I thought you might be interested in the emergency regulations set up Tuesday by Maryland’s Commissioner of Financial Regulation.

They require mortgage servicers (it’s a complicated world out there, but these are the people who manage collections on real estate loans) to tell the state every month how many loans they have, how many are in foreclosure, and what they are doing to help struggling customers.

Apparently mortgage servicers aren’t returning calls from customers when they ask for help dealing with a pending foreclosure.

Gov. Martin O’Malley and Secretary Thomas Perez of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation laid the smack down on servicers Tuesday, calling them in for meetings and launching an examination of Ocwen, a Florida-based servicer.

Maryland is one of relatively few states that regulate servicers, so this is a way for the state to extend its reach as it looks to slow a foreclosure crisis. But I wonder why the focus on servicers is emerging now.

“This is a continuous learning process,” Perez told me. “The role of servicers for me came to light in July and August.” That was only a few months before a homeownership task force released its recommendations for state mortgage reform.

Why do you think servicers are a target now, as opposed to earlier in the game?

It looks like we’ll find out soon how effective the state’s living wage law will be. The law, passed during last year’s spring session of the General Assembly, took effect in October, but is still being implemented. It mandates that many state contractors pay what the state considers a sufficient wage to their employees.

That wage is $11.30 in metropolitan areas like Baltimore or $8.50 in more rural parts of the state.

In February, the state regulations on how the law will be put in place can become final after months of discussion.

This means state service contractors (with contracts over $500,000 or with more than 10 employees) will have to certify, among other things:

-How much they are paying their employees

-Whether the employees have health insurance, and whether they agreed to reduce their pay to offset the cost of the coverage.

Are you preparing to make these reports to the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation? Are you ready? Talk to me about your experience with the living wage law.

Find more information about the living wage law here.