O'Malley Backs Md. 'Clean Car' Initiative

Proponents said momentum is on their side after neighboring Pennsylvania joined New Jersey, New York and New England states in adopting the tougher standards.

Opponents of the legislation said it would do little to help the environment and would drive up sticker prices considerably on Maryland automobiles. Charlie Territo, spokesman for the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, estimated that prices could rise $3,000, a figure environmentalists say has been inflated to stave off the legislation.

"It should have been Maryland doing this five to 10 years ago," said Brad Heavner, state director of Environment Maryland, the advocacy group leading the coalition pushing the bill.

The bill is likely to face opposition from Republicans, a small but vocal minority in both chambers.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) said he is concerned, for instance, by a provision of the bill that would allow Maryland to peg its emissions standards to those of California. "We're a sovereign state," he said. "We should make our own policy."

The school-aid bill put forward by O'Malley would require governors to fully fund by fiscal 2011 an initiative known as the Geographic Cost of Education Index -- something O'Malley failed to fund in his 2008 budget last week.

The initiative, designed to steer more aid to jurisdictions where providing education is more expensive, is part of the landmark Thornton education formula passed by legislators in 2002 and is a priority for Washington area lawmakers. Unlike other parts of the Thornton plan, the geographic component is not currently mandated by law.

O'Malley also put forward a bill that would freeze tuition at the University System of Maryland campuses and Morgan State University next year. The legislation codifies a proposal in his budget.

O'Malley's package also incorporates several health-care initiatives that lawmakers have been developing, including a requirement that insurers allow parents to include dependents on their policies until age 25.

One O'Malley bill likely to generate controversy would allow unions that represent state employees in collective bargaining to charge fees to the employees even if they have not joined the union.

With O'Malley's announcement this morning of the appointments of Perez and Lyons, he will have put forward 10 Cabinet nominations. Lyons will be his second from out of state.

Yesterday, O'Malley formally announced his plans to nominate Gary D. Maynard, director of Iowa's Department of Corrections, as Maryland's secretary of public safety and correctional services.

Word of that pick leaked out late last week. Maynard also serves as president of a national association of corrections officials.

O'Malley also stressed his desire to work with Maryland's high-powered congressional delegation after a breakfast yesterday with eight of its 10 members at the State House in Annapolis.

O'Malley administration officials relayed several federal priorities, including help in absorbing an expected 10,000 jobs from the base realignment process and homeland security funding.

Staff writers Lisa Rein and Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.