MRA In The News

Maryland's restaurants aren't going out of business fast enough, lawmakers in the state's capital of Annapolis say, and a pair of Democrats in the legislature have a plan to speed up the process. On top of previous hikes to the state's minimum wage, which have been a factor in many restaurant closures and staff reductions statewide, their new bill would create a 2026 ballot question asking voters to approve a minimum wage of $20-an-hour. If approved by voters, the question would also force restaurant owners to pay that $20 wage to tipped workers, as well. The bill is expected to be taken up by the Democrat-controlled Maryland House and Senate next month. Montgomery County was the vanguard of the proletariat in the effort to raise the minimum wage in the previous decade. The Montgomery County Council was warned by business owners, the Maryland Retailers Association, and the Restaurant Association of Maryland that a significant wage increase would put many enterprises out of business. Their predictions came to pass, as Montgomery's already-moribund economy was slammed by the higher wage requirements, higher taxes and new regulations, and the Council's disastrous "Nighttime Economy" initiative that ended up destroying the nighttime economy. Bars, stores, and restaurants that had endured for thirty or fifty years, serving multiple generations of Montgomery County residents, were suddenly closing left and right. The nightlife scene in Bethesda looks starkly different from what it was prior to the last decade. In fact, you can't really look at it at all, because it no longer exists. Along with record numbers of restaurant failures countywide, at least 24 nightspots closed in Bethesda alone. Downtown Bethesda's streets are now dark and lonesome after 9:00 PM. Click here to read the full post from Robert Dyer.

Maryland must address organized retail theft | GUEST COMMENTARY

Maryland’s state minimum wage could be on the way up once again. Lawmakers have a plan Thursday to not only increase the minimum wage but also make tips tax-free. Maryland voters will eventually get to decide if this happens — possibly as soon as next month — but some business groups are already warning that the move could hurt them. State lawmakers in Annapolis introduced the legislation Thursday. If passed, a constitutional amendment would go before voters in November 2026. Maryland’s minimum wage went up to $15 an hour back in July but this bill raises it to $20 in five years. It also phases out the state’s tipped wage of $3.63/hour and will give tipped workers full minimum wage, but they can keep tips tax-free. Prince George’s County Del. Adrian Boafo is the sponsor. "Prices at restaurants have gone up, people have experienced that in the pocket but the reality is when workers haven’t experienced a raise in a long time so it’s time for us to give them a raise," Boafo said. But not everyone is happy about this. some business groups are gearing up to fight this proposal. Just last week, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the state’s economy wasn’t growing fast enough. Businesses and restaurants say they’re already struggling in a sluggish economy, and higher wages won’t help. Cailey Locklair is the president of the Maryland Retail Alliance. "Listen Maryland employers are at a breaking point! And when you look at all of the mandated increases and fees of the past couple of years what’s being considered," Locklair said. This minimum wage hike could wind up being one of the biggest fights in Annapolis this year. Joint hearings between Maryland’s House of Delegates and Senate are expected to be held in February. Click here to view the article on Fox5 .

In Annapolis, Maryland lawmakers were taking aim at retail theft.Since 2020, smash and grabs, shoplifting, and petty theft at stores has risen. In 2024 Capital One reported the latest nationwide numbers and Maryland retailers saw more than $1 Billion in revenue lost in 2022. (The most recent numbers) “Customers have to get an attendant to unlock some plexiglass to get something because the store is trying to mitigate theft and loss,” State Sen. Ron Watson, a Democrat from Prince George's County said. “Eventually, they’ll go somewhere else to shop.” This year Sen. Watson sponsored a bill aimed at curbing retail theft. Currently in Maryland, retail theft is only a felony if you steal more than $1,500 worth of goods in one jurisdiction. Watson’s bill takes aim at several angles. It would allow prosecutors to tie in all thefts over a 90-day period for a felony. Watson said it would allow prosecutors to tie in thefts from other states and counties. It also hammers down on people who steal multiple times from the same store. “We've worked with law enforcement to track these individuals to their apartments,” Watson said. “Sometimes they will have a whole retail store inside of their apartments, so this is not about people trying to put food on their table.” Tuesday, Sen. Watson’s bill had its first Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing in Annapolis. Several county prosecutors testified in support of the bill. They were joined by Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Association. “Between 2023 and 2024 alone, 37 pharmacies closed across the state in many of your communities and many more will occur,” Locklair testified. The CVS in Bowie Plaza was one of these recent closures. Local lawmakers said when company leaders shuttered the location back in December, they told CVS officials that retail theft played a big role in their decision. Once a place for prescriptions, turned into an empty store front. Watson said he feels the closure has left a hole in the community’s confidence. “It's not always about what the metrics tell you about whether crime is going up and going down,” Watson said. “It's about perception and if the residents don't feel safe, don't feel comfortable, then there's something we need to do to change that.” After an encouraging committee hearing, Sen. Watson’s bill was still alive and moving through the State House on Tuesday.  Click here to view the piece from WUSA9 .

