On February 27, Associate Policy Director Karrington Anderson testified before the Senate Finance Committee in opposition to SB 976 – Collective Bargaining – Local Government Employees and Public Employee Relations Act.  This bill mandates collective bargaining rights for local government employees statewide, imposing binding arbitration requirements, and significantly altering local government labor relations MACo supports fair and competitive employment policies, which Maryland jurisdictions have pursued through the years both locally and through State-level authorizing legislation.…

On February 25, Associate Policy Director Karrington Anderson submitted a letter of information to the Finance Committee on SB 173 – Workers' Compensation – Occupational Disease Presumptions – Hypertension.  This bill would significantly modify existing workers’ compensation benefits for volunteer and paid firefighters diagnosed with hypertension by expanding eligibility and reducing current requirements. If enacted, SB 173 would likely result in a surge of claims from volunteer and professional firefighters seeking workers’ compensation benefits for…

On February 20, Associate Policy Director Karrington Anderson submitted written testimony before the Finance Committee in support of SB 652 – Local Government – Local Personnel – Leave With Pay with amendments. With the sponsor amendments, this bill provides counties with the flexibility to grant disaster service leave to employees while ensuring that local governments retain discretion over its implementation. To maintain flexibility, MACo suggests clarifying language to confirm that counties and municipalities have discretion…