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ANNAPOLIS — Saying the impending choices confronting lawmakers "will help determine who we are as a people and what kind of future we will leave to our children," Gov. Martin O'Malley used his third State of the State address Thursday to call on the General Assembly to abolish the death penalty and to make college education more affordable.

He delivered the speech in the House of Delegates chamber, crowded with senators and other dignitaries. Included in the audience was Benjamin R. Civiletti, who chaired a 23-member panel that called for the abolition of Maryland's death penalty.

The death penalty has become a central issue of policy debate in the legislature in recent years.

Efforts to repeal capital punishment have been stymied in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, where measures have failed by a single vote.

"Decent people can disagree on this issue, but as your governor, I ask that you give this important moral question of repeal of the death penalty a fair up-or-down vote in both houses of this legislature," O'Malley said.

On the issue of college education, he called it an investment in the future.

"This is about doing for our generation what the GI Bill did for my father's generation," he said.

Since taking office, O'Malley's budgets have included extra funding for state-supported universities to freeze tuition.

The speech included two excerpts from letters O'Malley (D) received from residents across the state.

One was a woman from Allegany County who worried that the cost of electricity would make her homeless. Another was from a 53-year-old Baltimore County man whose finances were hit so hard, he might not be able to complete the final six months of a deferred college education.

Such issues frame the budget debate that lawmakers already have begun.

"We've got a great opportunity and some very tough decisions to make with regards to the budget," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said.

While O'Malley's budget assumes $350 million in federal stimulus aid to Maryland, it is a one-time cash infusion that cannot be relied upon in the future, said Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach.

"There'll be a number of adjustments," he said. "At the same time, I was very happy with what he had to say about the environment, health care and continuing to make college affordable."

O'Malley set the right tone with a "positive, optimistic attitude," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch.

"The general public is very tentative, scared, some are losing jobs," he said.

While companies like Caterpillar are laying off workers, county governments also are considering layoffs in the face of budget deficits, said Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis.

"We're waiting to see what the federal stimulus provides for counties and cities," he said.

O'Malley is putting too much stock in "a federal bailout, a bailout that will be financed not just by you and me, but by our children and our children's children," House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby said in statement following the speech.

"The governor is hoping to be bailed out for the mismanagement of our fiscal house with money that the federal government just does not have," O'Donnell said.

Sen. Brian E. Frosh praised O'Malley's focus on education.

"Education is critically important to the future of the citizens, the economic future of the state, and it's important as a stimulus," said Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda.

House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve said the governor delivered a "tough, positive message."

"He doesn't want to cut teacher pensions or education formulas much really, and that's good for Montgomery County," said Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg. "We're going to have to reduce spending a lot, regardless of whatever happens with the federal government. And it's our hope that Barack Obama will help the state so that we don't have to fire 700 people."

Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman criticized O'Malley for repeatedly invoking Obama, saying it set a partisan tone that drowned out much of the message.

"It was the most partisan State of the State that I have witnessed," said Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship. "And it didn't have to be."

Kittleman said he had "no problem with the governor being proud of the new administration and being happy that President Obama was elected."

But he added that "you don't have to denigrate the previous administration."

Kittleman said that he found it "disturbing" that O'Malley called for extending the prevailing wage to 118 more state-sponsored projects. The living wage is increasing the total cost of contracts in Maryland by 19 percent, Kittleman said. "We just can't afford that."

O'Malley's speech also asked the legislature to provide $132 million in energy assistance for 125,000 Marylanders, to expand health care and to offer unemployment benefits to part-time workers.

And, he said he is seeking a crackdown on businesses that classify employees as independent contractors to skirt unemployment insurance.

Legislators will consider policy issues, including a death penalty debate that will be controversial, even while wrestling with the budget, Barve said.

"We can chew gum and walk at the same time," he said. "We have 90 days. We have 188 legislators. I think we can do more than one thing at a time."

But most of the focus of the next 73 days will be squarely on the budget, said Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D).

"The stimulus will help but its one-time money," Franchot said. "We're going to have two years of rough sledding."