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ANNAPOLIS — A General Assembly session that began with big questions about a budget that was later bolstered by $1.5 billion in federal stimulus aid ended Monday night with passage of a flurry of bills, including measures to clean up the environment and keep the Preakness Stakes in Maryland.

"I think we absolutely maintained the state's priorities without raising taxes or any fees in the worst recession since the Great Depression," House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis said moments after the final gavel.

The legislature passed a fiscal 2010 $13.8 billion budget that fully funds a formula that gives more money to school systems where the cost of education is highest, freezes tuition at public four-year colleges, preserves money for open space and puts $10 million toward Chesapeake Bay cleanup.

The $1.1 billion capital budget sets aside $52.5 million toward replacing the state's aging medevac helicopter fleet, $260 million for school construction and $84 million for community college construction.

Montgomery County delegation leaders said the county fared well in the big picture of the budget. That included $625 million in aid for schools, the third-highest take of any jurisdiction, behind Prince George's County and Baltimore city.

"In a year that started with many powerful voices down here saying they wanted to return teacher pension [costs] to the counties, we stopped that from occurring and walked away with a record amount of aid," said county Senate Delegation Chairman Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington.

The struggling economy forced lawmakers to cut $866 million from the budget, much of it in aid to the counties. But an infusion of $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money enabled them to preserve funding for priority areas, such as education and health care.

"Everybody knew coming in there was going to be sacrifice by the locals in all the jurisdictions," said county House Delegation Chairman Brian J. Feldman (D-Dist. 15) of Potomac. "We took a hit, but everybody else took a hit, too."

On Tuesday, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed emergency legislation authorizing the condemnation of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and other Maryland assets owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. The company filed for bankruptcy in March, and officials fear that a new owner could move the Preakness Stakes.

O'Malley also signed legislation that grants unemployment insurance to part-time workers.

Other bills passed Monday include one restricting when police can use undercover surveillance, one exempting domestic partners from the state inheritance tax and another calling for a statewide reduction of global-warming pollutants by 25 percent of their 2006 level by 2020.

An implementation of early voting and a measure to ban typing, but not reading, a text message while driving, are on O'Malley's desk.

The House on Friday approved speed cameras in work and school zones statewide. The bill, one of O'Malley's legislative priorities, will not affect the use of Montgomery County's speed cameras, which have been in place since 2007.

O'Malley's ambitious, late-session push to reregulate Maryland's electricity providers died Saturday in a House committee.

A number of Montgomery County bills met their fate in the session's final days.

One requires the county's board of education to create a Web site that details board payments of $25,000 or more. Another allows county municipalities to regulate commercial signage. A third allows the county to use automated cameras to enforce traffic laws at railroad crossings.

Local bills granting whistleblower protection to Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission employees and exempting certain nonprofits from WSSC development charges also await O'Malley's signature.

A bill to ban steel-jaw leg-hold or body-gripping traps in Montgomery County cleared the House but died in a Senate committee.

Staff Writers Douglas Tallman and Alan Brody contributed to this report.