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Thursday, January 12, 2006 State Watch
The Maryland Legislature this week is expected to vote on whether to override a veto of a bill that would make the state the first in the country to tax large companies that do not provide a certain level of employee health care benefits, the Washington Post reports (Wagner, Washington Post, 1/10). The bill would require for-profit companies with 10,000 or more workers to spend 8% of their payroll costs on health benefits to avoid taxation, and large not-for-profit organizations would have to spend 6% of their payroll costs. Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) vetoed the bill in May 2005. Wal-Mart is the only company in Maryland that would be affected by the bill (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/20/05). An override of Ehrlich's veto requires a three-fifths vote from both chambers of the Maryland Legislature. The state Senate is expected to have enough votes to override the veto on Thursday, but the outcome in the state House, which will consider the override on Friday, remains uncertain. Supporters say they are "cautiously optimistic" there will be enough votes for the override, the Post reports (Washington Post, 1/10). State lawmakers said they are feeling the pressure of a "lobbying crush" from both sides of the issue, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Supporters of the bill, led by labor unions and Wake-Up Wal-Mart, have been airing television ads saying that nearly 50% of children of Wal-Mart employees do not have health care or rely on public health insurance programs. Wal-Mart on the other hand is running radio ads accusing "party bosses and special interests" of trying to forward their own agenda, according to the Post-Dispatch (Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/10). Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran (D) on Monday said the bill would not violate the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act -- as the Maryland Chamber of Commerce contended in a legal opinion released last week -- because it would not impose requirements on how Wal-Mart spends its money, the Baltimore Sun reports (Green, Baltimore Sun, 1/10).
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