By Gadi Dechter , Julie Bykowicz and Laura Smitherman , gadi.dechter@baltsun.com and julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com and laura.smitherman@baltsun.com|April 06, 2009
The thorny questions of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and how aggressively to regulate electricity markets await the Maryland General Assembly as it enters its final week of the 2009 session.
And there's still a budget to balance amid the country's worst fiscal crisis in decades. Senators and delegates have yet to resolve several fiscal disagreements, such as funding to buy land for preservation and how much to cut aid to local governments.
Still, the discord could have been worse.
A big infusion of federal stimulus dollars has made the budget-balancing task easier than expected, and measures on the death penalty, speed cameras and climate change have already been dispensed with.
"We've done a lot of the heavy lifting," said Del. Talmadge Branch, a Baltimore Democrat and the House majority whip. "I think we're about there, but you never know what's going to pop up at the last minute."
Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller held out the possibility that a bill designed to strengthen the state's hold on the Preakness could still be introduced. Miller and other state leaders are concerned that in the aftermath of the bankruptcy of the owner of Maryland's thoroughbred racetracks, the historic Baltimore race could be moved.
"We've only got a week left," Miller said. "It will be difficult, but it's possible."
The leading Republican in the House welcomed the approaching end of the 426th session, saying that sending lawmakers home will protect Marylanders from additional "nanny state" laws and spending initiatives pushed by the Democratic majority.
"Once the legislature adjourns ... the liberty and possessions of the citizens will be more secure," said Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the minority leader from Southern Maryland.
But before the final gavel falls, lawmakers hope to resolve their differences and adopt a stricter driver's licensing policy that requires applicants to prove they are in the country legally - something all but three other states already do. Gov. Martin O'Malley and legislative leaders have acknowledged that they must take action now because a deadline looms in October for complying with "Real ID," a federal security act passed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
If the state fails to meet that deadline, residents face the prospect of not being able to use their licenses to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.
