–The following article was submitted by Delegate Bob Long of District 6 about his Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation rating–
I am proud to announce that I received a 90 percent rating from the Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation for 2023 and have had a 94 percent rating since 2015.
The rating is based on voting in favor of economic growth and creating jobs, and voting against any legislation that was detrimental to the economy.
For example, one of the bills that I voted in favor of was HB 554 the “Keep Our Heroes Home Act.” The bill gives a tax credit to retired military, which is great for the economy.
Unfortunately, most of the bills on the list were anti-business.
One of the bills that I voted against was HB 230, which calls for zero emissions for “heavy duty” trucks. That bill will require businesses to purchase trucks that are electric. It is one thing to offer a tax-credit to incentivize a business to go “green”, but to mandate it is unfair to businesses.
Another bill that I voted against was HB 555 “The Fair Wage Act”. This will now accelerate minimum wage increases instead of gradually increasing.
Our businesses are having enough trouble trying to keep up with wage increases and now it will hit us all at once.
Many of these businesses will be forced to lay off and/or increase prices on goods and services, which is bad for Maryland economics.
Sadly, many of these anti-business bills were passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor.
After Governor Hogan spent eight years growing the Maryland economy, Governor Moore is taking us back to the days of Martin O’Malley.
I will continue to fight for our businesses and to keep growing the Maryland economy.
For more information, please refer to https://marylandfree.org /roll-call
