Here is a rundown of some major issues affecting business and consumer interests that the Maryland General Assembly dealt with in the session that ended Monday.
» ID theft: Gov. Martin O?Malley on Tuesday signed bills (SB 70, HB 26) extending the life of a task force to study the problem of identity theft and make recommendations to fight the problem of identity theft. But the legislature also passed two of several measures proposed to deal with problem this year.
» Credit freeze: Maryland consumers can “freeze” their credit reports, preventing entities that aren?t authorized from accessing the credit file. Credit agencies may charge a fee of up to $5 for this service. “A security freeze is the best way to stop identity theft before it starts,” a statement from the Maryland Public Interest Research Group said.
» Security breach: Business and consumer groups were both heavily involved in negotiations on a bill that requires companies to notify a consumer if personal financial information is lost or stolen. The Maryland Retailers Association and others couldn?t win an exemption for businesses with less than $1 million a year in revenues, but “the notification standards were more important,” association President Tom Saquella said. Consumer groups were unhappy that the companies must contact the consumer only if it decides there is reasonable risk.
» Restaurants: The Maryland Restaurant Association unsuccessfully fought a banon smoking in bars and restaurants that will go into effect Feb. 1, and O?Malley has promised to sign the legislation. But the restaurants defeated several bills that called for the banning trans fats in cooking.
» Clean and green: Car dealers and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce couldn?t to defeat legislation mandating stricter emissions on new cars and trucks by 2011. Dealers said it would raise the cost of new cars by at least $1,000. But the chamber did take credit for helping to kill bills requiring reduction of greenhouse gases by cutting energy consumption and for tacking fees onto new development to go into a Green Fund for the Chesapeake Bay.
“We care about the environment and we care about the Chesapeake Bay, but we cannot cure global warming by ourselves,” Chamber President Kathleen Snyder said.
