Today’s Staff Editorial

Yesterday marked Sine Die, the last day of the state legislative session in Annapolis. But unlike the past couple of years, Sine Die didn’t consist of feverish, last-minute attempts to push through critical agenda items and rushed decisions on the state’s budget. It was a sunny, breezy and calm day when legislators appeared relaxed and even-tempered.

After all, there wasn’t much to stress about. Many of this year’s most impactful and often contentious bills — including Gov. Martin O’Malley’s sweeping gun control proposals, a $37 billion budget for the state, a gas tax, a repeal of the death penalty and a bill adding to state residents’ electric bills to pay for offshore wind energy — were already through both the House of Delegates and the Senate. And the Senate easily passed a medical marijuana bill, 42-4, yesterday to send to O’Malley for his signature.

There’s a common theme linking most of those bills — they’re big O’Malley initiatives, and pushing them all through two years before he is expected to make a run for the White House certainly helps his political ambitions. But whatever the reason may be for this year’s productive, time-efficient legislative session, it should still be commended and recognized.

Let’s revisit 2012’s Sine Die. Several bills, including legalization of medical marijuana and funding for offshore wind energy, failed to make it to both chambers for a vote. And most importantly, legislators scrambled to vote on the state’s operating and capital budget minutes before midnight and ended up with a doomsday budget that could have resulted in double-digit tuition hikes. Too many students were unsure whether they’d be able to afford continuing their college educations, so the university community and state residents alike rallied for O’Malley to call a special session. He eventually did, but a viable budget solution for the state didn’t come about until the summer.

This year, though, both Republicans and Democrats agreed to raise overall spending by nearly 3 percent, just $500 million short of the money allocated in O’Malley’s generous proposed budget. State colleges and universities will see a 7 percent increase in funding to help maintain a tuition increase at 3 percent. However, there was a $7.2 million reduction in mental health services despite lawmakers’ calls for increased discussion and care for the mentally ill. Although a senator and a delegate both proposed bills that would funnel $40 million more into mental health, there simply wasn’t enough time for those to gain traction.

In an otherwise largely successful legislative session, the oversight in allocating sufficient money for mental health facilities and services in the state — especially given lawmakers’ rhetoric the past couple of months in support of gun control measures — is where the state needs to aim many of its efforts in the coming months. Ed Kasemeyer, the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee chairman, told fellow senators, “There’s nothing we could do about it.”

Maybe it would have been difficult to accomplish, but when the state is increasing spending in many other areas, it’s difficult to believe there wasn’t anything that could be done to provide the same support in an area that has received so much attention in recent months.

Though certainly not perfect, this year’s legislative session has put the state in a promising position going into the next fiscal year by passing some major initiatives. Sine Die was quiet and calm — the way it should be.