Recently, the news outlet OC Today – based in Ocean City, Maryland – wrote about a legislative battle in the state over who should be involved in hosting Maryland RV shows. Organizers of the Ocean City RV Show want to expand the show to include out-of-state dealers, and promoters of another in-state show want to prohibit that.
The push to expand the annual OC RV Show to allow out-of-state dealers to participate met some resistance in Annapolis, Maryland, last week after a rival promoter testified against it.
The bill, which Del. Wayne Hartman said still has many proponents, addresses the current law which allows for two shows statewide for in-state dealers. Both those shows occur in Timonium, and the owner of those shows opposed expanding the Ocean City show.
Hartman said disclosure of that fact did not occur during testimony.
“Basically, he has a monopoly on (RV and mobile home shows) in the state of Maryland,” Hartman said. “(We might) narrow it down to be a Worcester County bill so it’d only impact our county as far as hosting additional shows. We’re trying to find some consensus and maybe move the limit to four shows to try to appease these other interests and make it more palatable.
Hartman said it’s possible they limit out-of-state dealers to display only, meaning they wouldn’t be able to take any deposits are make any purchasing agreements at the shows.
“I’ll share this information with (Sen. Mary Beth Carozza) so they can learn from what we experienced in our hearing and go from there (before the Senate’s) at the beginning of March,” Hartman said.
Click here to see the full report from Jack Chavez in OC Today.
