The issues

Although lawmakers spent 21 grueling days in November raising taxes by $1.3 billion and ordering up hundreds of millions in spending cuts, fiscal issues again permeated much of the debate in Annapolis, with revenue shortfalls and the repeal of the computer services tax overshadowing much else. The $31.2 billion budget capped off nearly a year and a half of state spending reductions, with the total figure reaching well over $1 billion, including $500 million this session in cuts or delays to funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup programs, a health care insurance expansion and state contributions to retiree health care obligations.

Efforts to enact a ban on using hand-held cell phones while driving failed again in the General Assembly, though it came closer to becoming law than ever before. The bill would have prohibited talking and texting while holding a wireless device while allowing the use of hands-free accessories. It passed the Senate but died in a House of Delegates committee.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal that would allow the collection of DNA samples from suspects arrested for violent crimes, not just those convicted, passed yesterday. But O'Malley agreed to substantially weaken his initiative to win over the Legislative Black Caucus, which had feared that the expanded DNA database would be used to target minorities. DNA samples now would be processed only upon arraignment and would be expunged if the charges do not result in a conviction. DNA evidence also could be used to seek new trials for those who contend that they were wrongly convicted.

Lawmakers approved a package of administration bills to reduce the state's energy consumption 15 percent by 2015 and to double the amount of renewable energy that power companies must provide for sale to customers, to 20 percent by 2022. The legislation also sets out how to spend proceeds from new fees on industry intended to promote reducing greenhouse gases, directing the money to energy efficiency, conservation and small utility-bill rebates.

A measure committing the state to fight global warming, embraced by O'Malley, ran into formidable opposition from labor and industry fearful that state regulations could cost jobs and shutter factories. The bill passed the Senate in weakened form but failed in the House. Shoreline development curbs near the Chesapeake Bay got their first major overhaul in 24 years, though they were also watered down from the original O'Malley proposal. The bill still tightens enforcement and subjects growth in rural areas to greater scrutiny. The Assembly approved legislation directing $25 million to fight polluted runoff from farms and development, though only half of what the governor and lawmakers originally planned to spend. A bill passed requiring energy-efficient and environmentally friendly state buildings and public schools.

O'Malley made efforts to address a rising foreclosure crisis a priority this year, and he convened a task force with industry representatives and consumer advocates over the summer. The package of bills stretches out the legal time frame before a home can be repossessed or sold, forces banks to establish a borrower's ability to pay before making a loan, imposes tougher sanctions for mortgage fraud and bans the conveyance of property in so-called foreclosure rescue schemes.

Gay-rights activists arrived in Annapolis this year hopeful that the legislature would legalize gay marriage or create civil unions for same-sex couples. But those bills stalled in a Senate committee, largely because of opposition from Sen. C. Anthony Muse, a Prince George's Democrat who is an evangelical Christian bishop. Instead, the legislature approved two bills allowing hospital visitation and exempting property transfer taxes for domestic partners.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation authorizing a subsidy to help seniors bridge the "doughnut hole," an often-criticized cost-saving measure built into the Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress in 2003. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the region's largest insurer, pledged to fund the $7 million annual program that will help an estimated 7,500 lower-income residents.

A ban on children's products that contain toxic lead won House and Senate approval, after Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat, and Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, Baltimore City Democrat, led an effort to remove amendments sought by the toy industry that would have delayed the ban for a year, among other things.

The General Assembly repealed a new sales tax on computer services before it went into effect and replaced the unpopular $200 million levy with a combination of cuts and a three-year individual income tax surcharge on earnings of more than $1 million. Passed in the final hours of last year's special session, the so-called "tech tax" was opposed by a broad consortium of business groups that warned the measure would destroy Maryland's high-tech economy and cause a migration of well-paying employers out of state.

Lawmakers decided to withhold more than $3.1 million in planning money for Morgan State University's new $80 million business school until the university overhauls its procurement processes, which are under criminal investigation by the state attorney general's office. The action came in response to a legislative audit that found financial mismanagement in the school's construction contracts.

O'Malley's administration proposed legislation that would allow state and local law enforcement agencies to use speed cameras on streets with speed limits up to 45 mph, in school zones and near highway construction zones. Lawmakers tried to resolve differences last night over how fast motorists must be driving before being issued a ticket, but the bill came to the floor too late for a vote last night.

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