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Raising the minimum wage in the state of Maryland will be one of the topics discussed at the special session of the General Assembly called by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. this week. The special session's primary issue is to tackle the medical malpractice liability insurance bill the governor submitted last week. Earlier in the year, the governor vetoed the living wage proposal (SB 621), which would have raised pay for low-wage workers employed by state contractors to $10.50 per hour. The governor said the raise put too much of a strain on the budget. An attempt to override this veto is expected, but Maryland's largest small business advocacy organization has been working with its members to keep the veto in place. "The living wage legislation is horrible for business, period," said Ellen Valentino, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in Maryland. "Statutorily setting high wages with no consideration for changing economic times, geographic regions and the impact on start-up and new business would be a huge mistake for Maryland to make." Tom Hucker, executive director of Progressive Maryland, an organization in favor of the override, says the bill is a sound, moderate solution to growing poverty and welfare in the state. Despite robust economic and job growth in the state, poverty is up for the third year in a row which some attribute to low wages. "Financially," said Hucker, "it makes no sense to pay multimillion dollar contracts to these corporations while paying their employees food stamps because the jobs don't pay them enough to feed their families." [more] and [more]