CAMBRIDGE – County business leaders heard a summary from local legislators April 18, when State Senator Addie Eckardt (R-37) and Delegates Johnnie Mautz (R-37B), Chris Adams (R-37B) and Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-37A) spoke at the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce’s monthly lunch. Two topics of particular interest to the group were a proposed minimum wage hike to $15 an hour and changes in the way public education decisions will be made in Annapolis. “While $15 an hour sounds good on the surface, the reality is that, statewide, it doesn’t work,” Delegate Sample-Hughes said. Currently, the minimum wage in Maryland is $9.25 an hour. It is set to increase to $10.10 an hour on July 1. The minimum cash wage stays the same at $3.63 as the maximum tip credit increases from $5.62 to $6.47. Cambridge optometrist Dr. Paul Brandt questioned the wisdom of raising the minimum wage, saying, “Small business can’t sustain that.” Delegate Adams runs a business with 30 employees in addition to his duties 90 days a year in Annapolis. He said while some of his workers make $20 or $25 an hour, there is a reason for that. “It’s called being paid for performance,” he said. Delegate Mautz noted that a minimum wage increase would also affect state government workers. An increase to $15 an hour, he said, would soon cost Maryland an estimated $87 million, which would climb to $342 million by the year 2023. The lawmakers were unanimous in their opposition to the transfer of public school construction decisions to the Interagency Committee on School Construction (IAC), in what many see as a personal and political conflict. “People were really upset with the comptroller,” Sen. Eckardt said. Comptroller Peter Franchot leads the Board of Public Works (BPW) where these discussions and decisions were made in public, with citizens’ comment, before the change. Delegate Adams said while the BPW meetings used to be open and public, he now doesn’t know when or where the next IAC meeting will be. “They’ve taken out that transparent process,” he said. “It doesn’t look good for our state.” “It’s very disappointing,” Delegate Mautz said. “Everyone should be concerned.” In other topics: • Sen Eckardt said the state passed legislation allowing tax credits for industries including film and cyber security. • Highway User Funds - “It’s coming back,” Sen. Eckardt said. After years in which the gasoline tax from rural counties went to pay for mass transit projects serving the more densely populated urban and suburban areas of the state, much of those tax dollars will return to the counties where they came from. Delegate Sample-Hughes said municipalities have been allocated $37 million, with counties also set to receive a share of the funds. “That will make a big difference,” Sen. Eckardt said. • Delegate Sample-Hughes said $200,000 has been set aside for a proposed Mace’s Lane Community Center. • Delegate Sample-Hughes said $12.5 million has been marked for school security measures, including de-escalation training. “We know we can’t combat everything, but we can take some steps in the right direction,” she said. • On May 3 at 6 p.m. in the Central Library in Cambridge, Delegate Sample-Hughes will hold a town hall meeting to discuss legislative issues.