Maryland’s General Assembly fast-tracked approval of the state’s Covid-19 relief package on Friday after removing an amendment that would have provided stimulus payments to thousands of undocumented workers.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s billion-dollar package, titled the “Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs, and Families (RELIEF) Act,” had been flying through the majority-Democrat legislature in a bipartisan showing of the urgent need to get money to struggling families and small businesses as soon as possible. However, the bill ran into hurdles on Friday before House and Senate leaders reached an agreement.
In the end, the House of Delegates passed a package totaling $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in aid, which the Senate then concurred with shortly thereafter. The House voted 128-1 and the Senate voted unanimously, 45-0. The stimulus package now heads to Hogan’s desk for his signature.
