HB365/SB425, sponsored by Del. Kathleen Dumais & Del. Lorig Charkoudian and Sen. Pam Beidle, allow working families to protect more of their wages from garnishment for the first time in 30 years. Because the increase in wage protection is pegged to the state’s minimum wage, the amount protected from garnishment will increase each year until 2025 when Maryland reaches its $15 per year minimum wage and low-wage workers will be able to protect $450 per week or $23,400 per year. This legislation will help a number of the 573,000 minimum wage workers in Maryland who may fall behind on their bills during the economic downturn predicted from the COVID-19 virus.
