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Paid Sick Leave Dominates 2018 Legislative Preview Breakfast
A packed ballroom at the Sheraton Columbia Town Center listened intently as panelists for our 2018 Legislative Preview Breakfast talked about pre-k funding, roads and public transportation, but focused much of their attention on the continuing debate over paid sick leave legislation.
The morning started with a greeting from Chamber President & CEO, Leonardo McClarty, who thanked the events sponsors, including our partner sponsor, BGE. Chimaobi Chijioke, Manager of External Affairs for BGE, then introduced the morning's moderator, Andrea Mansfield from Manis Canning & Associates, as well as panelists Christopher Carroll, Legislative & Policy Director for the Office of the Governor, Delegate Eric Ebersole (D, District 12), Maria Iannatuono, Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs for the MD DLLR, Delegate Trent Kittleman (R, District 9A) and Christine Walters, Independent Consultant and founder of FiveL Company.
The questions from Mansfield began with an acknowledgement that just the day before, Governor Larry Hogan made a surprise announcement introducing the
Paid Leave Compromise Act of 2018, which will be filed as emergency legislation, making it ready on the first day of the upcoming session. Christopher Carroll explained some of the process that went into the creation of the proposal, but a couple of the other panelists said they would have liked to have some warning from the Governor's Office that the Paid Leave Compromise Act was coming. All agreed that the Governor's veto of HB-1 at the conclusion of last session would likely be overridden by the legislature this session. But the panelists also agreed that while a compromise needed to be made on the legislation, it's not clear yet which provisions might be changed to make that happen.
The panel also touched briefly on crime in Baltimore City. Carroll told the crowd that the Governor is busy working on the budget, but will be making big announcements concerning crime in Baltimore, the opioid epidemic and a new way to incentivise job creation over the new few weeks.
The panel was also asked about transportation funding and priorities, and while there was agreement that something needs to be done to ease congestion, especially on 495, there was not agreement from the delegates about whether funds would be better spent on roads or on public transportation.
The morning was full of insights into what we can expect in the coming legislative session, but attendees were also given the first copies of the
Chamber's 2018 Issues for Legislative Action Brief, outlining the areas where the Chamber will focus advocacy efforts in 2018.
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