A victory for Living Wage advocates in Maryland:
Last week, as the 2007 session of the General Assembly was in its usual 11th-hour mode, the House passed a statewide "living wage" bill. This bill requires private businesses who land contracts with the state to pay employees a new living wage set by the legislation. As the General Assembly was about to close up shop for this session, the Senate followed suit, and approved the bill. Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to sign it into law.
A similar living wage bill was passed in 2004, but then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed the measure. One of Ehrlich's reasons for nixing the previous attempt was that it called for a statewide wage, ignoring the difference in the cost of living in different areas of the state. The rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Montgomery County is higher than the rent for an identical apartment in Garrett County, it was argued, and paying an identical statewide wage would, in practical terms, mean that some workers were being paid more than others.
The current bill creates a two-tiered living wage scale to address the issue of cost of living variances. Ironically, though not surprisingly, it is being labeled inequitable by those representing rural areas, where the minimum wage will be $8.50 and hour as opposed to the $11.30 an hour that will be paid in the urban areas where the cost of living is higher. More
This year Maryland, next year Iowa?
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