MarylandReporter.com (http://marylandreporter.com/author/marylandreporter-com/)
The Pick Four number to play Thursday in the legislative lottery was 32-15. In three successive party line votes in the Maryland Senate, that was the vote tally Democrats played to overcome Gov. Larry Hogan’s vetoes of bills to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour and to allow Maryland schools to open before Labor Day, overturning the governor’s executive order.
The Restaurant Association of Maryland responds to Progressive Maryland’s commentary attacking its polling and credibility. When Larry Stafford of Progressive Maryland implies that the Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) is deceptive with regard to the arguments we make to policymakers, writes Melvin Thompson, I have to draw the line. His attack is baseless, unwarranted and shows he has little understanding of business economics.
Progressive Maryland responds to polling about increasing Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 by the Restaurant Association of Maryland. When you ask a fake question, you get a fake answer, Larry Stafford says.. The poll is presented as if it were unbiased and scientific, rather than informed by misleading questions designed by lobbyists to deliver the results they want.
State legislatures across the country are questioning how to respond to our national epidemic of privacy violations. Maryland’s Cybersecurity Council is suggesting answers in hearings this week on a new Online Consumer Protection Act.
If Maryland raises its minimum wage to a $15 an hour, a woman-owned company providing traffic control services in Glen Burnie will have to figure out how to cover the half of a million dollars needed to cover the increase.
Across Maryland, people struggle to pay for the prescription drugs they need to lead healthy lives or even stay alive. Prices keep going up, while drug companies spend more on marketing and reap enormous profits. That’s why we are sponsoring legislation to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board that will have the authority to review and set fair and affordable maximum drug costs in the state.
The bill is titled the Protection of Marylanders’ Rights Act of 2019, but it might also be dubbed the Attorney General’s Budget Protection Act, since it seeks to keep the governor from underfunding the AG’s budget. The legislation is part of the long-running skirmishes between Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Democrat Attorney General Brian Frosh over what cases the AG should pursue.
Striped bass or rockfish, one of the most prized species in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic Coast, are being overfished according to a new assessment of the stock’s health — a finding that will likely trigger catch reductions for a species long touted as a fisheries management success.
For the last few years, Jason Lambertson’s farm near Pocomoke City on the Lower Eastern Shore has been home to an expensive experiment. The third-generation farmer received nearly $1 million in state funding to build a giant poultry waste converter and distribute its main product: fertilizer. But profits have yet to arrive.
How much corporations pay in Maryland taxes and how they are computed were up for debate at Annapolis hearings last week. Sen. Andrew Serafini wants to cut the corporate tax rate as recommended by the legislature’s Augustine commission four years ago. Sen. Ron Young wants more out-of-state corporations paying under combined reporting — a move opposed by the same commission.