| Links to the Howard County Legislative Delegation |
Senate
Gail Bates
[email protected]
Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee
District 9, Carroll and Howard Counties
District 12, Baltimore and Howard Counties
Delegates
Trent Kittleman
[email protected]
Judiciary Committee
District 9A, Howard and Carroll Counties
Clarence Lam
[email protected]
Environment & Transportation Committee
District 12, Baltimore and Howard Counties
Terri Hill
[email protected]
Health & Government Operations Committee
District 12, Baltimore and Howard Counties
Eric Ebersole
[email protected]
Ways & Means Committee
District 12, Baltimore and Howard Counties
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Volume 2, Issue 8
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April 9, 2016
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HB 580 Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Bill Dies in Senate
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Following a tense debate, HB 580 failed to garner enough votes to pass in the Senate. The failure of this legislation to pass sets up another arduous battle in 2017 General Assembly. It is the hope of business, that the concerns expressed by business will be heard as proponents and opponents dialogue in the forthcoming post legislative session.
Those following the issue will recall that the legislation would
require all Maryland employers with 15 or more employees to provide 7 days of paid sick leave to all employees who work at least 8 hours a week; those Maryland employers with 14 or less employees would be required to provide unpaid leave.
Primary concerns expressed by the Howard County Chamber and others were financial impact on employers, administrative burdens. Further, m
any employers already provide paid sick leave or paid time off (PTO), which permits an employee to use leave to cover any absences, including those connected to illness.Not to mention, e
mployers should be allowed the flexibility to determine the terms that best fit their needs.
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Transportation Bill
Overridden
in the House
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Earlier this week, members of the House
voted 88-52 to reverse the governor's move to strike down HB1013, Maryland Open Transportation Investment Decision Act of 2016. The bill calls for the Secretary of Transportation to publicly rate and rank transportation projects before deciding which ones should be included in an estimated $15.7 billion, five-year construction plan.
The Governor and other opponents of the bill see the legislation as a deterrent to transportation planning while proponents site increased transparency in decision making.
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Local News
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Executive Kittleman presents capital improvement budget for Fiscal Year 2017
Earlier this week, Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman presented to the County Council his $315.7 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2017.
The proposed FY 2017 capital budget includes $93.4 million from General Obligation (GO) bonds, including a one-time $1.9 million adjustment related to closing out a prior systemic facilities improvements project. New GO bonds for FY 2017 are $91.5 million.
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Watershed Protection and Restoration Fee Cap Changed
Earlier this week, the Howard County Council passed
Council Bill 20-2016 (CB20) and Council Resolution 37-2016 (CR37), which modifies the county's Watershed Protection and Restoration Fee. This bill establishes a more equitable and unbiased application of the fee for commercial property owners.
These two pieces of legislation address the imbalanced impact on some commercial property by reducing the maximum fee from 20% of property tax to 15% in fiscal 2017, 10% in fiscal '18 and 5% in fiscal '19. The fee will remain largely unchanged for residents and certain businesses.
The bill still preserves the Stormwater Fund in order to accomplish the following.
● Enable state grants, including from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund;
● Avoid negative impact on the county's borrowing capacity;
●Avoid putting required stormwater mitigation actions with other priorities competing for limited funding;
● Maintain sustainable and transparent fund and associated projects by requiring additional information in the annual Stormwater Fee Report; and
● Lower risks to businesses performing work on stormwater projects by having a secured fund and not a budget subject to shifting priorities or fiscal pressures.
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