Going into the final day of Maryland's 428th legislative session, a marathon that is expected to last until midnight, hundreds of issues remain unresolved. Still, the session already has produced some sure winners and losers — and some conflicting messages.
Lawmakers largely avoided new taxes, though they had no problem imposing millions of dollars in new fees. They tightened up a prohibition on texting while driving, but shied away from letting officers pull over drivers who are chatting away on their handheld cell phones. And while legislators decried the use of bisphenol A in plastic materials, they decided they needed more time to explore the harm caused by trace amounts of arsenic in chickens.
A note of caution: In the topsy-turvy world of state government, anything can change at the last minute. A surefire bill can die at the desk if either House Speaker Michael E. Busch or Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller declines to bring it up for final passage. Likewise, legislation that appears dead can be brought back to life.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here's a scorecard as lawmakers begin their last day of the session.
Winner: Waste
Loser: Wind
Gov. Martin O'Malley sought funding to construct a huge wind turbine farm off the shores of Ocean City, but lawmakers grew nervous about the cost to ratepayers and opted to study the plan. Lawmakers felt better about trash, approving a plan to provide ratepayer-paid subsidies to facilities that generate electricity by burning household and commercial refuse.
Winner: Undocumented students
Loser: Same-sex couples
The Assembly's 188 lawmakers, 40 of whom were new to their positions, took on two particularly divisive issues this year: gay marriage and whether to extend in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities to undocumented Maryland students. In both debates, lawmakers were brought to tears by colleagues' personal stories. The Senate passed both measures. The gay marriage bill died in the House, but the in-state tuition measure is on track for passage.
Winner: Fees
Loser: Taxes
Lawmakers mulled a multitude of tax increases, but in the end turned to an assortment of fees to balance the state's $14.6 billion budget and patch up the Transportation Trust Fund. They voted to double charges for recording land deals, obtaining birth certificates, registering vehicle titles and having personalized license plates. Bus and train fares could also rise.
Winner: Talking
Loser: Texting
The legislature closed a loophole in the state's growing array of cellphone restrictions by making it illegal to read text and electronic messages while driving. Current legislation prohibits only writing and sending the messages. But lawmakers left open another gap concerning talking. Unlike texting, talking on a handheld cellphone remains a secondary offense, meaning a police officer can issue a citation only if there's another infraction, such as speeding. The House passed legislation to change talking to a primary offense, but a Senate committee rejected the idea.
Winner: Critters with fins and shells
Loser: Humans with badges
When news reports surfaced in early February of illegal nets filled with tons of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay, lawmakers raced to sponsor and approve bills to crack down on poaching. They also moved swiftly to protect oysters in sanctuaries from serial poachers. But who's going to enforce the new laws? A bill to help the National Resource Police recover from a 50 percent reduction in manpower over the past two decades was gutted like a fish, and left with only a vague promise of money and hiring timetable. Citizens' arrests, anyone?
Winner: John Hanson
Loser: Harriet Tubman
Women legislators sought to recall founding father John Hanson from National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and replace him with Harriet Tubman, who led slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Senior senators rebuffed the trade: Hanson will remain in the Capitol with Declaration-signer Charles Carroll. Lawmakers want to ask Congress for a third statue so they can also honor Tubman.
Winner: Alcohol tax
Loser: Gas tax
The House gave an initial nod to hiking the sales tax rate on beer, wine and alcohol by 50 percent, taking a more aggressive stance than a Senate-passed proposal to phase in the increase over three years. Revenue for next year would go largely to education aid, the developmentally disabled and school construction in the biggest counties. The other much-discussed tariff this year was the gasoline tax; business leaders wanted to increase it by 10 cents and dedicate the additional revenue to transportation funding. But soaring prices at the pump quickly dampened enthusiasm.
