Fair Share Health Care Act (Wal Mart). Lawmakers override Ehrlich's veto.

[nickshepDEM]

From the Baltimore Sun:

The Maryland General Assembly overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of a bill requiring Wal-Mart to pay more for employee health care yesterday, a measure that has sparked a nationwide debate over the level of benefits an employer should provide workers.

The so-called Fair Share Health Care Fund Act, the first of its kind to succeed in the nation, became a fight between organized labor and business, raising questions about to what extent government should intervene in private enterprise.

"Fair Share health care is going to sweep the nation," said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, part of a coalition of labor unions, Wal-Mart competitors and others that pushed the bill through the legislature.

"This pro-business, pro-working families law makes sense, and the Maryland state legislature is taking the lead."