The GOP position is that the state will lose jobs because, heaven forbid, Wal-Mart spends at least 8% on employee healthcare instead of the state picking up the charges via Medicaid which will be on the taxpayers bill.
"Don't dump your employees that you refuse to insure into our Medicaid system," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Gloria Lawlah.And if Wal-Mart doesn't want to do business in the state of Maryland, they don't have to either. I'm sure that other companies are ready, willing and able to fill the void. With all of the free give-aways that Wal-Mart asks from local governments I don't think that Maryland will be that damaged by not having Wal-Mart. Who's raking in all of the money anyway? It sure isn't the employees.
In the House, Delegate Anne Healey compared Wal-Mart to a schoolyard bully. But House Republican Leader George Edwards called the measure an unwarranted intrusion into private enterprise.
"If you don't want to work for Wal-Mart, no one's twisting your arms. Go somewhere else and work," Edwards said.
