OCEAN CITY — With the clock ticking on the effective date of the controversial paid sick leave bill, State Senator Jim Mathias and a handful of colleagues this week were able get a bill through that could delay its implementation until July 1.
The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act would require a business with over 14 employees to provide a policy under which an employee earns at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours he or she works. Under the current language, the bill would make all employees who work at least 106 days for an employer eligible for a paid sick leave day for every 30 hours they work.
While the bill will apply statewide, it will have serious repercussions in Ocean City. Because of the seasonal nature of the resort, thousands of summer workers could start accruing paid leave time for every 30 hours they work. Seasonal employees could earn paid sick leave time for every 30 hours they work, and, ostensibly, they could take paid leave time at the end of the season when employers need them the most.
After a contentious battle during the last session, the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act was enacted by the General Assembly with an effective date of Jan. 1. However, Governor Larry Hogan last spring vetoed the bill. When the session re-convened in January, state lawmakers overrode Hogan’s veto, setting in motion a new effective date for the legislation for Feb. 11.
However, Mathias and some of his colleagues in the Senate, including Finance Committee Chair Senator Thomas Middleton (D-28) and Senator Kathy Klausmeier (D-8), last week introduced Senate Bill 304, which, if passed, would extend the effective date of the legislation. The legislation was introduced largely because the bill as written was moving toward an effective date of Feb. 11 without the regulations defined and an implementation plan in place.
The intent of the legislation is to give employers more time to figure out how best to implement the bill and exactly what it means for their businesses and their employees. Closer to home, a later effective date, in this case July 1, would essentially take Ocean City’s seasonal workers out of the equation for at least the first year.
Middleton introduced the bill last week and it passed through the Senate Finance Committee. Earlier this week, the bill passed the full Senate by a 28-16 vote. However, in order for it to be passed as emergency legislation, and, therefore, move the effective date to July 1, a three-fifths majority, or 29 votes, was needed in the Senate.
With several state senators missing from hearings and votes this week because of the flu, Mathias and Middleton were able to get a final vote held over until Thursday. On Thursday, the bill passed the full Senate by a 29-17 vote, or the three-fifths needed to make it emergency legislation and move the effective date back to July 1.
However, the successful Senate vote is only half the equation and the full House would need to pass the bill with the same three-fifths majority. With the clock ticking on the original Feb. 11 effective date, the bill would need to get through committee and a full House vote with only a few business days remaining before the deadline. Mathias said this week he was working both sides of the aisle with his colleagues to get the amended bill passed.
“Late last Thursday, the committee approved the amendment to move the effective date to July 1,” he said. “All week, we have working to get the bill through the full Senate as emergency legislation and move the whole thing back to July 1. Our business community really needs that July effective date to fully understand and grasp the repercussions of this. The way it was written, the bill was heading toward an effective date next week without the regulations even defined or included in the legislation.”
The potential July 1 effective date could insulate the resort’s business community and its legions of seasonal employees from the possible negative impacts of the paid sick leave bill in its first year. Again, only half the battle has been won with approval from the full House required and a short timeframe.
Meanwhile, the resort business community has been closely monitoring the paid sick leave bill since its passage last session, through the governor’s veto, the veto override during this session and now the late effort to push back the effective date. Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melanie Pursel said on Thursday the resort’s business community is hoping for the best.
“We feel that this delay would be very good for Ocean City and all Maryland businesses,” she said. “It would give them time to get ready for this new law. We have been holding sessions educating businesses on the compliance requirements of the law, which can be quite cumbersome.”
Pursel acknowledged the bill’s passage faces an uphill battle in the House.
“We sincerely hope this will make it out of the House Economic Matters committee and ultimately pass the House,” she said. “This all has to happen by Saturday since the law goes into effect on Feb. 11, so I am not sure there is time.”
