The County Executive's FY18 Budget recommendation includes a proposal to extend evening hours for paid parking in Silver Spring. Currently parking in Silver Spring is free after 7 p.m. The proposed budget for the Silver Spring Parking Lot District (PLD) assumes that beginning in July of this year, paid parking enforcement will extend to 10 p.m. in all garages and lots, and on the street. During budget hearings next week, GSSCC will ask the County Council to reject the proposal. 

Montgomery County Department of Transportation officials tell GSSCC that this change is critical in order to generate sufficient revenue to support the PLD. However, the recommended budget also includes a proposal to loan, or give, $1.2 million to the Wheaton PLD over the five years beginning in FY19. GSSCC fails to understand how the County could consider transferring funds from Silver Spring to Wheaton, if the Silver Spring PLD is so in need of income that it must begin charging for evening parking.  Members interested in testifying on this and other budget proposals may do so at these times:  7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4; 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5; 1:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 6.  Click here to register for the hearing. 

Thanks to an outpouring of opposition, Senate Bill 1192, which would have vastly expanded the requirements for an individual to be considered an independent contractor, was taken off the hearing schedule for this week and is off the table for the General Assembly this year. This bill would have required professionals such as photographers, freelance graphic designers, even off-duty police officers serving as freelance security guards, and many others, to be treated as employees of their clients. GSSCC joined the Maryland Chamber and other business groups in urging Finance Committee Chair Mac Middleton to pull the bill. Following a meeting late last week with the Secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Middleton, and the proponents, all agreed to continue meeting to discuss amendments to the proposed regulations and work out a compromise.

Bill to Mandate Pay Information Provided to Employees

A House Bill that would mandate the kind of compensation information employers are required to give employees within 30 days after the first day of employment will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee this Wednesday. The original House Bill was amended to eliminate provisions that would have mandated what information must be included on an employees pay stub, as well as provisions that called for liquidated damages in the case of a violation. Most employers already provide everything mandated in the current version of the bill, so GSSCC and other business groups will testify that it is an unnecessary mandate.