.

The council clerk recorded that the waiver passed and that bill 4 72 would appear on the standing committee agenda the next day. No final decision on the underlying data-sharing agreement was taken at the May 12 meeting.