Maryland General Assembly 2017 – The Halfway Point

As the 2017 Maryland General Assembly session reaches the halfway point in its 90-day life, the Maryland Tech Council is engaged on several fronts to impact legislation, which both helps and harms Maryland’s Innovation economy.

Below is a brief summary of the current status of issues where MTC is most heavily involved.

SB 437 – Manufacturer Reporting and Drug Price Transparency – Oppose – Marty Rosendale, Executive Director, BioScience Division and Vice Chairman Brad Stewart both presented testimony against this legislation that would single out Maryland as inhospitable to drug research and manufacturing entities.  The simplistic slogans of the proponents hide a costly and complex reporting requirement that will have no impact on the price of drugs paid by the consumer.  The House version of this bill (HB 631) will be heard on February 23^rd and MTC will again present testimony. Meanwhile, MTC will actively participate in a “workgroup” session scheduled for February 27^th with the Senate Finance Committee.

SB 226 – Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit – Support – On February 17^th, this bill was approved by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.  This approval is a key step to this legislation becoming law.  The bill extends the time of eligibility for this tax credit for biotechnology companies at the beginning of their life.

SB 200 – Income Tax Credit for Qualified R &D Expenses – Support – CEO Tami Howie presented testimony in support of this bill in January.  On Feburary17^th, the Budget and Taxation Committee approved increasing the cap on the aggregate amount of tax credits for eligible R&D expenses from $9 million to $20 million in each calendar year.  This increase is phased in over three years.  Currently, the amounts requested for this tax credit in eligible applications far exceeds the cap.

HB 161 – Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund – Support – MTC testified at the hearing on this important bill and continues to contact members of the Legislature to explain the organization’s support.  This bill changes and updates Maryland’s largest public lending fund to allow for loans for working capital.  This is significant for tech companies whose greatest asset is human capital, not buildings or specialized machinery.

SB400 – BioSafety Level 3 Labs- Registration – Oppose – MTC submitted testimony arguing that this new State registration requirement may duplicate Federal requirements and that the language of the bill would create confusion within the new regulatory agency – the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  At the conclusion of testimony, the Chairman of the Committee stated that he was holding the bill to see if that Department could create a voluntary notification for labs.

As always, if you have any questions about these issues or others you have heard about you are welcome to contact either Joy Weber, Esq. (jweber@rwl.com) or Pat Roddy, Esq. ( proddy@rwl.com) for more information.