Gov. O?Malley signs 173 bills into law

Gov. Martin O?Malley on Tuesday signed 173 bills passed by the General Assembly this year, dozens of them duplicate Senate and House versions of the same bill. They included:

PRIMARY DATE: Legislation (SB 1025) backed by O?Malley will move up next year?s presidential primary date from March to Feb. 12 in order to create a regional primary with Virginia and D.C. More states are moving their primaries to earlier in the year to try to gain more influence over the party nominations.