Key legislative issues

Education: During the campaign, Martin O'Malley pledged to limit tuition increases at the state's universities, spend $400 million this year on school construction and fund part of the state's landmark K-12 funding plan that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. skipped. But all that could require some tradeoffs elsewhere as the last stage of the so-called Thornton Plan for education funding is phased in next year, with no dedicated revenue source to pay for it.

January 7, 2007