Mandate

President Barack Obama won re-election yesterday thanks to a narrow edge in a swath of key battleground states. His prize: another four years as the leader of a sharply divided nation facing a series of seemingly intractable problems, chief among them the economy, the debt and employment. The first order of business must be to avoid the fiscal cliff looming over the country at year's end that will mandate tax increases and deep, across-the-board cuts to defense, entitlement programs and domestic spending programs unless he and Congress can agree on a way forward.

 Maryland has the second highest number of health mandates - or procedures and services insurers are required to cover in policies. Rhode Island is the state with the most number of mandates, according to research by the Council for Affordable Health Insurance. Some believe that mandates drive up the cost of health care. Maryland has 67 mandates while Rhode Island has 69. Idaho is the state with the least number of mandates at 13. The most popular mandates are mammography screening and the length of time a woman must stay in the hospital after giving birth.

For a party that claims not to care for lawsuits interfering with medical care, it didn't take Republicans long to take to the courts to challenge health care reform. The thrust of the litigation filed Tuesday in Florida and Virginia is that requiring people to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. Yet again, conservatives are falling on a 10th Amendment "states' rights" claim when they don't care for progressive actions at the federal level. The argument is as old as the Civil War and is commonly trotted out when public outrage (think the 1964 Civil Rights Act)

Ridiculed by some as a "rain tax" and a symbol of government overreach in taxes, storm water management fees mandated by the state were approved Monday by Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. The Baltimore County Council approved its fee structure 5-2, along party lines, with Republicans David Marks of Perry Hall and Todd Huff of Lutherville voting against it. The Anne Arundel County Council voted 4-3 to approve its version of stormwater fees. Stormwater runoff is blamed for being a major source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. As rainwater runs off hard surfaces - roofs, driveways and parking lots - it picks up pollutants that ultimately run into the bay. Last year the state legislature mandated a fee to pay for projects that will benefit bay water quality.

It is not socially irresponsible to not buy health insurance, but it is unconstitutional to mandate people to purchase it ("Senate defeats bill opposing Obama health care rule," April 7). I understand that medical costs are inflated due to uncompensated care; however, Massachusetts has proven that a health care mandate is not a successful way to reform health care. Do we need reform? Yes, everyone agrees with that, but will costs go down with a health care mandate? I do not believe that based off of what I've read has happened in Massachusetts.

Even though I did not vote for him, my prayers and congratulations are with President Barack Obama as he enters his second term in office. With God's help, it is within his grasp to become one of this country's great presidents, but he needs to lead the whole country, not just half of it. The country is at a crossroads, and this election was more an expression of the political polarization that exists in America today than it was a mandate for...

This contraception mandate requires the provision of contraception. The next contraception mandate could require the use of contraception. At that point, our government would be engaging in eugenics. Considering that contraception has been readily available for more than half a century and is relatively inexpensive, that's a high price for free contraception. Yet disagreeing with this particular government mandate constitutes a war "on women?" I guess I'm just a little slow on the up-take.

Do you need a mandate to force you to buy something you want or need? This question isn't asked by those who support a health insurance mandate, such as Dr. Edward Miller and Scott A. Berkowitz of Johns Hopkins ("Hopkins leaders support health insurance mandate," Aug. 9). The reason we have so many uninsured Marylanders is that health insurance is either too unaffordable or it doesn't offer a good value to those who can afford it. A mandate won't solve either of those problems. Responding to self-interested lobbying groups, well-meaning legislators have mandated that any health insurance sold in Maryland must cover over 60 procedures, something that has dramatically raised the cost of insurance in this state.

I think President Obama's claim that the election results were a mandate is stretching reality ("On taxes, 'Americans agree' with Obama, Axelrod says," Nov. 12). Approximately 120 million people voted in the election, and of that number a little more than 58 million voted for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama's margin of victory was only about 1.6 percent. Almost half the voters opposed his policies. Granted, Mr. Obama won a clear majority of electoral votes. But the huge number of people who voted against him does not give him the mandate he claims.

