WMAL Interview - MD GOV LARRY HOGAN - 01.23.18

 INTERVIEW – MD GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN

    Maryland Governor Unveils $5 Billion Package to Woo Amazon. (Baltimore Sun) — The Republican governor used inventive grammar in giving his proposed legislation a name that evokes Amazon’s brand: the “Promoting ext-Raordinary Innovation in Maryland’s Economy Act of 2018,” or PRIME Act.  It promises $10 million a year for 15 years out of the state’s Sunny Day fund to a Fortune 100 company that creates at least 40,000 jobs that pay an average of $100,000 a year. It also promises state and local property tax credits, a state sales tax exemption for construction materials, and a 10-year, annual tax credit equivalent 5.75 percent of the salaries of each job created. Together, the administration said, the cash and tax credits amount to more than $3 billion. The benefits could technically apply to any company that qualified, though the package is tailored to what Amazon said it would provide for HQ2.
    MARYLAND GOVERNOR RACE: Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R) raised $5.4 million in the last year and have accumulated a $9 million war chest
    Last week the governor signed on to Maryland’s redistricting case currently before the Supreme Court:  Governor Larry Hogan once again called for nonpartisan redistricting reform in Maryland today, and vowed to file legislation to achieve this important bipartisan goal. He also announced that he will join an amicus brief being filed with the United States Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in Benisek v. Lamone, a case involving Maryland’s gerrymandered 6th Congressional District. “Free and fair elections are the very foundation of American democracy and the most basic promise that those in power can pledge to citizens,” said Governor Hogan.