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House rejects farm bill, 62 Republicans vote no
WASHINGTON — The House has rejected a five year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that would have cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and let states impose broad new work requirements on those who receive them. Those cuts weren’t deep enough for many Republicans who objected to the cost of the nearly $80 billion-a-year program, which […]
Baltimore City Council seeks its own counsel
On the same day the Baltimore City Council passed a mandatory local hiring law that the city solicitor deemed unconstitutional, its leader introduced legislation that would let the council hire its own lawyer at a cost of $100,000.
Barry Rosen: Where we are headed with new Md. health care legislation
During a relatively calm 2013 session, the General Assembly passed several new laws that will impact health insurance and health care practice in Maryland, including the following.
C. Fraser Smith: Inner Harbor transformation in offing?
The Harbor Point project could be another uplifting chapter in Baltimore’s cycle of decline and rebirth.
C. Fraser Smith: Bridge collapse last warning, not wake-up call
Now comes the cliche “wake-up call.” That phone’s been ringing in the matter of bridge repair for years. Catastrophes aren’t waiting to happen.
GBC opposes city residents’ hiring bill
The Greater Baltimore Committee, an advocacy group for business interests in the Baltimore region, has taken a position in opposition to the bill sponsored by Baltimore City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young that would require at least 51 percent of new hires working for private-sector contractors on city projects to be city residents.
Senate panel approves immigration bill
WASHINGTON — Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses. The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on […]
Hunting bills seen helping Md. counties
Gov. Martin O’Malley last week signed two bills passed in the recent General Assembly that expand hunting opportunities in Carroll and Dorchester counties. HB 543 authorizes the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to establish Sunday deer hunting on private property in Carroll County from the first Sunday in October through the second Sunday in January.
Bill would change health FSA policy
A bill that would allow workers who put money in a health flexible spending account to recover unspent funds at the end of the year, rather than having the funds revert to their employers, has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
O’Malley signs gas tax, announces projects
ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O’Malley signed Maryland’s first gas tax increase in 20 years into law on Thursday and announced $1.2 billion in highway and transit projects. The new law levies a sales tax on gasoline on top of the state’s 23.5-cents per gallon tax. The sales tax, which will take effect in July, will […]
Sign says higher gas prices ahead
Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday plans to sign legislation that will make a gallon of gas 4 cents more expensive this summer, starting a phased-in tax increase expected to ultimately generate nearly $700 million for transportation projects.
City Council to Law Dept.: Help on hiring bill
In the hours before the Baltimore City Council moved forward on a proposed local hiring mandate, members of the council expressed their frustration with the city’s Law Department over its continued insistence that the bill is unconstitutional.