Winner: Wine
Loser: Four Loko
Bills permitting wineries to ship bottles to Marylanders were heartily backed by both chambers. Wine fared far better than distant cousin Four Loko. Before the session began, Comptroller Peter Franchot brokered a compromise with the state's alcohol industry to yank alcohol-laced energy drinks from the shelves of corner stores across the Free State. Retailers didn't have a huge amount of choice in the matter: The Food and Drug Administration also banned the drinks.
Winner: The newspaper
Loser: The phone book
Lawmakers decided to continue requiring legal notices to be published in newspapers (such as the one you are reading), guaranteeing the industry $500,000. Some lawmakers argued it would be cheaper to put the notices online only, but members of a House-Senate conference committee decided newspapers reach an audience that doesn't necessarily have Internet access. Another print product impacted by the Internet wasn't so lucky: At the behest of telephone companies, the General Assembly is ready to cut off mandatory annual delivery of the White Pages.
Winner: Dining with dogs
Loser: Dining with your favorite, hard-to-find cabernet
You would be able to take your dog, but not your wine, when you dine out, thanks to two unrelated measures. Lawmakers are poised to strike a long-running (and widely ignored) ban on Fido feeding at restaurants. But legislation that would allow customers to take their own wine to restaurants — and pay a corkage fee for doing so — died amid objections by the state's liquor lobby and restaurant association.
Winner: Chickens with arsenic
Loser: Bottles with BPA
Pick your trace amounts of poison. Public health advocates warn against eating chickens that have been treated with roxarsone, an antibiotic that contains arsenic. But a bill banning the medication was sent for study — in other words: feathered. Meanwhile, lawmakers this year expanded their prohibition on plastic containers made with bisphenol A, a compound that might be linked to cancer. The General Assembly wants to ban it from infant formula containers by 2014. Last year, lawmakers banned the substance from sippy cups and baby bottles.
Winner: Lifers
Loser: Death-row inmates
O'Malley hadn't approved or denied any of the 50 requests to release inmates serving life sentences until lawmakers began debating whether to take away his authority. They have decided to impose a 180-day deadline on parole commission recommendations for parole of lifers. If the governor doesn't file an objection by the deadline, the prisoner would be freed. The state's five death-row inmates, meanwhile, remain in limbo. A repeal effort fizzled, but a de facto moratorium under O'Malley, a capital punishment opponent, continues.
Winner: Rocky Gap
Loser: Fracking
Western Maryland lawmakers frequently point out that they represent some of the most economically depressed areas of the state. They implored the assembly to approve drilling for natural gas by hydraulic fracturing — "fracking" — but lawmakers decided instead to back a two-year study of its potential risks. However, the left-hand corner of the state still could see some economic activity as lawmakers cut fees and taxes at Rocky Gap in the hope of luring a casino operator to build a slots palace for the failing public-private resort.
Winner: Medical marijuana
Winner: Fake marijuana
Maryland will study how to distribute marijuana to medical patients, as 15 other states and the District of Columbia now do. And sick people who are arrested for marijuana possession will be able to present a doctor's note and be found not guilty. Meanwhile, lawmakers considered expanding the state's list of controlled dangerous substances to include synthetic cannabinoids, but those efforts failed.
Winner: African-American churches
Loser: Maryland State Education Association
Once the Senate voted to allow gay couples to marry, African-American pastors in Baltimore and Prince George's County ratcheted up their opposition, causing delegates to reconsider their support of the legislation. The bill made it to the House floor, but Democratic leaders acknowledged they did not have the votes for passage and sent it back to committee. The state's largest teacher's union wanted new employees to have the same pension as current workers and rallied in front of the State House. But the usually potent lobbying force didn't get results.
Winner: King & Spalding
Loser: Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice
After his double-digit defeat to O'Malley, former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and a top aide found new jobs during the session: public affairs at King & Spalding, a sprawling law firm with offices around the globe. The first time Ehrlich lost to O'Malley, he took his inner circle to the Baltimore office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice, where they launched a crisis communications practice and consulted on public affairs.
Baltimore Sun reporter Candus Thomson contributed to this article.