Gov. Larry Hogan Vetoes 18 Bills Involving Tax Hikes, Remote Teaching, Clean Energy And More
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Gov. Larry Hogan Friday vetoed 18 House and Senate Bills passed in the 2021 legislative session. The slew of vetoes included legislation from public transit funding to collective bargaining for state employees.
Hogan announced each veto in letters to the General Assembly.
A bill outlining accommodations for educators not going back to in-person instruction was also struck down.
"With the progress we have made over the past year and the backing of state and national medical experts, all roadblocks to resuming in-person instruction must cease," Hogan wrote in a letter for the veto of House Bill 1322.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman released this statement after Hogan vetoed the Local Tax Relief for Working Families Act of 2021:
"I was disappointed to learn that Governor Hogan has vetoed the Local Tax Relief For Working Families Act of 2021. The bill passed with support from the bipartisan Maryland Association of Counties and votes from representatives of both political parties.
The 1999 shift from progressive to flat rate income taxes for all Maryland Counties was a blow to working families, and one of many tax policy blunders that fueled the harsh disparities that exist today. This bill would have allowed voters and their elected representatives in each county to restore progressivity to local income taxes if they chose to do so. In our county, that would have meant an income tax cut for 95% of our residents.
I trust that the people's representatives to the Maryland General Assembly will override the Governor's veto when they return to Annapolis next year."
Hogan faces an overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled legislature, and many of his previous vetoes have been overridden.
Click here for a full list of the governor's vetoes.