:: Maryland Bows To ERISA’s Preeminence
After very careful and thorough consideration, the Office of the Attorney General will not seek review before the Supreme Court on the Fair Share Health Care Act. Statement of Maryland Attorney General.
In a previous article on this site, the Fourth Circuit decision in Retail Industry Leaders Association v. Fielder has been reviewed. See, :: Retail Industry Leaders Association v. Fielder: Case of Preemption Over Federalism Now the Maryland Attorney General has thrown in the towel.
Good retrospective comment can be found on several sites. For example, The Jurist, Stephen Roseberg’s ERISA blog and Paul M. Secunda’s article on Workplace Prof Blog. The Maryland legislation was dead on arrival and, like several similar initiatives, evokes the obvious question – why? Not why were the proposals DOA – that should have been clear from a cursory review of the ERISA preemption precedent. Rather, why did the public officials not undertake more legal analysis before drafting the legislation? In any event, absent Congressional intervention, odds are in favor of several more preemption decisions within the next year involving health initiatives contrived with little regard to ERISA’s preemptive force. See, e.g., :: California’s Universal Health Coverage Proposal Unveiled; and Pennsylvania Business Journal article “Does the proposed 3% tax on employers violate ERISA?”
