Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley: Fighting for Middle Class Families

To strengthen and grow our middle class and our family owned businesses and our family farms.

“With a state government that is working again, we are making progress for Maryland families, but there is much more work to be done. Our great challenge for this session is to redouble our efforts; doing all that we can to stand up for Maryland families and to power through the other side of this recession ahead of every other state.”

– 2009 State of the State Address

Promoting Tax Credit, Exemptions for Working Families

As Maryland’s working families file their state taxes this year, they are eligible for increased exemptions and may qualify for an expanded tax credit thanks to measures passed during the 2007 Special Legislative Session to expand the safety net for low- to moderate-income earners.

2009 Legislative Agenda

Extend Unemployment Insurance benefits to part-time workers;
Enable the State to recover damages and penalties from individuals who defraud the State by filing false claims against health plans and programs;
Crack down on the misclassification of employees as independent contractors in targeted industries where the practice is most prevalent;
Reduce the threshold for application of Maryland’s prevailing wage law;
Make it permissible for State collective bargaining negotiations, with the exception of higher education, to include the right of an employee organization to receive service fees;
Allow Maryland to join the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children; and
Build on Maryland’s groundbreaking foreclosure laws by ensuring that consumers are protected by optimal state and federal regulation of mortgage lenders.

“At the end of the day our greatness as a State is going to be determined by what we do in the here and now, to invest in each other, invest in our potential, invest in our skills, and our capabilities.”

– GWIB Conference, May 23, 2008