Md. Senate Overrides Veto on Wal-Mart Bill

After having increased the cost of health care in Maryland with a 2% surcharge on HMO's, the state legislature now has discovered it can dictate to businesses the percentage of payroll necessary to provide health insurance for their employees. State legislators have determined that no less that 8% of payroll is adequate for proper coverage by an employer.

Maryland lawmakers bucked the will of the state's Republican governor and the nation's largest retailer yesterday, voting to become the first state to effectively require that Wal-Mart spend more on employee health care.

The bill will require private companies with more than 10,000 employees in Maryland to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state's insurance program for the poor. Wal-Mart, which employs about 17,000 Marylanders, is the only known company of such size that does not meet that spending requirement.

As is typical of most tax legislation this bill does not apply across the board to all employers. Its only target is Wal-Mart. Is it a coincidence that the coalition backing the legislation includes Giant Food and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents Giant's Washington area workers? If this were a good law, why not have all businesses comply with it? Truth is the union companies can't compete so they want the state to saddle the competition with added expenses the result being less economic development for the state, fewer jobs and higher prices for the consumer.

"Maryland is not a shrinking violet -- no, far from it," said Sen. Gloria G. Lawlah (D-Prince George's), a lead sponsor of the legislation, which drew strong backing from labor unions and health care advocates. "Maryland is a leader. Let us light the torch today. Let us lead."

Maryland may not be a shrinking violet, but it will be a shrinking economy if the legislature persists in passing counterproductive tax laws. The leadership that the state is providing is leading into a economic quagmiresuch as the one their neighbor to the north struggles with.

"We don't want to kill this giant. We want this giant to behave itself," said Del. Anne Healey (D-Prince George's County), the lead sponsor in the House. "We want this giant not to be a bully."

The only giant doing the bullying is the legislature and its labor union masters. Look for Wal-Mart to start scaling back on future expansion plans. There is no way to quantify the jobs not created by companies who once looked to come to Maryland but will now wait and see how intrusive the lawmakers become before taking a final decision.

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