By Doug Cunningham

The future of state fair share health care laws has been dealt a serious blow by a Maryland court ruling this week against the landmark Maryland law. The law targeted Wal-Mart by forcing it to pay 8 percent of payroll into a health insurance fund unless it provided better health insurance for its workers. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Baltimore ruled that that law violates the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act by forcing companies to abide by different state regulations on health plans rather than the single federal standard. So it’s back to the drawing board for states that want to force Wal-Mart to provide health insurance for its workers instead of forcing them onto state Medicaid rolls.