Legislators and environmental activists across the nation continue to target single-use plastic bags, straws and other plastic products for elimination as the new legislative sessions begin. Massachusetts will most assuredly advance a plastic bag ban, although 135 communities already have a local ban of some sort on their books. The state senate approved a sweeping…
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At the beginning of the 2018 session in January, the Maryland legislature overrode the veto of Governor Larry Hogan and as a result, the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act became effective on February 11, 2018. The law can have a major impact on what private businesses must provide their employees by way of paid and…
Read More »Efforts by Baltimore to limit the locations of Food Trucks around the city that compete with brick-and-mortar businesses selling the same products were finally stopped in their tracks this week. A Baltimore City Circuit court judge found that the 2014 ordinance that prohibited food trucks from operating within 300 feet of a brick-and-mortar business offering…
Read More »We advised months ago that the voter-approved minimum wage hike in the state of Maine was going to be reconsidered by the legislature and in fact, a raucous public hearing was held this week in Augusta for just that purpose. Media reports claim that between “dozens” and “hundreds” (we don’t know which is the ‘fake…
Read More »One could say business interests won a couple of battles this week on the issue of minimum wage increases across the country. First, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh vetoed a local ordinance that would have set a Baltimore minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2022. Maryland law provides that the current minimum of $8.75 increase…
Read More »It seems to be the issue that just won’t go away over the past few years, but there is still more updates on minimum wage hikes across the country. Out west, the Nevada Supreme Court remanded a minimum wage dispute back to the District Court in Las Vegas, but in the same ruling upheld the…
Read More »At the national level, US Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democratic incumbent last week filed a 77-page piece of legislation that is a veritable smorgasbord of the union advocacy issues. Up for reelection in November of this year, Brown appears to be trying to ingratiate himself with all possible factions – including business. Aside from…
Read More »The issue of minimum wages was all over the lot this past week with the Supreme Court in Missouri ruling that the state local wage preemption bill doesn’t affect a wage bill in St. Louis, restoring the city’s minimum wage ordinance. The St. Louis ordinance was passed just hours before the state preemption bill became…
Read More »They’re not about right to work, but there’s more battles brewing in Maryland over minimum wages and paid sick leave mandates. First off, Montgomery County Executive officer Isiah Leggett vetoed a minimum wage hike to $15 per hour by 2020 that the County Council passed by a vote of 5-4 last week. Leggett had expressed…
Read More »Baltimore City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young prevailed last week in a political battle with Councilor Mary Pat Clark as her proposal to increase the minimum wage within the city to $15/hour by 2022 was sent back to committee for more deliberation. Young has gone on record as supporting an increase to as much as…
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