On November 22, a federal judge in Texas granted a preliminary injunction to block implementation of the Obama administration's rule to raise the threshold for mandatory overtime pay nationwide.  The rule, issued by the Labor Department, was to take effect this week on December 1 and would have doubled to $47,500 the maximum salary a worker can earn and still be eligible for mandatory overtime pay.  According to news reports, "U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, in Sherman, Texas, agreed with a coalition of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that the rule is unlawful," and that "federal law governing overtime does not allow the Labor Department to decide which workers are eligible based on salary levels alone."  GSSCC will keep members updated on any further developments in this case.

Delegates Al Carr and Marc Korman have introduced a bill that would allow the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission to set various "classes" of service so that it can charge businesses in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties higher rates than residential customers. Delegate Carr introduced a similar bill last year that GSSCC and other business groups actively opposed, since it simply gave the utility the power to pass more of its increased costs on to business customers. That bill died in committee, but the concept has been re-introduced in MC/PG 101-17, linked here. Testimony on this bill will be heard at the Montgomery County Delegation's local bill hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 7, in the 3rd Floor Hearing Room, Stella Werner Council Office Bldg., 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville.

GSSCC has learned that the planned construction of bike lanes along portions of Spring Street in Silver Spring has been delayed until March of 2017. The delay is due in part to impending winter weather, but it also gives businesses that rely on existing short term parking spaces along Spring Street an opportunity to have their concerns addressed. The County's Bicycle Master Plan would replace numerous valuable parking spaces along Spring Street with bike lanes.