This morning, I had the opportunity to attend the Chamber of Commerce's legislative breakfast. I haven't been to one of these breakfasts in quite some time because previously it was the same thing year after year. The delegation would talk about the challenges each year of western Maryland being slighted by the rest of the state because we are a more Republican dominated part of the state in a Democratic controlled state. Well, as expected this year was different.
Joining Senator Edwards, all of our delegates are now Republican with the defeat of Kevin Kelly and they are all heading to Annapolis to work with a Republican governor. Although, both the House and Senate are controlled by the Dems, there is a feeling that both parties will be working together for the betterment of Maryland.
According to our delegation, their focus will be in the following areas: 1) economic development with a real plan to provide tax-free incentives for 10 years to new businesses looking to locate specifically in western Maryland; 2) encouraging a more business friendly approach to our regulatory environment in Maryland, which is desperately needed; 3) pursuing new business interests in areas such as cybersecurity and biotechnology, as has been the case is Frederick with the addition of Astra Zeneca and 600 new jobs, and restore the highway user funds to the individual counties. All in all, it was time well spent and I think that we will be better represented in Annapolis through this mix of new delegates.
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