Tag: minimum wage

An oral argument and a fireside chat

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

On Tuesday, Governor Larry Hogan and former California Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger attended the oral argument at the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the boundary lines for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.

Today, the Governor introduced legislation that would redraw those lines, based on the recommendations of a bipartisan commission that he appointed.

The nine Justices will meet in their conference on Friday to vote on the case.

Their opinion, which will be binding on how the district should be drawn, will be issued in late June.

The Governor and the General Assembly would then be able to act in a manner consistent with the Court’s holding.

—-

During our floor debate on the minimum wage, I quoted another federal official, Franklin Roosevelt.

In his Fireside Chat the night before he signed the first federal minimum wage law, he said:

“Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, who has been turning his employees over to the Government relief rolls in order to preserve his company’s undistributed reserves, tell you – using his stockholders’ money to pay the postage for his personal opinions — tell you that a wage of $11.00 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.”

Counting votes and a fireside chat

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

The votes that counted were the “no” votes.

HB 166 is the minimum wage bill. It would raise that standard to $15.00.

Our Republican colleagues offered five amendments that would weaken the bill.

Each one was defeated.

The number of “no” votes ranged from 94 to 99.

A simple majority is needed to defeat (or pass) an amendment – one more vote than the other side.

However, a 3/5th majority is needed to override a veto.

In the House, that’s 85 votes.

If Governor Hogan vetoes this bill, the votes are there to override in the House.

—-

An historical note:

In a “fireside chat” the night before FDR signed the first federal minimum wage law, he warned:

“Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, who has been turning his employees over to the Government relief rolls in order to preserve his company’s undistributed reserves, tell you – using his stockholders’ money to pay the postage for his personal opinions — tell you that a wage of $11.00 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.” (1938, Fireside Chat, the night before signing the Fair Labor Standards Act that instituted the federal minimum wage.”

 

Executive Action: From the White House and the Dugout

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2014 Legislative Diary | No Comments

President Obama promised executive action on the minimum wage  last night.

There is ample precedent.
The Emancipation Procalmation, President Truman’s order to integrate the military, and President Clinton’s expansion of public lands through the declaration of national monuments are cited by the New York Times.
I would add the executive actions dealing with fair employmnt taken by Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy prior to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
There is a common but not universal thread.
The President extends benefits to a race or class of citizens whose needs are not being adressed by the legislative branch.
—
I’m writing from Orioles Fantasy Camp.
Pressed into service as a second baseman, I almost turned a 6-4-3 double play, but my throw was a few feet short and pulled the first baseman off the bag.
Would the outcome have been different had I made the throw from behind the plate to second base beforehand?
Jim Gentile on how Casey Stengel summoned him to pinch hit in the All Star Game:
“Get me that big guy from Baltimore who swings hard.”

Similar agendas, Crossing the Governor and the bridge

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2014 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Mr. Obama plans to campaign in 2014 for universal preschool, an increase in the minimum wage and an administration effort to make college less expensive for the middle class,” reports the New York Times.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/us/politics/obama.html

So do I.

Last year, Senator Ferguson and I introduced legislation creating a competitive grant program to stimulate innovation and expand access to high-quality early childhood education.  This year, the O’Malley-Brown administration will sponsor similar legislation.

“For every dollar invested today [in pre-K], savings range from $2.50 to as much as $17 in the years ahead,” concluded an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The minimum wage sets a fair standard for working Marylanders.  An increase will move people over the poverty line and stimulate the economy.

I met with labor lobbyists today to strategize and count votes.

Academic debt for college and graduate school tuition limits career choices and the budgets of young families.  I am working on legislation to eliminate tuition at a campus or graduate school of the University of Maryland system.

Graduates would be obligated to pay a pre-determined portion of their income for a certain number of years, basing their cost of college on their ability to pay.

—-

If you’re following the scandal over the decision to limit access to the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee, NJ because its mayor did not endorse Governor Christie’s re-election, you know that the mayor said that the Christie-appointed executive  who did the deed “deserves an a—kicking.”

Christie’s crony is lucky. Tony Soprano would have whacked him.

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning