“Members of the Maryland Senate today secured a badly needed, refreshing and overdue victory for the state’s working people and families by voting to override Governor Hogan’s veto of a common sense paid sick days bill. The Maryland House of Delegates voted to do the same yesterday, which means hundreds of thousands of working people in Maryland will newly gain the financial security and stability that paid sick days provide. It’s about time.

This action on the part of Maryland legislators is a bright spot for our country at a time when attacks on the rights of women, workers, people of color and other communities are increasingly common. Policies like paid sick days provide critical protections that promote gender and economic equality, healthier workplaces and communities, and a stronger economy and businesses.

Maryland now joins 40 other jurisdictions, including Montgomery County, in guaranteeing paid sick time. But threats to these hard-fought gains loom, and more than 37 million workers across the country still cannot earn a single paid sick day, despite tremendous progress at the state and local levels and in the private sector in recent years.

We applaud our partners in the Working Matters coalition for their persistence and years of commitment to winning paid sick days for all Marylanders. We also commend Dels. Luke Clippinger and Dereck E. Davis and Sen. Thomas ‘Mac’ Middleton for championing the proposal, and every lawmaker who voted for it. Members of Congress should follow their lead and the will of voters by standing up for a real national standard like the Healthy Families Act.”