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Current Members: Log in to access up-to-date legislative reports. As we told you last week, the Senate subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the Maryland Office of Tourism/Maryland Tourism Development Board met yesterday and voted to cut the MTDB budget from the mandated $6M to $4M. They then further restricted $300,000 to be spent to keep open specific Welcome Centers: Pocomoke, Crain Highway, I-70 East and West and Mason Dixon, which essentially cut the marketing budget to $3.7. Out of that $3.7M, the Maryland Tourism Development Board must fund $2.5M in marketing grants to the counties next year, which leaves $1.2M for the Maryland Tourism Development Board to use to market the State of Maryland to potential tourists. Please call the members of the Maryland Budget and Taxation Committee today (the final vote in the Senate Committee is scheduled for Thursday) and tell them to vote to fully fund the Tourism Development Board at $6M. Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Senator Ulysses Currie, Prince Georges County, 410-841-3127 Senator Edward J. Kasemeyer, Baltimore-Howard, 410-841-3653 Senator David Brinkley, Frederick, Carroll, 410-841-3704 Senator James DeGrange, Anne Arundel, 410-841-3593 Senator George Edwards, Allegany, Garrett, Wash., 410-841-3565 Senator Verna Jones, Baltimore City, 410-841-3612 Senator Nancy King, Montgomery, 410-841-3686 Senator Richard Madaleno, 410-841-3137 Senator Nathaniel McFadden, Baltimore City, 410-841-3165 Senator Donald Munson, Washington County, 410-841-3609 Senator Douglas Peters, Prince Georges, 410-841-3631 Senator James Robey, Howard, 410-841-3572 Senator Lowell Stoltzfus, Somerset, Wicomico,Worcester, 410-841-3645 Senator Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore County, 410-841-3131 1. Key Issue: Card Check (Employee Free Choice Act): Presently, legal recognition of a union is achieved through secret ballot elections, in which each worker decides whether or not to support a union in the privacy of the voting booth. However, unions frequently lose secret ballot elections. So they often bring intense pressure on companies to agree to a "card check" system instead of a secret election. The American Hotel & Lodging Assocation has created an eight-minute video that can be downloaded and then played via your computer to managerial staff, educating them on the many threats card check poses to the U.S. lodging industry. This video explains the process and what your hotel might potentially face someday if EFCA is enacted into law. It also explains what you and your employees can do to stop this legislation. Educate your staff today about card check. Download this video and learn more about what this proposal really means to your business operations and your employee's rights. You may also view a low-resolution copy of the video online at YouTube. |