North county lawmakers, like those across the state, spent this year's legislative session grappling with what all said was the tightest budget they had ever seen.

"The last time it was this difficult was in the early '90s," said Del. Ted Sophocleus, D-Linthicum. "But that wasn't as severe as this. The whole country was in a slowdown, but this is a global problem."

A member of the House Appropriations Committee, he said he spent night after night pouring over figures, trying to figure out what to cut and what to salvage. Lawmakers ended up slashing $825 million from the General Fund budget, dropping it to $13.8...