This morning the Baltimore Sun reported several developments coming out of the Maryland legislature on Friday March 7th. A front page article was devoted to Friday's vote in the House of Delegates to raise the minimum wage from the present $7.25 to $10.10 an hour by 2017. The vote was 89-46. All 89 votes came from Democrats. All 39 Republicans, plus 7 Democrats, voted no. The bill that passed the Maryland House would raise the minimum wage to $8.20 an hour on Jan. 1; to $9.15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016; and to $10.10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2017.
This bill will benefit the 67,000 workers in Maryland who, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, were earning $7.25 or less in 2012. An additional 151,000 Marylanders who make more than $7.25 but less than $10.10 an hour should also benefit.
Governor O'Malley praised the vote, stating "Nobody who works full time should have to raise their family in poverty." The bill cleared the House despite the usual Republican banter about costing jobs, businesses fleeing the state, and hurting small business (as if they would support a raise in the minimum wage for big business). The bill goes on to the Maryland Senate, where Senate President Mike Miller predicted passage, albeit with some changes from the House bill that will have to be reconciled.
Before passing the measure, the House Economic Matters Committee had stripped out provisions in O'Malley's bill that would have provided for automatic increases in the minimum wage indexed to inflation, and a raise of the minimum wage for tipped workers. Tipped workers will continue to work at a minimum wage of $3.63 an hour. There is also a bizarre exemption for workers at Six Flags Amusement Park.
In other action Friday, the House of Delegates voted 120-13 - obviously a bipartisan vote - to cut the estate tax. Estates of $1 million and more are now subject to the tax; the legislation would increase the base to $4 million by 2018. House of Delegate member and gubernatorial candidate Heather R. Mizeur, who has posted diaries here on Daily Kos, denounced the measure as a $432 million giveaway to the rich that will exacerbate inequality, while Republicans praised the cut in the "death tax" as a boon to the middle class (as they define the middle class).
In a third action on Friday, the House of Delegates voted 84-51 to expand Baltimore City's needle exchange program, after debating whether the program encourages heroin addiction. The bill would lift the "one for one" restriction on exchanging used needles for clean needles, allowing addicts to obtain multiple syringes at one time.
Finally, on the Senate side, a bill cleared a Senate committee that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill would replace the current law which imposes a fine of up to $500 and up to 90 days in jail for possession of up to 10 grams with a maximum $100 fine that would handled like a parking ticket. The bill is expected to pass the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the House of Delegates, which killed an identical bill last year, and a likely veto by Martin O'Malley should the legislation reach his desk.
Considering the dismal zoo of a Congress a few miles away in DC, it's nice to live in a state with a legislature willing to move into the 21st century.