Gov. O’Malley is holding his last bill-signing ceremony of the session today.

On the agenda are some long-delayed domestic partnership bills, which O’Malley had tabled during the last signing after he was pressured by local religious groups to veto the legislation. The bills will extend some benefits to domestic partners, including the right to visit each other in a hospital or nursing home (something now only allowed to immediate family members) and a property transfer tax exemption. The measures take effect on July 1.

Also scheduled to be signed into law today:

1. A ban on using names or pictures of dead soldiers for commercial purposes without their family’s permission, except for news purposes. (This resulted from the use of photos of two Anne Arundel County soldiers on anti-war shirts without the families’ permission.)
2. Those who donate more than $10,000 for campaign materials about November’s slots referendum will be required to file campaign finance reports.
3. Private employers must let employees use paid leave to care for sick (immediate) family members.
4. The state will now disclose any expenditure that exceeds $25,000 on a website. (This excludes salaries, which remain public record but will not become as accessible.)
5. And 46 more pages you can peruse if interested.

The governor will not be signing the alco-pops measure that we’ve been hearing so much about over the past few months, but instead will allow it become law without his signature. That means flavored malt beverages (e.g., Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Ice, or — from my high school days — Zima) will continue to be sold with beer and taxed at that lower rate, even though some wanted the drinks reclassified as liquor.

So do any of these bills particularly irk/excite you?

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