Maryland’s General Assembly had finished most of the heavy lifting—the budget, two marijuana bills and an increase in the minimum wage—before the last day of session. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some drama at the end last night.
With just 15 minutes before the balloons dropped representatives from the House and Senate were at loggerheads in the House lounge, trying to fashion a compromise on tax credits for the Netflix show House of Cards.
The show has put pressure lawmakers to increase the state’s film tax credit. Senators wanted to add an extra $3.5 million to the fund on top of the already-allocated $18.5 million to leave extra room for other productions after House of Cards and HBO’s Veep take a big chunk of it.
Delegates wanted to give the state to be able take the money back from production companies if they decided to up and leave the state. In a terse exchange, Del. Frank Turner told Sen. Ed Degrange to give it a chance.
“You know, you’ve got the bill over there. Pass it out,” Del. Frank Turner told Sen. Ed DeGrange.
“What, at this time?” DeGrange shot back. “You did a good job running the clock out.”
No agreement came.
But despite the last-minute drama, there were many winners this
Low-wage workers saw a win when lawmakers voted to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 by July 2018. It was not as strong a bill as advocates and the governor were pushing for but Matt Hanson from Raise Maryland said it’s a win.
“This is huge, we think that this is fantastic and now hundreds of thousands of hardworking families are going to see a significant pay raise,” Hanson said.
Millionaires got a win too: A change to the estate tax means they can give their beneficiaries more of their money tax free when they die.
Two bills relaxing Maryland’s marijuana laws are headed to the governor’s desk, so that’s a win for reform advocates. One aims to fix the state’s medical marijuana law so patients can get the drug more easily – the current system relies on university research centers to disperse the drug, though none have chosen to do so. The other decriminalizes possession of small amounts of the drug.
“We’re sending a message to our citizens that we value treatment over incarceration and criminalizatioin that has no effect,” said Sen. Bobby Zirkin.
Teachers overwhelmed by the new common core standards can claim victory. A handful of bills meant to smooth the implementation of the standards passed. So did a guarantee teacher won’t be evaluated on new standardized tests for a few years.
“Teachers did pretty well but I think not just teachers because on the Common Core, parents were pushing back, students were pushing back,” Del. Eric Leudtke, a sixth grade social studies teacher in Montgomery County. “I think it’s a win for schools in general.”
Environmentalists are calling the session a win because they staved off efforts to repeal the storm water runoff fee, which Republicans have dubbed the rain tax and vowed to overturn.
“There were people who wanted to see it completely go away and here we are on Sine Die and those requirements are still there and there also has to be a dedicated funding source. So it is definitely a win for clean water,” said Alison Prost of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
And let’s give one to the abolitionists, the anti-slavery movement. After 150 years on the books, the General Assembly voted to officially rescind its ratification of a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of slavery. The Corwin Amendment, passed by Congress in 1861 as a bid to keep the union from splitting, was only ratified by three states. Maryland’s the only state that hasn’t rescinded it.
“It’s about being historically correct – not even politically correct – but historically correct,” said Del. Curt Anderson, who helped shepherd the bill through.
With hundreds of bills awaiting the governor’s signature, many more winners made it to the end. For those who didn’t cross the finish line, there’s always next year.
