By Jesse Russell

The Maryland legislature voted to override Governor Robert Erhlich's veto of a bill intended to require large employers to pay a minimum amount of employee health care. Under the Fair Share Health Care Act corporations with more than 10,000 employees in the state will need to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on employee health benefits. The other option is paying the difference to the Maryland Medicaid fund to offset the burden on taxpayers. Similar legislation is currently winding its way through the legislatures of at least 30 other states.