Published: July 19, 2008 12:20 am         

Chamber responding to range of key issues

Global warming, physician shortage, transportation on upcoming agenda

Transportation, global warming and a dire shortage of physicians in rural Maryland are issues the state and local chambers of commerce expect to discuss in the next several months.

Barb Buehl, president of the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, said members realized during this year’s legislative session that regular meetings during the 90-day period might not be enough. On Wednesday, the chamber’s legislative committee held its first monthly meeting leading up to the start of the session next January.

Kathy Snyder, president and CEO of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, was on hand at the Bell Tower Building to discuss a number of issues that may affect Maryland business owners, among them transportation, global warming, the cost of electricity and health care.

There’s a “huge problem” with the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, Snyder said. Officials have borrowed from the fund with a short-term notion of paying for other projects. Long-term, she said, that money was supposed to be paid back — but never was.

“There is no new money for road construction (or) road projects anywhere,” Snyder said.

Snyder called a lack of federal funding “a double whammy,” and state business leaders must “make sure we get our fair share” of the pot. She emphasized that all road projects — not just transit projects — should be part of the priority.

In Allegany and Garrett counties, that could ultimately impact the timetable to improve U.S. Routes 220 and 219. Snyder said while it “goes against the grain for most business people,” the state chamber could lobby for a gasoline tax increase as long as the money is earmarked for transportation needs.

A gas tax could be tied to the cost of materials. As the cost goes up, so does the tax — as well as the amount consumers pay at the pump. Critics have called this a version of “taxation without representation” as the amount could be increased automatically.

“In business, time is money,” Snyder said, and noted that the less time workers are in traffic, the more productive they’ll be at work.

Snyder is planning to attend a meeting July 30 in Baltimore with Transportation Secretary John Porcari. She suggested a representative of the Allegany County Chamber attend as well.

An attempt by some lawmakers to have the Department of the Environment adopt regulations and implement programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent from 2006 levels by 2020 — and 90 percent by 2050 — died in the House Environmental Matters Committee, Snyder said. That bill would have a negative impact on businesses such as AES Warrior Run and the NewPage paper mill in Luke. It was an initiative the District 1 delegation was steadfastly against during the 2008 session.

The bill is coming back, Snyder said, and lawmakers also will consider whether to re-regulate the electric industry. Deregulation in 1999 didn’t work, Snyder said, because it set prices at the 1993 rates.

Officials predict rolling brownouts as early as 2011, Snyder said, and there is now “money to be made by ‘going green.’”

“There are no easy answers,” she said, and all options should be debated.

On the surface, Snyder said health care for all sounds like a “great idea.” But some lawmakers’ intent to impose a 2 percent payroll tax could negatively impact state businesses and make it increasingly difficult for Maryland to attract new businesses.

“None of the surrounding states have that,” Snyder said.

On a related note, Buehl said the state must look into the shortage of physicians in rural Maryland, including Allegany and Garrett counties.

“We’re looking for some changes, particularly for rural areas,” Buehl said.

Dr. Kenneth Buczynski, a family medicine physician and obstetrician in Oakland, said at a July 8 summit at Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort that incredibly high malpractice insurance rates have had a major impact on his practice.

The panel that night talked of the possibility of following the lead from Texas, which implemented medical liability caps.

Maryland is one of five states, including Virginia, to have a legal doctrine of contributory negligence. The law says, generally, that if a person is even 1 percent at fault for an accident, the victim may not collect compensation. For example, if a person reads, then ignores, obvious signs warning of a wet, mopped floor and then slips, no compensatory damages may be awarded.

The doctrine “is good for business,” Snyder said, and worth fighting to keep.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.