As summer shops and popular resort areas prepare for the start of their most valuable season, Gov. Larry Hogan has followed through on a promise he made to veto House Bill 1. This bill would have required employers with as few as 15 employees to provide paid time off for those who work an average of 12 hours per week.
“I’m very pleased that Gov. Hogan honored his word to veto this bill,” said Maryland Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Christine Ross. “We agree that Marylanders need to be healthy. We also appreciate that the governor knows bills like these are dangerous to business because they are undue administrative burdens and they increase operating costs, which means businesses suffer or customers pay more.”
The Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs team, in cooperation with members, other business organizations, and individual business leaders, worked throughout the 2017 General Assembly legislative session to defeat this bill, or at least to minimize the damage it would do to small business in particular. The Chamber supports the governor’s executive order, to be signed today, establishing a field study led by Maryland Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Kelly Schulz to investigate a paid leave option that would not harm businesses.
“When mandates damage businesses, people lose jobs,” Ross said. “We want to protect jobs, and that means we need to make it easier for employers to offer them, not harder.
“We will work with Sec. Schulz and the rest of the governor’s team to support their research throughout the state so that the ramifications of any mandatory paid leave legislation are clearly understood.”
The Chamber will also work to ensure that the governor’s veto withstands further legislative efforts.
Contact:
Christine M. Collins
Senior Director of Strategic Communication
ccollins@mdchamber.org
410-269-0642 x129 (O)
410-215-9599 (C)
