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A year ago, Maryland business leaders were scrambling to campaign against a potential sales tax on computer services.

As the legislature prepares to open its 2009 session on Jan. 14, business executives don't have a similarly galvanizing issue to rally around. Rather, they are addressing a mish-mash of concerns, from reining in spending to boosting the state's biotechnology industry.

While it's unlikely that a computer sales tax or something similar will come up this session, that doesn't mean business executives such as John Eckenrode are not monitoring the legislature. The state's budget shortfall for fiscal 2010 could reach $2 billion, making executives wonder if tax hikes will be proposed.

"Unlikely does not mean it won't happen," said Eckenrode, president of Baltimore high-tech company CPSI and co-founder with Thomas Loveland of the Maryland Computer Services Association. The group formed about a year ago to lobby for tech concerns and was a key player in the campaign that resulted in the repeal of the computer tax.

"In the unlikely event that a computer sales tax gets proposed, we'll be there in a hurry, unlike the 2007 special session, where we just plain weren't there," Eckenrode said.

The tech organization plans to share with legislators data from a report by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore released in November that showed that the Baltimore-Washington region, which includes Northern Virginia, ranked second only to New York in information technology employment with 270,000 workers. Of those, about 100,000 are in Maryland.

From 2003 to 2007, Maryland companies attracted more venture capital than those in Virginia, $2.8 billion versus $2.2 billion, according to the report. Nationally, the region ranked seventh.

The data backs up what Maryland tech leaders argued during the 2008 session, "that the IT sector is an economic powerhouse in Maryland," said Loveland, CEO of Owings Mills Web applications company Mind Over Machines.

"Our industry is part of the solution to the current economic crisis," Loveland said. "Our industry is a key component of Maryland's continued and future prosperity. We want to be sure everyone recognizes this, ensure no policy change undermines it and continue working for the good of Maryland."

With the Tech Council of Maryland and similar organizations, the association will advocate for higher education, transportation infrastructure, a "fair" tax system and workforce development, he said.

The Greater Baltimore Committee is not supporting any tax increases this time and wants to see programs thoroughly reviewed and weighed for their return on investment, said spokesman Gene Bracken.

At the same time, the organization is calling for funding for transportation projects related to the Pentagon's base realignment plan, the proposed east-west Red Line light rail system in Baltimore, Gov. Martin O'Malley's 2020 bioscience plan and higher education. A Greater Baltimore Committee task force is studying how transportation is funded and managed in Maryland and expects to release some recommendations on a long-term plan to fund Maryland's transportation infrastructure late this year.

During the 2008 legislative session, lawmakers used $250 million from the state's transportation fund to help balance the budget, and a huge revenue shortfall for transportation has been forecast due to declining taxes and federal funding uncertainty, said Donald C. Fry, Greater Baltimore Committee president and CEO, in a statement.

"This comes at a time when Maryland faces a backlog of between $40 billion and $60 billion in state transportation projects that are planned but not funded for construction," Fry said. "The cost of congestion in the state is currently estimated at $3 billion per year. Work on this significant issue is more timely than ever."

The committee also wants to see funding for biotech investment tax credits maintained and continued investment in bioscience facilities, as well as action on combined reporting be delayed until a state commission finishes studying it. The organization plans its own legislative forum Jan. 26 in Baltimore.

Health insurance

still a concern

Health insurance has long been a key concern to businesses, and that issue is again high among the 2009 legislative priorities of groups such as the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. A new state program launched last year to help small employers subsidize health insurance costs has been slow to attract participants.

The program is designed for employers with two to nine full-time employees that did not offer health insurance during the previous year and whose workers have an average salary below $50,000. Some have said it is hard to meet those requirements.

Another program, the small group health insurance plan, is hampered by laws that provide "no incentives for cost containment, limit plan design flexibility and require among the highest number of mandated health benefits in the country," Maryland chamber executives said. The plan saw its participation decline by 9 percent from 1999 to 2007 to about 54,000 employers, according to state figures.

The chamber is asking that legislators broaden rating bands in the small group plan to help attract lower risk, younger participants to the pool, and incorporate rating factors to encourage cost containment.

"We must reduce the heavy subsidies that the current rating methodology requires so that we can attract more of the young and healthy to the pool," Ronald Wineholt, Maryland chamber vice president of government affairs, recently testified before a state joint committee on health care delivery and financing.

Other priorities for the Maryland chamber include limiting workplace regulations and securing more federal funding for transportation improvements.

Energy regulation

a hot topic

Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Dist. 21) of College Park said he plans to resubmit legislation this session that would require regulation of new power generation in Maryland. That proposal failed last year.

But Rosapepe, who is assistant deputy majority whip in the Senate, said more of his colleagues support the issue after witnessing the near-sale of Baltimore power company Constellation Energy Group this year.

"The only opposition comes from companies that tried to profit from deregulation," he said.

Despite budget problems, the state should not save money by cutting back its international presence, said Kenneth D. Weiss, president of Plans and Solutions Inc., a Gaithersburg business consulting company that works in areas such as international trade and marketing.

"It's getting harder for companies here to sell overseas and harder for companies outside ours to sell here," Weiss said.

Procurement is another area of concern. The Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce supports increasing opportunities in the state small-business contracting program.

The chamber also wants to see state funding for the Purple Line, the proposed Metro bus or light rail line from Bethesda to Prince George's County, and improvements to Interstate 270, as well as some state pension funds to be invested in local small technology companies.

Working on

federal legislators

Some are taking a different approach to state issues this year.

Henry W. Bogdan, director of public policy for the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, said his group is urging members to contact Maryland's congressional delegation to urge that substantial state operating budget relief be included in a federal fiscal stimulus package. The organization is having a legislative preview on Jan. 12 in Annapolis, inviting state and federal officials.

"Preventing substantial state operating budget reductions is crucial preventive medicine for state cuts that will otherwise seriously exacerbate the current economic crisis, while hurting services for communities and vulnerable populations," Bogdan said. "We're urging members to focus on our congressional delegation as the best chance to minimize state budget damage to the people and communities nonprofits serve."