It’s the other moment everyone has been waiting for.

Not the conclusion of public budget talks between Gov. Martin O’Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House of Delegates Speaker Michael E. Busch — but the start.

The trio, which last week agreed to begin a special legislative session on May 14, will discuss details of that session Wednesday morning in Annapolis.

State House aides said that leadership from the legislature’s standing committees that deal with the budget would also be in town Wednesday.

Members of the General Assembly have said for the last week that discussions during the special session will focus exclusively on preventing some $500 million in spending cuts made to O’Malley’s proposed fiscal 2013 budget. The cuts deeply impact education but also touch other popular programs and services, including public safety.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley hinted heavily at the Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday morning that General Assembly leaders could be close to an agreement that would bring lawmakers back to Annapolis and avert some $500 million in spending cuts, but changed his tune by the meeting’s end.

With reporters suddenly lining the walls of the Governor’s Reception Room on the second floor of the State House, O’Malley said there was lots of work to do before any special session announcement.

“We’re taking it one house, one budget committee at a time,” O’Malley said. “Don’t get too excited. We still have a long way to go.”

The governor, who will sign nearly 300 bills into law this afternoon starting at 2 p.m., did not take questions before leaving.

Earlier in the meeting, O’Malley called for a five minute break, apparently after receiving a message on his cell phone. He held up his phone to the crowd and said he had just gotten some good news.

“There’s some white smoke coming out of the College of Cardinals,” O’Malley said, referring to the stream of white smoke sent out of a chimney atop the Sistene Chapel at the Vatican when a decision is made on a new pope.

But apparently this smoke didn’t mean lawmakers had yet made a decision on how to pass a revenue package to fund the fiscal 2013 budget.

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A group that advocates for pedestrian-friendly communities announced last week that Baltimore had the ninth-best public transportation system. Do you agree?

While you ponder that question, here’s a few headlines from around the state:

• The Washington Post reports that O’Malley’s March, the governor’s Celtic rock band, will play with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on June 17.
• The Associated Press reports that the second robocalls election fraud trial begins this week.
• The Annapolis Capital reports that the state has proposed forcing new homes with septic systems to have costly pollution-reducing technology.
• The Baltimore Sun reports that legislation could be signed into law that would give voters more information about campaign donors.

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Who knows what’s in store for the future of gambling in Maryland. The present is coming into clearer focus, though.

The Daily Record and others reported that the license for a slots casino at Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort in Allegany County was awarded by the state slots commission on Thursday.

Here’s a few other headlines this morning:

• The Gazette ponders whether transportation funding will come up in a special legislative session this summer.
• MarylandReporter.com reports that Republicans have a different definition for the “doomsday” budget.
• The Aegis reports that a Harford County senator believes a special session will convene on May 14.
• The Washington Examiner reported that Metro rail fares will go up 5 percent across the board.
• The Washington Post reported that special sessions raise questions about the rules that govern lawmakers’ fundraising events.

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After awarding the license for a slots casino at Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort in Allegany County, slots commission Chairman Donald C. Fry said Baltimore’s may not be far behind.

Fry, also president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, said the Maryland State Lottery Agency is still conducting its background check into a group led by Caesars Entertainment Corp. Once the background investigation is complete — probably in May — the commission would then review the agency’s report and the group’s finances.

That sets up the chance for a decision on the license in June, Fry said.

If approved, the license would be created in an air of uncertainty. A special legislative session could be called in August to discuss the addition of a sixth state slots license, for Prince George’s County. During the regular legislative session, a bill that would create a sixth license also allowed for table games to be added at every state casino. Both measures would have faced final approval in a voter referendum.

Caesars previously said they would support the bill because table games would make a Baltimore casino more valuable. Fry said in March that the state should “keep an eye” on adding table games.

“When the legislature passed the law in Maryland [allowing slots], we weren’t surrounded by states with tables games, and now we are,” Fry said. “If we want to maintain an competitive edge, that’s something they need to keep an eye on. …We’re not saying do it.”

