Gov. Larry Hogan moved Tuesday to avoid an override of the paid-sick-leave measure he vetoed last spring, vowing to introduce new legislation he presented as an alternative to a “horrendous” bill.

The Republican governor said he would introduce a “compromise” version of a bill on the first day of the Democratic-dominated General Assembly’s annual 90-day session Jan. 10.

Hogan criticized the legislature for failing to take up the bill his administration put forward early this year as it became clear the Democrats were intent on passing legislation expanding access to sick leave. He said his measure would have been less “onerous” for employers.

“We preferred a carrot rather than a stick approach, rewarding rather than penalizing small business,” Hogan said.

The vetoed bill would require employers with 15 or more workers to let those who put in at least 12 hours a week earn up to five days a year of paid leave to use when they are sick or experiencing family crises, including domestic violence. Democrats estimate the legislation would give 700,000 workers access to such leave that do not have it now, but a task force appointed by Hogan put the number at fewer than half that.

The governor vetoed the bill in May, contending that it took a punitive approach rather than relying on incentives. He predicted the legislation could force many small businesses to close their doors.

As he did in his previous bill, Hogan takes a fundamentally different approach to leave than the Democrats. Where the legislature specified that earned leave be used for sickness or family emergencies such as domestic violence, the governor proposes that employers be required to let employees earn “paid time off” without restrictions on why it is used.

Assembly Democrats, who contend the Hogan administration refused to negotiate as they developed their legislation, used their super-majorities in the House and Senate to pass their bill by margins large enough to override a veto if there are no defections.

Lawmakers designated by House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to respond expressed scorn for the governor’s approach.

“We’re going to override the governor’s veto,” said Del. Luke H. Clippinger, the Baltimore Democrat who sponsored the bill in the House.

Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. “Mac” Middleton, who led a years-long effort effort on behalf of Senate Democrats to craft a bill, dismissed the governor’s proposed alternative as “another stall tactic to getting a good piece of legislation through.”

The governor said that to give small employers time to prepare, his legislation would apply to businesses with 50 or more workers starting next year. It would then go to 40 or more in 2019 and 25 in 2020.

One argument being advanced by the Hogan administration and Republican lawmakers to block the vetoed bill is their contention that it would unfairly force victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse who want to claim paid leave to reveal private information about their problems to their employers. A draft of the Hogan legislation released by the governor’s office includes language adding privacy protections that are not in the vetoed bill.

Some leading advocates for domestic violence and sexual assault victims rejected that interpretation of the measure.

Lisae C. Jordan, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the bill “will give survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence rights they don’t have now.”

mdresser@baltsun.com

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