MD's Wal-Mart bill just won't die

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Aug 11, 2006 by Dori Berman

If you thought the debate over the Wal-Mart health care bill ended last month when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the legislation was invalid, you were wrong.

Democratic leaders in the General Assembly plan to redraft and reintroduce the measure if they lose an appeal. And two U.S. Senate candidates, Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume, recently announced their intentions to support those efforts.

Conversely, Republican opponents want to turn it into a campaign issue.

The Fair Share Health Care Fund Act would have required Maryland employers with more than 10,000 employees to spend 8 percent of payroll expenses on health care or pay the difference to a state fund supporting Medicaid. It was dubbed the Wal-Mart bill because the retail giant would have been the only company impacted.

Debate over the measure dominated the business community's legislative agenda for two sessions. After the state legislature overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of the bill, District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz found it was pre-empted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Now it seems to have been resurrected, at least in the form of a campaign theme.

Ron Miller, the Republican hoping to oust Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George's, sent an e-mail to supporters condemning the Senate president for his intentions to continue pushing the measure.

I have only one thing to say - just stop it, OK?, Ron Miller wrote in the e-mail. We're tired of this union-inspired, anti- business screed that isn't going to improve health care for Marylanders and could cause us to lose jobs, tax revenue and an affordable retail option for working families.

Miller said he plans to continue using the issue in his campaign because it shows the Democratic leaders are incapable of acknowledging that they've made a mistake.

Yet supporters of the bill believe they will be able to use the issue to their advantage.

Barbara Hoffman, a former state senator turned lobbyist for the Artemis Group, said she believes the issue could hurt Republicans this year because the majority of Marylanders support the measure.

As the lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union Maryland/D.C. Council and its project, Maryland for Health Care, Hoffman drafted the legislation's original language.

I think that Gov. Ehrlich is on thin ice when he's against - companies paying a fair share, Hoffman said. He's governing in a predominantly Democratic state, but he's being pushed to take these positions that are his party's decisions.

Johns Hopkins University political scientist Matthew Crenson said candidates touting their position on the Wal-Mart bill on the campaign trail during the next several months are unlikely to change any minds. Instead, they will use it as an energizing factor.

This is an issue that both of the parties are going to use to mobilize their respective constituents, Crenson said.

To left-leaning politicians and voters, Crenson noted, Wal-Mart represents low wages and inadequate employee benefits. On the other hand, more conservative voters see it as a winning business model and economic success.

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce hopes more voters will take the latter view.

Chamber spokesman William Burns said the organization will definitely raise the issue as staff members travel the state this year.

I think the campaign year is the perfect time to bring these issues up, Burns said. One of the questions on the chamber questionnaire distributed to all candidates asked about their support of expanding the Wal-Mart bill.

We think that legislators and candidates for public office should be rolling up their sleeves to find real solutions for health care affordability and availability.