RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Our business news starts with a victory for Wal-Mart.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Wal-Mart has, for the moment, turned back an effort to make it spend more on employee health insurance. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: FRANK LANGFITT reporting:</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Last year, the Maryland state legislature passed a law that would have forced Wal-Mart to spent at least eight percent of its payroll on healthcare.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Proponents argued that the company didn't provide enough coverage for workers, leaving the state to pay the difference. But a federal judge in Baltimore has struck down the one-of-a-kind legislation. He said the measure violates a federal law that protects companies from having to create a patchwork of healthcare plans from state to state.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Steven Cannon managed the case on Wal-Mart's behalf.</s>Mr. STEVE CANNON (Attorney): What the judge did today was say an employer who may have employees in many, many states only has to worry about one healthcare plan.</s>LANGFITT: The Maryland Attorney General's Office says it will appeal the ruling.</s>LANGFITT: Frank Langfitt, NPR News.
A federal judge has overturned a Maryland law that would have required Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health care. The state law would have required non-governmental employers with 10,000 or more workers to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care or pay the difference in taxes.