ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland lawmakers are busy working to get hundreds of bills passed before Sine Die at midnight on Monday.
Hundreds of bills need final approval but none are as important as the budget.
Maryland lawmakers met Friday afternoon to hammer out minor differences and assure us, it will be balanced and passed by Sine Die.
"We're going to make it through, it's going to be a good budget," said Senator Guy Guzzone, a Democrat from Howard County and the chair of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
A late moving bill to limit payouts in look back lawsuits for survivors of child sex abuse heads to the senate, a priority to limit the financial burden on the state.
"I don't know if it's going to look exactly like what the house just sent over to us, I don't know if there are going to be significant departures, but it is our intention to advance that piece of legislation," said Senator Will Smith, a Democrat from Montgomery County and chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Legislation to establish a commission to study reparations saw fierce debate.
"The average Marylander is going 'what the heck are you guys doing in Annapolis,'" said Republican Delegate Matt Morgan from St. Mary's County.
"Things that were supposed to help us have broken us. This is just an opportunity to study the impacts of slavery," said Delegate C.T. Wilson, a Democrat from Charles County.
Ultimately, it passed to the governor's desk.
Bills that have passed both chambers ahead of Sine Die
Lawmakers are balancing eliminating local law enforcement cooperation with ICE and potential backlash from the Trump Administration.
"Understanding some of the real consequences that are likely to come from the federal government if we do that. We have to be concerned about what will happen with the National Guard. We will have to be concerned about what will happen with hundreds of millions of dollars that will likely be cut off as a retaliatory measure," said Smith.
Republicans in the State House are pushing against it.
"This caters to activists and it's criminal friendly at this point. We want to make the state safer," said Morgan.
A trio of energy bills are in the hands of the house.
A conference committee will meet to hammer out the differences on the Blueprint.
Both chambers are set to meet Saturday, then Monday, a marathon of bills passing until the final moment when they adjourn Sine Die.
