Realty transfer tax

GOP move to cut realty transfer tax tossed onto trash heap

Betsy PriceGovernment, Headlines

  Another Republican attempt to lower the costs of buying a house by reducing taxes associated with it was shot down along party lines Wednesday. Rep. Lyndon Yearick’s House Bill 343 would have dropped the real estate transfer tax from 4% now to $3% in January 2018. That was the rate it was in 2016 before being raised in 2017 …

House Bill 80 requires doula services to be covered by Medicaid starting Jan. 1. (Nagakan Aka photo from Pexels)

Bill calls for Medicaid to reimburse doula services

Sam HautHeadlines, Government

House Majority Whip Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown is back with another bill on requiring Medicaid to pay for doulas. Doulas provide physical and emotional support while a woman is giving birth. House Bill 80, which requires doula services to be covered by Medicaid starting Jan. 1, has 15 other sponsors: 14 Democrats and Republican Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Laurel. House Bill 343, sponsored …