Today thousands of Marylanders are denied housing because they have a housing voucher. 79% of voucher holders in Maryland are people of color and 43% are single mothers. I’ve been working on legislation to prohibit this practice and to give every Marylander an opportunity to live in safe, clean housing.
Despite the Governor’s proclamation that “Maryland is open for business” several recent studies have deemed Maryland the third worst state to start a small business — ranking ahead only of New Jersey and New Hampshire. Small and community businesses are the backbone of our economy and produce the majority of new jobs in Maryland. As your State Senator, I have been dedicated to developing policies that incentivize small business growth over corporate welfare for multinational organizations.
In today’s reality, minimum wage jobs are no longer temporary jobs or jobs for people outside of the “skilled economy.” Today people work two and sometimes three minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. A major component of growing the middle class is to increase the minimum wage – improved earning power will make it easier for struggling Marylanders to keep their families out of poverty and will provide them with a modicum of economic stability.
Among women who hold full-time, year-round jobs in the United States, African-American women are paid, on average, 60 cents while Latinas are paid just 55 cents for every dollar paid to a man. While in the legislature I have worked to strengthen Maryland’s equal pay laws by expanding them to all employers, ensuring businesses cannot penalize employees for discussing salaries, and by broadening standards to determine whether unlawful compensation discrimination exists.