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Gov. Hogan proposes $12.10 minimum wage, not $15 ; Budget committee rejects two Hogan tax breaks; Child support could be calculated differently ; Bill would protect Marylanders in shutdowns; Bill Clinton surprises Senate president with visit

Capital - 3/9/2019

Gov. Hogan proposes $12.10 minimum wage, not $15

Gov. Larry Hogan proposed Friday raising the state's minimum wage to $12.10 an hour instead of a $15 wage backed by state Democratic leaders.

In a letter to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch, the Republican governor proposed phasing in a $2 raise to the wage by 2022.

The state's minimum wage is now $10.10 an hour.

"I am extremely concerned a dramatic and geographically disproportionate increase in our minimum wage will negatively impact our competitiveness and harm our state's economy," Hogan wrote.

Under Hogan's proposal, any minimum wage increases after 2022 could only take place if surrounding states, on average, have a minimum wage that is at least 80 percent of Maryland's minimum wage.

Pennsylvania and Virginia follow the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Delaware and West Virginia have a minimum wage of $8.75, with Delaware's scheduled to increase to $9.25 this fall. The minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $13.25, going up to $14 this summer.

Busch and Miller declined to comment on Hogan's proposal. They've made increasing the minimum wage to $15 one of their priorities for the current session.

Budget committee rejects two Hogan tax breaks

The Maryland Senate's Budget and Taxation Committee has voted down two of Gov. Larry Hogan's bills that would have authorized millions of dollars in tax breaks for retirees.

The Democratic-controlled committee voted 9-4, along party lines, to kill Hogan's "Retirement Tax Fairness Act of 2019," which would have expanded tax breaks on retirement income for individual retirement accounts, Roth IRAs and pensions. A Department of Legislative Services analysis said Hogan's phased-in tax breaks would have deprived the state of $17.5 million in fiscal year 2020, growing to $56.4 million by fiscal year 2024.

The committee, whose chairwoman is Montgomery County Democrat Nancy King, also voted down a tax break Hogan proposed on military retirement income. This vote was closer, 7-6, with Democratic Sens. Sarah Elfreth of Anne Arundel County and Douglas Peters of Prince George's County voting with Republicans for the bill. Hogan's proposal would have exempted 100 percent of military retirement income from state taxation. A legislative analysis said the phased-in tax break would have deprived the state's budget of $27.5 million annually by fiscal year 2024.

Child support could be calculated differently

A sweeping package of bills being considered by the General Assembly would change how child support payments are determined by Maryland courts.

The legislation would affect "hundreds of thousands" of people who depend on the child support system when parents split up and must reach agreements on custody, visitation and the how to split the costs of the children they share, House Majority Leader Del. Kathleen Dumais said.

Among the proposals, courts could consider whether a parent has an ability to earn a paycheck and earns enough money to live on when writing child support orders. The bills also would update a formula to determine how much a separated parent pays to reflect how much it costs to raise a child.

The handful of bills, heard this week by House and Senate committees that are expected to vote in the coming days, were recommended by a work group made up of child advocates, family law attorneys and public stakeholders.

Dumais, a Montgomery County Democrat and a family law attorney, sponsored the bills. She was among about 30 members of the state Department of Human Services work group that spent a year and a half coming up with ways they think mothers and fathers can more fairly support their children financially.

Bill would protect Marylanders in shutdowns

The Maryland Senate on Thursday advanced to a final vote legislation aimed at protecting federal workers in the state from the next government shutdown.

The Senate's action follows this week's favorable vote in the Finance Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Delores Kelley, a Baltimore County Democrat. The committee voted 10-0 to back legislation from Del. Jessica Feldmark, a Howard County Democrat, to ensure that federal employees who are required to work without pay can apply for unemployment benefits during the next shutdown.

During the recent federal government shutdown over President Donald Trump's demands for a border wall, nonessential employees who were furloughed were able to apply for unemployment benefits. But those forced to work with no paycheck could not, because they can't meet a state requirement that an unemployment recipient be available and willing to work if offered a job.

Feldmark's legislation has already passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 119-20. Meanwhile, a Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Brian Feldman, a Montgomery County Democrat, has passed the Senate by a vote of 45-1. It is pending in the House's Economic Matters Committee. Both chambers must pass a version of the bill for it to advance to Gov. Larry Hogan's desk for his signature.

Bill Clinton surprises Senate president with visit

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the Maryland Senate on Thursday night to surprise and honor his old friend Thomas V. Mike Miller, Maryland'sSenate president, who is diagnosed with cancer.

At an annual dinner for current and former state senators, called the Maryland Senate's Past Dinner, Clinton was a surprise speaker.

The former president gave a speech on politics in which he alluded to fellow Democrat Miller's cancer diagnosis and said it's a reminder to focus on the important things in life, not just partisan battles.

"It sort of sobers you up when someone you love is facing a challenge," Clinton said. "He deserves what you've given him in Maryland: lifetime tenure at the university of more perfect union."

Miller, a powerful and long-tenured figure in state government who has served as Senate president since 1987, announced in January that he is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer but vowed to continue working throughout the General Assembly session.

"I can't think of any public servant I know anywhere who has done it as well or as long as this man we honor tonight," Clinton said, before those gathered gave Miller a standing ovation. "Mike Miller, we love you. Every one of us."

- Compiled by Baltimore Sun reporters Luke Broadwater, Yvonne Wenger and Pamela Wood

Credit: - - Compiled by Baltimore Sun reporters Luke Broadwater, Yvonne Wenger and Pamela Wood

Caption: Maryland House of Delegates Speaker Michael Busch discusses the priorities for Democratic lawmakers in the 2019 Maryland General Assembly session on Jan. 29.

Pamela Wood/Baltimore Sun file