2010 Business Agenda

The mission of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce is to maximize opportunities for its members and their employees to grow and prosper. By working with the Administration and the General Assembly, the Chamber seeks to make Maryland an even better place to live, work and do business.

The current state of the economy presents extraordinary challenges for Maryland businesses. Therefore, to retain jobs in our state, the Maryland Chamber’s priorities for the 2010 Session are to:

• Enhance the business climate and encourage job growth;
• Seek a competitive tax structure;
• Promote affordable health insurance;
• Revitalize the economic health of the state’s transportation system;
• Protect fair civil liability laws;
• Ensure that environmental protection and economic growth are complementary; and,
• Support education funding.

Enhance the Business Climate and Encourage Job Growth

Maryland possesses one of the most highly skilled workforces in the country and hosts many federal installations and research institutions that generate enormous economic investment. The influx of thousands of BRAC-related jobs will begin in 2010, bringing with it the possibility of additional economic regeneration. The Maryland Chamber urges the Governor and the General Assembly to maximize use of these advantages to help the state recover more quickly from the national recession. The Chamber supports incentives to encourage more economic development, tourism, and research and development in Maryland in order to create and retain more high paying jobs for our citizens. By growing the number of jobs and related business investment, the state will then have the fiscal resources needed to advance education, health care and transportation priorities. The Chamber is committed to working with the state to advance a 21st century economic strategy to strengthen our economy and quality of life for all Marylanders.

Extreme care must be taken, however, to avoid over-regulating or adding taxes to business during these difficult economic times. Government mandated "one-size fits all" employment policies impede an employer's ability to provide competitive incentives that meet the demands of an ever-changing economic climate. Therefore, the Maryland Chamber and its members urge the General Assembly to avoid regulating employment practices that fail to balance the needs and obligations of employers and employees, and discourage entrepreneurship and any unforeseen consequences of proposed legislation for small businesses.

The Maryland Chamber will:

• Continue to support and facilitate sound economic policies and investments that create private sector jobs and encourage economic growth;
• Continue to support fair and just employment practices for all and appropriate mechanisms to achieve those goals;
• Preserve employers' ability to manage their workforce and construct employment, wage and benefit policies that are tailored to best suit the needs of their employees;
• Continue to help ensure the fiscal soundness, benefit integrity, competitive position, and administrative effectiveness of Maryland’s Unemployment Insurance programs; and,
• Continue to offer its leadership and expertise in workers compensation issues;

Seek a Competitive Tax Structure

Taxes are an important factor in the cost of doing business. While a competitive and fair tax system will stimulate economic growth and job creation, disproportionate tax burdens will cost the state jobs and business investment. Maryland’s tax system must be fair, stable and predictable. Major changes should only be adopted after careful analysis and public debate to ensure a net benefit to the state. The Maryland Chamber:

• Urges that the Maryland Business Tax Reform Commission complete its review and evaluation of the state’s current business tax structure prior to the adoption of any changes in business taxes;
• Opposes altering the state’s corporate income tax to adopt a system of mandatory unitary combined reporting;
• Believes that laws that would authorize local governments to impose discriminatory levels of taxation on businesses are unfair, and should not be adopted;
• Supports Maryland tax authorities maintaining the confidentiality of taxpayers’ tax information;
• Opposes spending mandates that are unfunded or will create pressure for higher taxes; and,
• Recognizes the importance of maintaining the state’s AAA bond rating, and urges that the state reserve fund not be spent except as part of a long-term solution to the state’s structural budget deficit.

Promote Affordable Health Insurance

Access to affordable health insurance in a competitive marketplace is necessary for a healthy workforce. However, health insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable for employers and employees due to increased health care usage, changes in medical technology and a lack of incentives for cost containment.

The state has a primary role in promoting affordable health insurance. It should avoid actions that simply shift costs within the health care system, such as reducing payments to health care providers that are shifted to full pay patients or mandating increased employer heaIth benefit expenditures. The state must:

• Help individuals who truly cannot afford to purchase health insurance;
• Promote a competitive, affordable health insurance environment where health insurance plan design and delivery are driven by the marketplace; and,
• Respect federal ERISA law, which allows employers to design, and decide their level of participation in, health benefit plans.

