The Maryland Chamber’s Board of Directors approved the 2012 Business Agenda during its November meeting. The agenda outlines the Chamber’s priorities for the coming year and guides the organization’s advocacy efforts. Thank you to all the outstanding volunteers that participated on Chamber committees and helped draft the Agenda.
The Maryland Chamber’s mission is to advance Maryland as a national and global competitive leader in private sector economic growth and job creation. To that end, the Chamber’s top priorities for 2012 are:
- Create a competitive business climate that encourages job growth and investment, limits workplace regulation and ensures a competitive and fair tax structure.
- Ensure the implementation of the federal health care law in Maryland promotes competition and transparency.
- Restore trust in the Transportation Trust Fund and, once achieved, increase funding of desperately needed transportation projects throughout the state.
View the complete Business Agenda on the Chamber’s website, or download a printable PDF here.
If you have any questions about the Agenda, contact the appropriate member of the Chamber’s public policy team:
Ron Wineholt, Vice President – Government Affairs
rwineholt@mdchamber.org
Issues: Budget & Taxes, Civil Liability, Economic Development, Education, Health Care, Insurance, Procurement
Allyson Black, Vice President – Government Affairs
ablack@mdchamber.org
Issues: Commercial Law, Employment Law, Environment, Labor Relations, Transportation, Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation
Thanks to everyone who attended for making the 2011 Business Policy Conference such a great event. As promised, here are links to the presentations made by our speakers. I’ll share more highlights of the conference soon.
Maryland’s Competitiveness: Where We Lead, How We Lag
Green Business is Good Business
- Marketing Your Sustainability Initiatives, Ida Cheinman, Principal & Creative Director, Substance 151, Benefit LLC
- UPS and Alternative Fuel Vehicles, Jim Bruce, Vice President, UPS Corporate Public Affairs
- Marriott Spirit to Preserve, Mari L. Snyder, Vice President of Social Responsibility & Community Engagement, Marriott International, Inc.
The Employer’s Role in Enforcing Immigration Law
The Maryland Chamber is hitting the road for a series of regional meetings. Our goal is to bring together members at locations across the state to discuss the economy and the legislative issues that impact Maryland businesses.
The Maryland Chamber is working on our Business Agenda in preparation for the 2012 session. In addition, the General Assembly will hold a special session in October to address congressional redistricting.
After the Governor’s speech to the Maryland Association of Counties last weekend, it seems less likely that lawmakers will address issues beyond redistricting during the special session. But, issues like taxes or transportation funding could dominate the 2012 session. Maryland Chamber staff will keep you up to date as we get closer to the October.
We hope you can join us for one of the meetings. During each event, one of our lobbyists will provide a legislative update. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to let us know what we can do better. The meetings will also be a great opportunity to network with local business leaders.
Space is limited, so please register soon. The Chamber benefits from your feedback, and your participation makes our advocacy efforts stronger.
View a complete list of legislative briefings is available on our calendar of events.
The Senate Budget & Taxation Committee will hold a hearing on sales tax issues this afternoon. The hearing will focus on expansion of the sales tax to services and the taxing of Internet sales.
Maryland Chamber President/CEO Kathy Snyder, CCE, will testify during the hearing, urging committee members to avoid actions that would make Maryland less competitive for jobs and investment.
The Maryland Chamber has long opposed taxing professional services. We believe such taxes increase administrative complexity and the cost of compliance. In addition, taxing professional services often has a disproportionately negative impact on small businesses. While larger businesses can hire employees to perform the services in-house, smaller businesses often lack the scale to in-source such activities.
Snyder will also caution lawmakers about policies regarding the taxation of online sales. She will urge them to consider participation in the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement, rather than adopting policies that attempt an end run around the constitutional requirement that a vendor have a physical presence in the state, as other states have tried. These types of laws produce little revenue, cost the states jobs and end up mired in court, as is the case in New York.
View the Chamber’s written testimony for today’s hearing here.
