O'Malley May Set Modest Agenda

And there are other uncertainties. Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) and some lawmakers have questioned whether a new tax on computer services passed during the special session will yield the $200 million a year predicted by legislative analysts. Business interests are seeking to repeal the tax this session.

O'Malley's budget fix, as well as funding for his health-care initiative passed in the special session, also relies heavily on approval of a slots referendum in November. Even if it passes, some lawmakers are skeptical that the slots plan will generate as much money for the state as quickly as projected -- more than $400 million annually within a few years -- given expected zoning fights in some of the jurisdictions where the machines would be placed.

All of that has many lawmakers counseling caution.

"I'm sure he's got things he'd like to do, but he's going to be constrained by the budget," Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Charles), a leading voice on the House Appropriations Committee, said of the governor. "I think the only responsible way to do new programs is to make room by cutting old ones."

O'Malley has said little publicly about his agenda in the weeks leading up to this year's legislative session -- a time other governors have used to build momentum for their initiatives.

In the interview, he said he is considering proposing a freeze on tuition at Maryland public universities for a third straight year, a nod to the concerns of working-class families, whose interests O'Malley promised to champion during his 2006 campaign against then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).

O'Malley said he will also advance recommendations of an administration task force on mortgage lending, saying, "We have, unfortunately, a fast track to foreclosure in our state."

And O'Malley said his budget will also include funds to expand graduate programs and take other steps to address a nursing shortage in the state -- another campaign promise.

He is also planning to advance some crime-related initiatives, including expanding the state's DNA database to include samples taken from people arrested for certain violent felonies. Under current state policy, samples are taken only from those convicted of crimes.

As of the fall, at least 11 other states, including Virginia, had moved in a similar direction in an effort to link those under arrest to unsolved crimes.

"Virginia is way ahead of us on this score, and I'd like to catch up to where Virginia is," O'Malley said.

Environmental issues and energy policy are also expected to be part of O'Malley's second-year legislative agenda. His inability to curb utility rate increases was perhaps O'Malley's largest political setback during his first year.