The bill also will increase business investment in research and development activities in Maryland, as well as attract and retain businesses that engage in research and development. The bill applies retroactively to 1976 when contracts containing subrogation provisions first were filed with the Insurance Administration. Although it has been the longstanding practice for HMO contracts approved by the Insurance Administration to contain these provisions, a 1999 decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals determined there was a lack of specific statutory authority for HMOs to subrogate. In so doing, the Court's decision declared contracts containing the right of subrogation in prior years illegal. This bill prevents the threat of class action lawsuits against HMOs that reasonably understood the provisions to be legal.
Fees are simply another form of taxation.
Under current law the Register of Wills offices are funded by probate fees and inheritance tax commissions. By increasing probate fees to offset loss in revenue from inheritance tax repeal, lawmakers simply substitute one tax for another. Operating funds for the Register of Wills offices should be budgeted and distributed through the General Fund. The medical malpractice reforms enacted in 1986 established the age at 11 to help rein in the skyrocketing costs of medical malpractice insurance and the escalating costs of health care. Delegate W Baker Dredge Spoil Dumping - Prohibition Prohibits the placement of dredge material excavated from channels to the Port of Baltimore into Site 104 of the Chesapeake Bay before June 1, 2001.