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The license for a slots parlor at Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort in Allegany County could be awarded today, when the state slots commission meets at noon in Annapolis.

Meanwhile, MarylandReporter.com says districts that have already been awarded slots licenses — especially Baltimore City — complicate any discussion by the General Assembly about expanding gambling to Prince George’s County.

Here’s a few other headlines around the state:

• The Washington Post reports that Metro is expected to vote to increase parking and  fares Thursday.
• Meanwhile, the Post also reports that Gov. Martin O’Malley is on the road to North Carolina and Nebraska, starting today, in his role as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
• The Baltimore Sun reports that low-wage jobs made up 31 percent of the Baltimore area’s employment in 2007, up from 26 percent in the previous generation.
• The Frederick News-Post reports that the state will provide $250,000 to  help along a downtown Frederick hotel and conference center.

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A Marcellus Shale drilling tower in Moreland Township, Pa. (Photo: Ruhrfisch)

By offering a second special legislative session to deal exclusively with gambling, Gov. Martin O’Malley tried to remove the controversial issue from the debate on a revenue package that could prevent the “doomsday” budget cuts to popular state programs and services.

That decision may just be the flagship of an overall strategy that could be executed by O’Malley and assembly leaders.

Del. Heather R. Mizeur, D-Montgomery, said she was unlikely to introduce legislation in any special session that could create a funding mechanism for a study into the safety of hydraulic fracturing.

“The whole goal is to get in and out and be controversy-free in the special sessions,” Mizeur said.

Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial drilling technique by which natural gas is extracted from mile-deep deposits of rock-encased gas. Garrett County and a sliver of Allegany County have the deposits.

A bill that would have had natural gas companies pay for the study through a fee on land leased by those companies was never voted out of a Senate committee after it was approved by the House of Delegates.

Many lawmakers — and O’Malley — have blamed the budget package’s failure in the waning hours of the regular session on disagreement over legislation that could have dropped a billion-dollar casino at the National Harbor development in Prince George’s County.

This time around, it appears distractions want to be kept to a minimum.

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General Assembly leaders are still working out the parameters of a budget agreement that could bring 141 delegates and 47 senators back to Annapolis.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said Monday that he would confer with his budget leadership team — led by Del. Norman H. Conway, D-Wicomico and Worcester — to determine when lawmakers might be ready to return and pass a revenue package to fund the fiscal 2013 budget, to prevent some $500 million in spending cuts.

The Senate leadership team is believed to have already weighed in with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George’s. Miller wrote a letter to Busch and Gov. Martin O’Malley outlining the terms of a compromise on the revenue package. The Senate appears to be waiting for a counter offer.

O’Malley wants assembly leaders to come to Annapolis and hammer out a deal before bringing all of the members back for a $20,000-a-day special session.

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A group of reporters and their coffee cups waited nearly two hours Tuesday morning for Gov. Martin O’Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Michael E. Busch to emerge from the governor’s mansion with a budget accord and the announcement of a special session.

The accord didn’t happen — but in one way, it was a two-for-one deal.

The Daily Record and others are reporting that now there could be two special legislative sessions this summer.

Here’s a few other state headlines from the last day:

• O’Malley also visited the state Board of Education Tuesday, where he welcomed the new schools superintendent, the Associated Press reported.
• After a quiet first year, Patch.com reports that Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has had a rough go of it in 2012.
• The Herald-Mail reports that the state could help fund the construction of a new stadium for the Hagerstown Suns, a minor league affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals club.
• The Gazette reports that a minority group wants offshore wind energy back on the table when a special legislative session is called.

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After leaving Annapolis Tuesday morning, Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters in Baltimore that two special sessions could be called — one in May and one in August.

The governor met with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Michael E. Busch at 8:30 a.m. The trio did not hammer out a compromise, but O’Malley said gambling could be discussed in a second session later this summer.

Miller, who had little to say to reporters Tuesday, has previously said he wants to see a gambling expansion bill passed. Voters would have the final say in a fall referendum.

“We probably need to resolve this budget issue separate and apart from issues affecting the future of gaming in Maryland,” O’Malley said.

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