Maryland legislators have become known for beating up business.
They apparently think they are doing it on our behalf. It is not working. They are driving business away and making us look foolish along with them.
They must stop. Their shortsighted way of looking at business is likely to cost us private-sector jobs over time.
Their actions toward Constellation Energy Group are a case in point.
Not only are the rate caps they enacted in 1999 a main culprit behind the massive rate increases, as they held prices artificially low for six years, but they forced competition ? and jobs ? out of the market because business can?t operate at a loss.
We are glad the legislature did not pass a bill before the session ended Monday that would have phased in higher rates for BGE customers over 18 months.
That would mean 18 more months without competition.
We are less thrilled that Constellation?s proposed merger with FPL Group could be held up to the ever- dim light of a legislative “study” because the bill did not pass.
We worry that such intervention in the private sector sends a terrible message to potential employers: “Enter at your own risk.”
International business is already becoming wary of the region, according to a study released by the Greater Washington Initiative earlier this week.
They cut 26,000 workers in the area from 2000 to 2005. Many of those jobs relate to the implosion of the telecommunications industry in 2001 and 2002.
But officials who market the region say a negative political feeling toward foreign companies ? remember the failed ports deal? ? could turn them away from the area in the future.
Alienating international business means fewer jobs. According to the GWI, which markets the region to businesses, international commerce makes up 13 percent of the regional economy.
Legislators must realize that Maryland does not exist in a vacuum ? and that their actions will reverberate far outside Annapolis and state borders.
If they want the state to continue to attract jobs, they should let the Constellation-FPL merger go through without intervening.
