Eye on Annapolis

By: Nicholas Sohr

A bill that would limit the businesses’ use of credit checks in making employment decisions received the support of Senate Democrats Tuesday morning, giving the measure a strong base of support as it makes its way through the halls of the Legislature.

The measure, filed as SB 110 and HB 175, would ban employers from pulling credit reports of job applicants or employees as part of making employment decisions. The bills include exceptions for jobs in certain sectors.

Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George’s, announced the bills as part of his party’s agenda in the Senate this session. The credit check legislation is one of nine initiatives the party will focus on as the core of its policy agenda in 2010.

“If we’re going to pull out of this economy, we’re going to have to break down barriers that are keeping the unemployed from getting jobs,” said Sen. Michael G. Lenett, D-Montgomery, one of the bill’s cosponsors.

Groups representing business interests are likely to oppose the legislation.

A programming note: Gov. Martin O’Malley’s State of the State address has been moved … again. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the governor’s office bumped the date back to Feb. 4 to avoid a conflict with the State of the Union address — but that’s the day Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be sworn in as mayor of Balimore. This morning, the governor’s office announced the date has changed once more, this time to Feb. 2 at noon.

Coming up this afternoon, the Senate Finance Committee will take its first crack at the governor’s unemployment insurance overhaul plan that would make the state eligible for $126.7 million in stimulus funds and provide slight tax breaks for businesses this year. Business groups are firmly set against the changes. Stay tuned.