The Sun portrays the defeat of George Bush's immigration reform bill as due to the fact that he "failed to get [it] past his own party" ("Obama's mandate," Nov. 7). In fact, 15 Democrats in the Senate failed to vote for the bill; it would have passed with their support. Why not mention that as a reason why the bill failed, rather than blame it on Republicans? I thought all Democrats were for immigration reform. Perhaps President Obama should "start talking about climate change," but he should do nothing.

In the year since Exelon Corp. acquired Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group, the company has donated more than $300,000 to first-responders in the region. It is handing out thousands of free trees to Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers. It is helping fund energy-efficient homes for low-income residents. That's much like the year before the merger, nonprofits say. "They're carrying out their volunteer commitments at a very high level," said Elise Lee, chief development officer for United Way of Central Maryland.

A proposal to levy storm-water fees on many state-owned properties has cleared the House, setting the stage for shrinking a loophole in the year-old law that requires private landowners pay to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Delegates voted unanimously for HB508 , which partially removes an exemption for state lands in the law enacted last year mandating that Baltimore city and Maryland's nine largest counties levy a storm-water cleanup fee...

Baltimore County homeowners would pay a fee between $18 and $36 a year for stormwater management under a plan to meet new state requirements designed to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Legislation to impose the fee was introduced Monday, with a County Council vote scheduled April 15. The fee structure, proposed by the administration of County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, is an attempt to comply with a law the General Assembly passed last...

My family and I were cruising down a very busy six-lane road on our way to dinner two years ago when my husband suddenly hit the brakes. Two loose yellow labs cowered in the middle of the road. It was one of those trillion-degree August days and the dogs were hot, exhausted and frightened. We got them into our car, took them home, gave them a drink, and called the animal shelter, where employees said no one had reported them missing. My vet's office was due to close in five minutes, but a technician agreed to stay open long enough for me to get there (I love my vet)

Even though I did not vote for him, my prayers and congratulations are with President Barack Obama as he enters his second term in office. With God's help, it is within his grasp to become one of this country's great presidents, but he needs to lead the whole country, not just half of it. The country is at a crossroads, and this election was more an expression of the political polarization that exists in America today than it was a mandate for...

Ellen Bravo of the labor-aligned advocacy group Family Values @ Work claims there were few consequences in San Francisco following passage of that city's paid sick leave mandate ("Paid sick leave urged in Maryland," Nov. 12). However, even the research Ms. Bravo cites suggests otherwise. According to data published in a survey conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, industries in San Francisco that didn't offer sick leave prior to the mandate were more likely to report a negative impact on profitability.

Washington -- THESE ARE heady days in the House.They are no less heady for Republican theorists and consultants, who are working feverishly to fabricate a mandate for all the legislative activity by attempting to elevate the 1994 election and give it meaning.That rush to judgment in the House, they argue, is not mere politics but a contract steeped in all the legitimacy of a popular conservative upheaval.Irving Kristol, co-editor of The Public Interest, calls what Speaker Newt Gingrich is doing "revolutionary."

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake appears likely to win the Democratic primary for Baltimore mayor with the fewest votes of any successful candidate since at least 1983. She may clear 50 percent of those who went to the polls, but the message the voters sent this election is indifference. Turnout appears to have been a record low, perhaps as little as 20 percent. The city may not have been moved by the untested promise of Mayor Rawlings-Blake's challengers, but it didn't rally fully behind her steady but unimaginative leadership either.

Any business that gets lucrative financial help from City Hall would be required to hire 51 percent of its workers from within the city limits or it could face a criminal sanction. Those are the terms of a new bill proposed by City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who believes such legislation is needed to reduce what he calls Baltimore's "stubbornly high unemployment rate. " Young's "local hiring mandate" legislation will be introduced Monday before the City Council, he said.

I think President Obama's claim that the election results were a mandate is stretching reality ("On taxes, 'Americans agree' with Obama, Axelrod says," Nov. 12). Approximately 120 million people voted in the election, and of that number a little more than 58 million voted for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama's margin of victory was only about 1.6 percent. Almost half the voters opposed his policies. Granted, Mr. Obama won a clear majority of electoral votes. But the huge number of people who voted against him does not give him the mandate he claims.