Despite lots of speculation to the contrary, the 2021 Session of the Maryland General Assembly will go down in history for its productivity, not the interruption of a global pandemic. Oh, there’s no doubt that COVID left a lasting impression on Maryland’s legislative history, but looking at the number of bills, committee work and floor sessions, 2021 seems like a typical year.
The Senate floor took on the appearance of a maze, with each of the 46 Senate desks encased in plexiglass. Senators involved in floor debate often found themselves peering through and around these booths to look their colleagues in the eyes. Yet debate they did, the layout barely had an impact.
In the House Chamber, creating the necessary social distancing involved splitting the House of Delegates into two groups. One half of the 141 Delegates did their work in the historic House Chamber, the other in a large meeting room in the Lowe House Office Building. Despite the bifurcated body, the work itself continued uninterrupted. Technology allowed members in one location to see their counterparts in the other on large video screens. Digital voting technology recorded every vote, even the votes that had to later be changed because weren’t paying attention.
By midnight Monday, April 12, the work was complete. The 187 Delegates and Senators have now returned to their homes and districts, and Annapolis and the State House complex still closed to the public due to COVID, slows down and prepares for the spring.
Of the hundreds of specific bills we were tracking, many fall into the categories of affecting small businesses. Others were more societal in nature, like police reform. After a flurry of activity in the Senate, a series of police reform bills passed on partisan lines. One of the bills alters the influence of the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights, a due process protection put in place decades ago to protect police officers from unjust claims of improper conduct. Increasing awareness of minority community concerns over violence against black Americans at the hands of white police officers drove the agenda to the forefront. Both House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson made clear their intent to see the law changed, and it certainly was. As a result of this past session, Maryland currently has one of the most progressive attitudes towards police accountability in the nation.
What follows is a synopsis of bills, with the bill number, a short summary, and the disposition.
SB 210 Civil Immunity- This bill would have provided protection from false claims for contracting COVID-19 despite the businesses best efforts to comply with all regulations and guidance. The Frederick Chamber was a strong advocate for this bill. Opposition from the MD Trial Lawyers Association killed the bill in the Senate Finance Committee.
SB 496 The RELIEF Act- This bill holds the experience rating for Unemployment Benefits for businesses. Were it not for this bill, every single business that had an employee file for benefits under COVID would have seen immediate upward adjustments in their ratings, and therefore faced increased UI insurance payments. This bill passed.
SB 811- Instead of the expected adjustments in the Table of Rates for unemployment insurance in the current year, this bill extends the application for the new tables until 2022. This bill passed. Both this and SB496 were made possible by the fact that the Hogan Administration directed $1B in federal COVID relief funds into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
SB 787- We talked previously about the Digital Advertising Tax, a bill that was passed last Session, vetoed by Governor Hogan last year, and then the veto was overridden by the General Assembly. This bill was introduced to attempt to address some of the many concerns raised by our Chamber as well as business groups and nonprofits all over Maryland. This bill demands that the digital ad platform must absorb the cost of the tax, and cannot pass it on to customers/clients. This will undoubtedly be tested in the courts, most likely by the big tech platforms. This particular bill also provides an exemption from the digital ad tax for certain media companies. The original bill was a terrible piece of legislation, and all this bill does is make it slightly less awful. This bill passed.
Combined Reporting- For at least a decade, progressives in the General Assembly have pursued a revenue recapture program called Combined Reporting. In its simplest form, this Combined Reporting scheme requires a national chain like Walmart or Target pay sales tax on every dollar they make in a state. The national or international nature of some of these large retail corporations shields some of their income from state taxation. This year, there were three (3) bills along these lines:
- HB 172
- SB 511
- SB 123
None of these bills passed this year, but it’s likely this concept will return. Comptroller Peter Franchot, now an announced candidate for Governor in 2022, strongly supports this concept.
HB 581 The Maryland Essential Worker Protection Act- This bill started out as a terribly bad example of reactionary policy overreach. It defined whole new classes of “essential” workers, redefined the types of emergencies where these workers could be made to work, and required bonuses and adjustments to keep them at work. We strongly opposed the original bill and joined a massive chorus of business groups opposing it in the Economic Matters Committee in the House. In this case, the unusual nature of the 2021 COVID process didn’t slow the opposition effort down. Thanks to our work, and hundreds of similar voices, the bill was altered significantly such that it no longer allowed the state to intrude into private sector businesses in such a damaging way. The tighter definitions and logical clarifications allowed the revised to pass and become law.
SB 211 The FAMLI Act- This bill created a new, mandatory contribution paid Family & Medical Leave program. Both the employer and employee would have to contribute. As we do with almost all of these bills, the Chamber opposes the General Assembly’s efforts to impose mandated pay and benefits programs on the private sector, something they try to do far too often, with little or no understanding of the impact of these mandated programs. Particularly as we emerge from the devastating impacts of a global pandemic, this bone-headed approach to policymaking would have pushed hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses out of business.
It wasn’t all bad, though. The Hogan Administration and General Assembly leaders worked together to pass a budget in record time, aided by billions in federal COVID relief that fills gaps and holes. We continue down the road to implement historic investments in K-12 education resulting from the Kirwan Commission Report. The COVID vaccination rollout was coordinated on the scale of a major military operation, and for the most part, politics kept its ugly head down. We find ourselves with a decent percent of the County population either having had or having their vaccinations scheduled. Folks can pretty much just get it by asking for it, although there are still going to be a number of folks that might a little old-fashioned encouragement to join our ranks.
The weather is warming up. The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce is starting to schedule small, live in-person events again (albeit outdoors w/masks). Our hope and optimism are at a year-long high, so let’s get those shots, get outside and get back to something resembling a normal life.
-Rick Weldon, Presiden & CEO
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.