The Trump Administration has proposed yet another rule designed to make it more difficult for immigrants and their families to access assistance programs that help families that are struggling to afford the basics. The proposed rule would bar families with mixed legal status from living in subsidized housing. Under the current rule, only U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immigrants with refugee/asylee status are eligible for housing assistance. Immigrants without documentation or who are residing in the U.S. under programs like Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not eligible. However, households that include one or more ineligible family member can still receive assistance at a prorated rate, and the ineligible family member is not required to disclose their immigration status. The proposed rule would prevent such household from receiving any housing assistance at all. This rule would have the biggest impact on U.S. citizen…

Refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit make an important difference for working families, together bringing more than 100,000 Marylanders’ family incomes above the federal poverty line each year. Maryland has built on these successful policies by supplementing the federal Earned Income Tax Credit with a state credit and extending it to previously ineligible young workers. We can build economic security and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of children if we also act to strengthen the Child Tax Credit. The federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) provides families an income boost of up to $2,000 per child at tax time. More than 500,000 Maryland households claimed the CTC in 2016, most of whom had between $10,000 and $75,000 in annual income. Research shows that this income boost can bring lifetime benefits—improving children’s health, helping them succeed in school, and ultimately enabling many to get…

Every Marylander should have the chance to achieve their full potential. However, Marylanders with a criminal record often face significant barriers to accessing education, employment, housing, and other resources that are essential for them to thrive, even after they have completed their sentences. Formerly incarcerated individuals face a multitude of laws, practices, and policies that create major barriers to finding employment once they return to their communities. Limited access to education and job training in prison and time out of the job market and rapidly changing technologies also erodes job skills. According to one study, hourly wages decreased by 11 percent, annual employment by nine weeks, and annual earnings by 40 percent as a result of time spent in jail or prison. Maryland has taken steps to reform its criminal justice system within the past few years, but we must continue to work to reduce racial and ethnic disparities and…

The General Assembly took an important step forward for Maryland children this year, passing legislation to begin implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (also known as the Kirwan Commission) over the next three years. This legislation follows multiple years of eroding education funding after the Great Recession, which left schools with fewer resources to pursue higher achievement standards. The Kirwan Commission’s evidence-based plan would rebuild our investments in education with the goal of making Maryland schools among the best in the world. This year’s legislation begins making the investments needed to achieve the commission’s vision. Next year, policymakers should finish the job. That means enacting the commission’s full suite of recommendations, backing them with sufficient funding, and cleaning up Maryland’s tax code to make that funding sustainable. This legislative session’s school funding debate proceeded along two parallel tracks: The state budget determined the total…

A recently proposed change to federal rules guiding when workers must be paid overtime does not go far enough, protecting less than half as many workers as a 2016 attempt to update the outdated standards. Federal overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act were established in 1975 in order to ensure that people working more than 40 hours a week were paid 1.5 times their pay rate for the extra hours. However, the original rules exempted several classifications of employees from its overtime provisions, including salaried workers who made above a certain income and are deemed to have executive, administrative, or professional duties. The law was originally intended to exempt only highly paid, white collar workers, and to ensure that people get fair wages for their work. However, the salary threshold has not been updated since it was first put in place, so it has not kept up with…

The subminimum wage for workers who rely on tips will remain the same, at $3.63 an hour, without further action from policymakers. Maryland workers won a major victory this week when the General Assembly voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 for most workers by 2025, overriding Gov. Hogan’s veto. This important step forward will bring higher pay to hundreds of thousands of workers, ensure more families can afford necessities, and boost spending at local businesses. However, lawmakers weakened the bill at each step of its path through the legislature, ultimately leaving thousands of workers behind. They should act quickly next year to strengthen the law and guarantee all Marylanders a fair return on their hard work. The sponsors of the new minimum wage law—Del. Diana Fennell and Sen. Cory McCray—introduced a strong bill at the beginning of this year’s legislative session. The original bill would have brought the…

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have proposed a new rule would cut off nutrition assistance to as many as 30,000 Marylanders who struggle to find steady work. People who are deemed to be “able-bodied adults without dependents” can be subject to harsh time limits for receiving support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Those who are unable to find at least 20 hours of work per week are limited to receiving SNAP for only three months out of a three-year period, but the USDA currently allows counties and states with high unemployment rates to waive these rules and ensure that more people can continue to put food on the table while they get back on their feet. Currently, 11 jurisdictions in Maryland with above-average unemployment rates are able to waive this harsh time limit. The USDA’s proposed rule change would prevent almost all of these jurisdictions, including…

Photo by K Whiteford Maryland lawmakers are poised to move forward with a budget that invests significantly more in schools than proposed in Governor Larry Hogan’s budget. The General Assembly’s budget changes also made cuts to address lower state revenue estimates released earlier this month, rejecting some of the new spending and tax breaks the governor proposed in his budget. The $268 million decline in anticipated revenues, split between the current budget year and the next one that begins July 1, was largely a result of the federal government shutdown at the start of the year. The House of Delegates and Senate have each passed their versions of the budget, featuring dozens of large and small differences. The two chambers will now use a conference committee to work out the differences between the two versions.   More Support for Public Schools The most significant budget debate this year is about…

This week Maryland lawmakers are considering a proposal from Gov. Hogan to give additional state tax breaks to companies participating in the federal Opportunity Zones program. Doubling down on the ineffective tax break approach would be an unwise use of Maryland’s resources, and the General Assembly’s best choice is to reject any new business subsidies. Failing that, any subsidies should be paired with robust protections to ensure they benefit struggling communities. Congress created the Opportunity Zones tax break as part of its 2017 tax overhaul. The program’s stated goal is to increase private investment in struggling communities, but its approach mirrors the rest of the law: lopsided tax breaks to wealthy investors with relatively few strings attached. The program allows investors to delay or reduce their capital gains tax responsibilities when they invest in areas (Opportunity Zones) designated by state governments. Qualifying neighborhoods must satisfy certain requirements—they must have a…

For the first time in years, the governor’s proposed state spending plan for the next budget year includes no major cuts, funds raises for state employees and contractors, and supports new investments in key priorities like increasing access to affordable child care and building or renovating schools. However, it still leaves state lawmakers with some significant choices as the General Assembly takes up its task of working through the budget. Three things to keep in mind about the governor’s proposal: The governor doesn’t propose any new investments in education to begin implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (the “Kirwan Commission”). Last year, the General Assembly set aside $200 million to begin implementing the recommendations, which are designed to make all MD schools competitive in the global economy, and the commission has recommended $325 in additional funding for next school year. The budget does not…