ECONOMY

MARYLAND LEGISLATURE TARGETS WAL-MART ON HEALTH CARE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28219-2005Apr5.html

JOHN WAGNER AND MICHAEL BARBARO, WASHINGTON POST Maryland lawmakers yesterday approved legislation that would effectively require Wal-Mart to boost spending on health care, a direct legislative thrust against a corporate giant that is already on the defensive on many fronts nationwide. . . Lawmakers said they did not set out to single out Wal-Mart when they drafted a bill requiring organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put the money directly into the state's health program for the poor. But as debate raged in the Senate yesterday, it was clear that the giant retailer, which has 15,000 workers in Maryland, was the only company that would be affected.