Nicotine kills. It’s what makes cigarettes addictive.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has announced a plan aimed at reducing the nicotine in cigarettes to a nonaddictive level.

The likelihood of that being adopted by the Trump Administration is slim and none.

Is there anything we can do in Maryland?

Should we lower the tax on cigarettes if they’re not addictive?

I’m looking into it.

—

Does free speech stop at the work place door?

Jimmy John’s was within its rights to fire six employees for making signs that protested the company’s policy of forcing workers to come to work when ill, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Employers have First Amendment rights, most notably to make unlimited campaign contributions under the Citizens United decision.

Should the General Assembly enact free speech protections for workers?

I’m looking into this as well.

—

State Attorneys General, including Brian Frosh, can sue the federal government regarding the Affordable Care Act, because they have identified concrete injuries – an increase in insurance prices and a decrease in the number of insured individuals in their states, that would result if the Trump Administration stopped making payments for peoples’ health insurance.

That was the ruling yesterday of a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court, one step below the Supreme Court. As you may remember, I sponsored the law broadening AG Frosh’s ability to bring such lawsuits.