From a balanced budget to cracking down on foreclosure scams, Maryland lawmakers counted victories even as key proposals hung in limbo during the final hours of the General Assembly session Monday evening.
Legislators still needed to decide several issues, including a settlement with Constellation Energy, carbon-emissions reduction and use of speed cameras in highway work zones during the sprint toward midnight adjournment.
Gov. Martin O?Malley ? working to collect votes needed to pass a settlement that would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in rate relief to customers of Constellation subsidiary Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. ? said the session brought “progress” despite tough fiscal times.
“It?s easy to make progress when everything?s coming up rosy,” O?Malley said. “It?s been a really tough last four months.”
Slot machines continued to dominate debate even during the 90-day session?s final hours as lawmakers considered a proposal to ban video-gambling machines. Many see the games as competition to the state?s lottery and legitimate slot machines that could be legalized in a November referendum.
House Speaker Michael Busch criticized a late-minute amendment exempting commercial bingo parlors. The amendment, sponsored by Del. Mary Anne Love, D-Anne Arundel, was mis-characterized to suggest only parlors in Anne Arundel, Busch said. The amendment passed the House of Delegates 69-67.
“They have literally become back door slot machines,” Busch said. “It opens the door to corruption and we?re right back to where we were in the 1960s.”
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller also offered a laundry list of accomplishments, naming tighter restrictions on development is sensitive coastal areas, stable college tuition rates and funds for new state police helicopters.
Lawmakers also touted the repeal of a sales tax on computer services, which was replaced by a three-year surcharge on residents earning more than $1 million. O?Malley is expected to sign that into law Tuesday.
Late Monday, Miller said the “big issues” were complete.
“This session was sort of anti-climactic,” Miller said.
Staff writer Len Lazarick contributed to this report.
