ANNAPOLIS (AP) — The Maryland General Assembly cruised toward adjournment yesterday, signing off on a $2 billion settlement with Constellation Energy Group Inc. and approving an expansion of DNA-sample collections in Maryland’s legal system before adjourning for the year at midnight.
But lawmakers ended up killing a bill to address global warming by slashing carbon emissions. A House committee voted down a proposal to slash carbon emissions 25 percent by 2020.
The DNA measure allows the collection of genetic material from people who have been charged with violent crimes and burglary. Current law allows samples to be taken only from convicted felons. The expansion to suspects will expire after five years.
“The DNA bill was our top public safety priority, and that will, in essence, allow local police officers to be able to solve more violent crimes and get predators off the street — put them behind bars before they rape or murder other citizens again,” Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters.
The settlement between the state and Constellation Energy will provide rate relief and drop consumer liability for nuclear decommissioning costs.
The Senate voted for a bill that removed an amendment the body had approved last week that would have been a deal-breaker. The amendment would have given Maryland regulatory control over new power plants, authority the state lost in the 1999 decision to deregulate. Constellation and state lawyers said that would have nullified the agreement.
Mr. O’Malley, who has been battling Constellation over electricity-rate increases, cheered the deal as “the first good news consumers have had on the energy front for many, many years.”
“We still have big challenges ahead, but at least the settlement has been approved, and that resolves some issues of the past, and now we can focus on the challenges of the future,” he said shortly after the final vote.
Maryland is facing increasing demands for electricity, a limited supply, highly congested transmission capacity and aging infrastructure.
Sen. James C. Rosapepe, Prince George’s Democrat, initially backed the amendment, because he thought it would be the only way to restore any regulatory control lost with deregulation. But he changed his mind after being assured the state could still move forward with reregulation in the future.
“We have the opportunity today to put money back in the pockets of the ratepayers, and tomorrow the fight to end deregulation continues, because nothing in this legislation will stop it,” Mr. Rosapepe said.
The settlement ends lawsuits that the state and Constellation had filed against each other.
Under the settlement, the central Maryland customers of Constellation subsidiary BGE will receive $187 million in one-time “rate rebates” on their electricity bills by the end of the year. That adds up to about $170 for each of BGE’s 1.1 million customers. It also includes $346 million in energy credits Constellation and the state had gone to court to protect.
With most of the heavy lifting behind them, lawmakers were working on some final details in the waning hours last night.
Lawmakers decided to set up a panel to review capital punishment. The proposal came after it became apparent earlier this year that lawmakers were not going to abolish the death penalty.
Legislation needed final approval from both chambers by midnight, or the bills would die for the year. Many other bills needed fine-tuning to eliminate differences between the House and Senate versions.
For example, there were differences between the two chambers on legislation supported by the governor to allow speed-monitoring cameras in highway work zones and in local jurisdictions. It had yet to be decided where the proceeds from the $40 fines would go.
Lawmakers also faced a midnight deadline for deciding what to do about a bill to crack down on illegal gambling machines, which have been cropping up, particularly in Southern Maryland. Many supporters of the bill saw the machines as a threat to the state’s lottery and the legitimate slot machines they hope voters will approve in a November referendum.
Another bill that had been getting attention in recent days was a proposal to change state law to fill the seat of departing U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn.
Mr. Wynn lost February’s Democratic primary to activist and lawyer Donna Edwards. He plans to resign in June, which means Mr. O’Malley can either leave the seat vacant for the rest of Mr. Wynn’s term, which runs through January, or hold a special primary followed by a special general election.
An emergency bill would have allowed Mr. O’Malley to order just a special general election, saving the state the cost of a special primary. The bill, which earlier received preliminary approval in the Senate, would expire after a year.
The General Assembly approved the state’s $31.2 billion operating budget on Saturday. While lawmakers ended up cutting more than $400 million and had to slim down some high-profile budget items, Mr. O’Malley said he was mostly happy with the way things went.
“This has been a session of very real and steady progress for the people of Maryland, even in these tough and difficult times,” he said.
But Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, Howard Republican, said much of the session was devoted to cleaning up errors made during November’s special session. Lawmakers ended up repealing a $200 million computer-services tax and replacing it partly with a tax on people who make more than $1 million a year. He also said the General Assembly should have made more budget cuts.
“We said it many times — that we don’t have a revenue problem in Maryland,” Mr. Kittleman said. “We have a spending problem. … We just have this desire to spend money.”
House Speaker Michael E. Busch said the session — when considered along with actions taken during November’s three-week special session — maintained education, environmental and health initiatives during rocky fiscal times.
“I think at the end of the day, if you took the special session and the session all in one 90-day to 120-day experience, I think under the circumstances that we entered — the current national economic conditions — that the citizens of Maryland can be very happy,” said Mr. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat.
Mr. O’Malley already has signed legislation for mortgage-lending reforms that were approved by the General Assembly. One of the bills signed by the governor cracks down on unscrupulous lenders by creating a crime of mortgage fraud. Another increases the amount of time before a foreclosure can become final from 15 days to 150 days. The third bans mortgage rescue scams in which homeowners unwittingly sign away their houses under the pretense of being able to get them back in a few months. All three have already taken effect.
The General Assembly also approved the state’s $1.5 billion capital budget, which includes $333 million for school construction, about a third of the budget for state buildings.
• AP writer Kristen Wyatt contributed to this report.
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