We now know that the 2018 General Assembly legislative session will begin with Gov. Larry Hogan’s own emergency bill providing mandatory paid leave. This bill was written in response to 2017’s HB 1, which the governor vetoed in May because of the damage it would do to the state’s business community.
We sent you an email the day of the announcement, highlighting some key differences. Gov. Hogan’s bill maintains the core of HB 1, while providing several substantive modifications, including:
- Extending the period of time before an employee uses earned leave to 120 days;
- Requiring businesses with 25 or more employees to offer paid leave by 2020;
- Permitting a business to request a waiver for significant financial hardship; and
- Extending the leave to all employees of a qualifying business by eliminating the minimum 12 hours of work per week requirement to qualify.
Our senior legislative analyst,
Kevin Rudolph
, has charted all the differences between HB 1 and the governor’s emergency bill, which Gov. Hogan plans to have introduced when the 2018 session begins on Wed., Jan. 10.
Take a look at those differences
so you can see how the respective bills could affect your business.
As you know, HB 1’s proponents have been working to overturn the governor’s veto. We have been working to sustain it in the interests of our members who have told us that its passage would kill jobs, decrease benefits and/or increase costs to consumers. If you would like to tell your story,
please let us know
.
Whether you’re with us for the morning preparation, rally, and one-on-one legislative meetings, or you join us for the reception in the evening—or, if you choose, spend the whole day with us—this is your chance to be seen and heard by legislators who need to understand the impact their decisions have on your organizations and your staffs.
We will schedule meetings for you to speak with your legislators so that you can tell them, face-to-face, the problems with increasing minimum wage, mandating restrictive scheduling, adding more taxes, and any bill that hurts your ability do business. Join with business leaders across the state and show Annapolis just how important the business community is to Maryland.
Thank you for all the ways you work to make Maryland better. We’re proud to work by your side.
