CONGRATULATIONS ON HB 356

"Joe:

As you already probably know, I've been monitoring virtually all Maryland House and Senate Bills for each of the past 4 legislative sessions.

As an officer of a taxpayer's advocacy group here in Wicomico, one of my jobs is to keep our Board of Directors informed concerning legislative bills that may adversely impact our County or adjacent county's taxpayers. We now have several satellite County affiliate groups in both Worcester, Talbot, and Queen Anne's Counties that we now exchange information with.

Since the Liquor Board controversy erupted in Wicomico, I though I might shed some light on our adjacent county Liquor legislation activity - Worcester .

Here is a copy of a communiqué I sent to one of our satellite affiliates when we first learned about the substantial increase in borrowing limits for the Worcester County Liquor Board. Their borrowing authority increased dramatically from $3,000,000 dollars to $5,000,000 dollars pursuant to HB 91 of the 2005 legislative session.
Unfortunately, HB 91 passed. But not all was lost in the battle. Fortunately, I was able to alert the Worcester County Retailers Association and they led a drive to defeat the other proposed Liquor bill - HB 356.

It is interesting to note that the other companion Liquor legislative piece - HB 356 - would have dramatically changed the current buying habits for Worcester County by eliminating the middle man or licensed wine wholesaler or nonresident dealer. At the 11th hour we were able to alert the local Worcester County Retailers Association whereby I was informed that they were not even aware that the HB had been sponsored.

I think this information will 'bend the ears' on quite a few of SBYnews readers and serve to enlighten the reading audience."