Submitted by Shannon Gahs, Associate Director, MD Government Affairs (GAO)

An intense 90-day legislative session opened January 11 with Governor Larry Hogan pledging to operate in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation, as did Senate President Mike Miller.  Speaker of the House Michael Busch did not, promising instead to press forward with a Democratic agenda.  Mandatory paid sick leave and addressing a huge budget shortfall are expected to be the biggest topics of 2017.