Shoplifting rates in the three largest U.S. cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — remain higher than they were before the pandemic, according to a report last month from the nonpartisan research group Council on Criminal Justice. The sharp rise in retail theft in recent years has made shoplifting a hot-button issue, especially for politicians looking to address public safety concerns in their communities. Since 2020, when viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies flooded social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have expressed fears that crime is out of control. Polls show that perceptions have improved recently, but a majority of Americans still say crime is worse than in previous years. ... Policy experts say shoplifting and organized retail theft can significantly harm critical industries, drive up costs for consumers and reduce sales tax revenue for states. Those worries have driven recent state-level action to boost penalties for shoplifting. ... In New Jersey, a bipartisan bill making its way through the legislature would increase penalties for leading a shoplifting ring and allow extended sentences for repeat offenders. “This bill is going after a formally organized band of criminals that deliver such destruction to a critical business in our community. We have to act. We have to create a deterrence,” Democratic Assemblymember Joseph Danielsen, one of the bill’s prime sponsors, said in an interview with Stateline. The legislation would allow extended sentences for people convicted of shoplifting three times within 10 years or within 10 years of their release from prison, and would increase penalties to 10 to 20 years in prison for leading a retail crime ring. The bill also would allow law enforcement to aggregate the value of stolen goods over the course of a year to charge serial shoplifters with more serious offenses. Additionally, the bill would increase penalties for assaults committed against retail workers, and would require retailers to train employees on detecting gift card scams. Maryland legislators considered a similar bill during this year’s legislative session that would have defined organized retail theft and made it a felony. The bill didn’t make it out of committee, but Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, said the group plans to propose a bill during next year’s legislative session that would target gift card fraud. Click here to read the full article from the New Jersey Monitor.

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

As the new year approaches, several legislative proposals stand to impact Maryland residents and businesses. The Griffin Report recently visited with Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance , to find out more about what’s in store for 2025. Locklair has spent nearly 20 years in state and local politics, advocating on the state budget, labor issues, retail crime and taxes on behalf of the alliance. For her efforts, Locklair – who also heads the Maryland Association of Chain Drug Stores, and the Maryland Food Industry Council – recently received the 2024 J. Thomas Weyant Award from the National Retail Federation. In addition, Locklair is a past chair of the Council of State Retail Associations and a member of the Leadership Maryland Program Class of 2024. When reviewing the events of the past year, what stands out the most? The past eight months have been extraordinarily active on the legislative front locally. Maryland now has almost 20 jurisdictions with separate bag laws, and we have seen a variety of bills impacting the industry introduced. Some passed, including shopping cart legislation, electric vehicle-charging station mandates and even regulations on garbage cans. Legislators at the state level have reached out on issues of concern, including food waste and sell-by and use-by dates. Discussions about beer and wine in food retail are ongoing. It’s been said Maryland is experiencing retail growth. Do you agree? Yes and no. It depends on where in the state we are talking about. For example, generally speaking, Maryland’s population continues to slowly grow. So in areas where there is population growth, we have seen quite a few new grocery stores in those areas. However, in areas of the state losing population and struggling with issues like organized retail crime, we have seen some closures with more currently being considered. Is the growth attracting a disproportionately number of new retailers selling groceries to the state? Maryland is a chain-heavy state, but we have many thriving independents as well. That said, we are not seeing rapid expansion of any retailers per se, and the newest chain that came into our market occurred in 2018. What are independent retailers doing to hold onto their share of market? Regardless of the type of retail format you operate, in-store experiences and in-store sales remain key to attracting consumers in Maryland and elsewhere. What key issues are poised to impact grocers in 2025? With the state’s next legislative session starting in January, the industry can expect to see a slew of legislative proposals from new taxes, another increase to the minimum wage, an extended producer responsibility study results and other mandates impacting food retailers. What role will the Maryland Retailers Alliance play? Each year, an increasing number of mandates and cost increases are introduced at the legislative level so being involved and lending our voice is critical to mitigating some very damming laws. Congratulations on being recognized by NRF this year for your two decades of ­advocacy contributions. Were you surprised? I was extremely surprised and humbled to be recognized. My colleagues in our industry have been invaluable to the work we do and I’m lucky to call many of them friends.

12 Scams of Christmas

Maryland's top legal officer announces the takedown of a major retail theft ring on Monday. Four suspects were arrested and indicted in the case, which is being prosecuted in Howard County circuit court. The four suspects are accused of running a retail theft ring across at least six counties, including Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Howard. Donte Shaw, Taquan Neal, Samuel Whitmire Jr. and Antonio Polite are accused of targeting retailers like Ulta and Dicks Sporting Goods and shopping centers like Arundel Mills Mall and The Mall in Columbia, police said. The four are accused of stealing at least $800,000 in merchandise during at least 37 different thefts. Court documents state the group targeted the same Sunglass Hut at The Mall in Columbia four separate times last spring, stealing more than $101,000 of luxury and designer goods. "Starting with lost sales tax revenue to the state, that's probably one of the big ones for the state and communities to really think about," said Cailey Locklair with the Maryland Retailers Alliance. The Maryland Retailers Alliance said the kind of criminal activity alleged in the case impacts consumers statewide. "To increased prices on the goods that we all pay for, and combined with inflation, that should be very concerning for folks," Locklair said. Click here to read the full article from WBAL-TV .