The Maryland Chamber supports the following actions to promote the quality and affordability of health insurance:

• Implementation of federal health care reforms in a manner that promotes competition and minimizes additional employer burdens;
• Increased incentives for employers that adopt wellness programs to combat chronic conditions; and,
  
• Medical liability reform to discourage defensive medicine.

Revitalize the Economic Health of the State’s Transportation System

Maryland’s transportation infrastructure investment falls far short of increased demands for new capacity. Even worse, our investment is not sufficient to perform all needed maintenance and repairs on our aging system of highways and transit. The result is congestion, safety issues, reduced economic development, and a lower standard of living.

The current recession has forced the Governor to cut $2.3 billion in projects from the MDOT capital program budget. The federal stimulus package fails to offset this budget cut as only a small percentage of the stimulus funding package was allocated to infrastructure repair. For Maryland, that means that just $600 million of the $2.3 billion was restored. The net loss of $1.7 billion means fewer repairs, fewer new projects, and lost jobs. Therefore, immediate action is necessary to provide funding relief.

The Maryland Chamber supports an immediate increase in the state gas tax up to seven cents, provided no additional raids of the Transportation Trust Fund occur. The Maryland Chamber supports additional legislative protections to assure the future integrity of the Transportation Trust Fund.

Recognizing the current economic climate, and in light of significant underfunding for documented transportation needs, the Maryland Chamber supports and encourages state government to:

• Work with federal leaders to create a federal funding model that will identify viable comprehensive long term funding options for transportation needs—regardless of mode;
• Adopt a new approach to achieve adequate and stable long term state funding to meet the transportation needs of Maryland’s citizens and businesses, and to insure the state’s ability to meet federal funding matching requirements;
• Operate the Maryland Department of Transportation in the most cost-effective manner possible and maximize operating efficiency;
• Support the Maryland Department of Transportation’s mission to ensure transportation system safety and system preservation; and,
• Encourage the legislature to control the operating cost of transit and seek additional funding streams to help pay for mass transit operating expenses.

Protect Fair Civil Liability Laws

The ability of a company to receive fair treatment from a state’s legal system influences business decisions regarding job creation and business location. Efforts to expand business liability by creating new causes of action to sue businesses or increase business liability costs will drive jobs out of the state, and must be resisted. The Maryland Chamber:

• Opposes legislation that would provide for tort liability based on comparative fault, market share liability, or weakened standards for the award of punitive damages;
• Opposes “false claims” legislation that would increase lawsuits against health care providers and other government contractors;
• Opposes legislation that would alter existing provisions of the civil liability system such as extending filing deadlines and statutes of limitations, awarding of attorney’s fees, or limiting access to a jury trial through the expansion of District Court jurisdiction;
• Supports meaningful reforms to civil liability law that will help reduce defensive medicine and moderate medical liability insurance rates; and,
• Supports jury service reforms that will promote more representative juries.

Ensure That Environmental Protection and Economic Growth Are Complementary

The Maryland Chamber supports public policy that properly views environmental protection as an essential element of a strong economy. Therefore, the Maryland Chamber, its members and their employees are committed to fostering policies that promote a healthy environment, especially those that incorporate job growth and increased business investment opportunities.

In 2010, the Maryland Chamber will work with public and private entities, including environmental organizations, to collectively advocate economical and sustainable policies and incentives which would:

• Promote the quality of the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland’s air, land and water resources;
• Be used as a primary tool to promote “green” business operations and construction;
• Provide reliable and competitively priced energy generation, including nuclear, natural gas, clean coal and renewable energy sources, and transmission, distribution and storage facilities; and,
• Encourage energy and climate policy at the national level.

Support Education Funding

The availability of a well-educated workforce is an essential component of Maryland’s economy. The quality of, and access to, high quality primary, secondary, adult and higher education is a vital concern for Maryland’s business community due to its impact on job retention and creation. The level of state support for higher education will determine the need for tuition increases and impact the affordability and quality of higher education in Maryland.

The Administration and General Assembly should provide predictable and sustainable funding for adult and higher education in Maryland and assure that slots proceeds remain dedicated primarily to fund education. Education accountability goals set by the state must also be achieved.