Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot’s job description has changed, thanks to a move by the Maryland General Assembly to strip him of his authority to regulate sales of tobacco and alcohol.
On Thursday, lawmakers in Maryland’s House and Senate voted to override Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of the bill that establishes an Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Under the legislation, the commission would take on Franchot’s role as regulator of alcohol and tobacco sales.
The House vote to override the veto was 98-39. In the Senate, the vote was 30-15 to override Hogan’s veto.
The commission established in the bill would replace Franchot’s oversight of a field enforcement division, made up of a group of 60 staff members who investigate violations of regulations on alcohol and tobacco sales. The change would take effect in 2020.
Republican opponents of the bill say it’s politically motivated, and so does Franchot, who isn’t giving up without a fight.
“We’ll be considering taking legal action” said Franchot, who called it a “deeply flawed, poorly-written bill.”
Franchot says his enforcement division has provided “elite, nationally recognized service” and calls the bill taking authority from his office “unnecessary, reckless, expensive, and the main victims are the taxpayers.”
Franchot objects to handing the authority over to what he said would be “an unelected commission of politically connected appointees.” Those appointees would be named by the state’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
Franchot is a Democrat who had no opposition in the Democratic primary He did face a Republican challenger in the general election. He won with more than 1.6 million votes — no other state-elected official has won that many votes. But Franchot’s had a fractious relationship with Democrats in Annapolis.
Franchot sits on the Board of Public Works along with Hogan, and has often sided with the governor on contentious issues, including supporting Hogan’s executive order to mandate that all public schools open after Labor Day, an issue that’s led to a battle between lawmakers and the governor.
In the latest development on the fight over setting school calendars, the Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill to allow individual school systems to open before Labor Day if their boards of education decide to do that. The House is expected to hold an override vote on the issue on Friday.
Kate Ryan reported from Washington.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to clarify that Franchot had no opposition in the primary.
