MarylandReporter.com (https://marylandreporter.com/category/general-assembly/)
Monday (March 18) marked “crossover day” in the Maryland General Assembly, the day bills must be sent to the opposite chamber in order to be guaranteed a hearing before the legislative session ends April 8. Here’s an update on some of the bills that Maryland Reporter has tracked this session:
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.
When the secretary of the Senate told me in January that ex-senator P.J. Hogan was trying to get former President Bill Clinton to be the speaker for the annual dinner of Senates Past, we both agreed that was highly unlikely. But lo and behold, the surprise guest keynote speaker for the annual reunion of former senators Thursday night was none other than the 42nd president of the United States.
On Thursday, a somber silence descended on the chamber as delegates listened to one after another of their colleagues stand and share personal stories in a debate about how the terminally ill should end their lives.
Out-of-state drivers have racked up $102 million in unpaid video tolls and fines in Maryland, and lawmakers pushing a bill through the General Assembly want them to pay up.
The same poll last week that found 60% of Maryland voters support making the minimum wage $15 — with 43% strongly supporting — also found that support for the move passed by the House of Delegates Friday dropped sharply when voters were told it would raise prices and cost jobs.
An employer who violates the state’s Equal Pay for Equal Work law would have to pay a penalty to the state if a bill heard by the House Economic Matters Committee Tuesday passes.
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.
A bill before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee would require short-term rental sites to collect the 6% Maryland sales and use tax at the time of booking and remit the fees to the state.
A temporary corporate tax break to some major Maryland companies has the support of a Senate committee chairwoman and members of her committee. That proposal is just one of many before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee stemming from the legislature’s 2016 Augustine Commission on Maryland’s business climate.
In party line votes, the House of Delegates rejected Republican amendments to a bill raising Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 over the next four years, with no exemption for rural areas.
