Legislative Update

The 2017 Maryland General Assembly session has ended!  This “lightning” summary will tell you the outcome of the legislation that MTC and its Legislative Committee identified as priorities for Maryland innovation employers. 

A.  Price Gouging Bills:
HB 631/SB 415- Public Health – Essential Generic Drugs – Price Gouging – Prohibition –ENACTED

Maryland became the first state in the nation to authorize its Attorney General to pursue legal action against drug manufacturers and wholesalers who raise drug prices to “unconscionable” levels. MTC worked to have this bill restricted to those who act in an “unconscionable” manner and not have it involve responsible companies.

B.  Drug Transparency Bills:
SB 437/HB 666 – Public Health – Expensive Drugs – Manufacturer-Reporting and Drug Price Transparency Advisory Committee- DEFEATED

These bills originally would have required drug manufacturers to provide exhaustively detailed reports to Maryland’s Attorney General about internal costs that led to final drug prices. MTC opposed these bills as simplistic in their approach to drug pricing and misleading to the public.

C.  Research and Development Tax Credit Increase:
SB 200/HB 240-Income Tax Credit – Qualified R&D Expenses –ENACTED

These bills increase the total statewide limit on the tax credit for in-state R&D activities from $9 million to $12 million. MTC supported these bills.

D.  Biotechnology Tax Credit Changes:
SB 226 /HB 373 – Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit “BIITC”-ENACTED

These bills extend the eligibility period for this tax credit from the first 10 years of a bio-tech companies life to the first 12 years. Additionally, the eligibility for young companies awaiting regulatory approval is extended to 15 years.

The bills also allow entities to apply for the credit within 2 months of forming a company.

E.  Cyber-security Tax Credit Changes:
HB 378/SB 318 – Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit-DEFEATED

These bills allow investors in cyber companies to take advantage of this tax credit. In addition, it allows new cyber entities to be eligible for the credit within 2 months of forming a company.

F.  Laboratory Registration:
HB 1172/SB 400-Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) – Biosafety Level 3 Laboratories –DEFEATED

These bills would have required laboratories handling Biosafety level 3 material to register with the Maryland’s DHMH. MTC opposed this legislation as duplicative of federal registration and not useful to first responders.

In regards to the efforts in the drug pricing bill, over the course of the 2017 session, the Tech Council:

• Developed petitions attracting 4,366 signatures by Marylanders calling for lawmakers to support innovation-friendly legislation in our state.
• Launched a campaign that allowed 337 Marylanders to send 904 letters to their representatives in Annapolis.
• Engaged legislators on social media to encourage them to oppose the bills.
• Launched a statewide radio ad talking about the impact of this legislation.
• Ran digital advertisements through a homepage takeover the Annapolis Capital Gazette twice, around key moments in the legislative process – linking to a blog post where lawmakers, lobbyists and staff could find more information.
• Served Facebook advertisements to people within one square mile of the Annapolis statehouse, linking to the same blog post giving influencers more information.
• Targeted LinkedIn advertising to Marylanders with legislative job titles, including “state senator,” “delegate,” “legislative aide,” “legislative director,” and more directing to a post I wrote with more information.
• Throughout the course of the campaign, the Tech Council served 216,114 total ad impressions (how many times an ad was seen) to its target audiences – including 36,971 from the Capital Gazette homepage takeovers, 177,679 from Facebook advertising campaigns, and 1,464 from the LinkedIn advertising campaigns.