Lawmakers are currently considering legislation that would impact your small business – now is the time to take action and let legislators know how these policies will affect your daily operations as a small business owner.

VIRTUAL UPDATE: Join NFIB’s Mike O’Halloran on March 26^th at 11:30 a.m. for a virtual legislative update – register here!

Minimum Wage Hike
The Maryland legislature is proposing to increase the state’s minimum wage to $25.00 by 2032 – that amounts to increasing the wage by 67%. This would have a significant impact on small employers and would result in job loss, reductions, and business closures. Tell your legislators to say no to a mandated minimum wage increase!

ICYMI: NFIB’s Research Center conducted a study showing this increase would cause Maryland to lose up to 84,000 jobs and lead to a loss of $15 billion in economic output by 2035. Read our press release here. Check out local media coverage of our study from WBOC and WBAL.

Stop Unwarranted Business Investigations
For Maryland small businesses subject to the state’s prevailing wage and workplace fraud statutes, House Bill 299/Senate Bill 60 would require the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to send every case they investigate to the Attorney General, even if the Commissioner establishes there is no merit or chooses not to investigate. Act now and tell your lawmaker this is bad policy for Maryland’s small businesses who can’t afford unwarranted business investigation.

Increased UI Taxes
A proposal being considered would increase the taxable wage base used to determine unemployment benefits, indexing it to the average annual wage. It would also increase the minimum and maximum amount of weekly unemployment benefits for claimants and increase the amount of taxes small business owners would pay into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF). Tell your legislator that increased UI taxes would make it harder to do business in Maryland.