Unlike some years when Maryland lawmakers juggle multiple generation-defining policies at once, the 2025 session in Annapolis was relatively light on policy debates that captured the public’s attention.

A $3.3 billion budget deficit and its ripple effects took up most of the oxygen in the 90-day lawmaking sprint that ended in April. But hundreds of other policies were debated in the State House — with special interests collectively spending $58 million to make changes along the way.

From the energy companies lobbying for changes that impact ratepayers to the Baltimore Orioles getting permission to hold regular raffles at games, here are some of the ways lobbyists looked to wield their influence in 2025, according to The Baltimore Sun’s analysis of thousands of new lobbying disclosures, public records and interviews.

Maglev momentum: One company that routinely ranks among the highest-spending lobbying entities in Maryland got a rare high-profile win right after the session.

Northeast Maglev has long been trying to break ground on a 311-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train that would stretch through the state.

Plans have stalled for more than a decade but got a boost in April when Gov. Wes Moore visited the company’s Japanese partner outside of Tokyo — where the technology originated — for the initial stop on his first major international trip as governor. Moore declared his support for the project after taking a test ride and being amazed as he watched it from the outside.At the same time, Northeast Maglev spent $439,000 on lobbying Maryland officials, a 25% increase from the year before but less than the prior two years.

That included $340,000 in compensation to longtime Annapolis lobbyist Gerry Evans — marking the fifth time in the last six years when its payment to Evans was the single-largest payment from a company to a lobbyist in the state (in the one other year, Evans was paid $360,000 in two payments), The Sun found. Evans’ nearly $2.6 million in total compensation was the second-most among lobbyists from late 2024 through April.

“We think he was cautiously encouraging the project before, but now I think he sees what it could do to the area, not just to the Baltimore-Washington region but the entire (Washington to New York) corridor,” Evans said of Moore’s reaction to the trip.

Northeast Maglev’s spending this year also included $12,300 to host three key groups of legislators at two Annapolis steakhouses: the House Environment and Transportation Committee at Lewne’s Steakhouse in January, the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee at the same location in February and the Prince George’s County Delegation — whose constituents have been the fiercest opponents to the maglev idea — at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in March, according to the disclosures. Evans said the company has hosted the dinners for years to inform lawmakers about the project’s progress.

Like other years, bills introduced that would prohibit taxpayer money from going to the construction were also defeated.

Pausing the EV mandate: Another jump in lobbying activity came from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing car manufacturers that spent more than six times as much as the year before.

The group’s $196,000 in expenses were mostly in the form of communications efforts. Facebook ads called for stopping the “gas car ban” and electric vehicle mandates — a reference to Maryland’s law that required 43% of new vehicles sold in Maryland to be electric starting with the 2027 model year.

Progress on that goal has been slower than anticipated. A bill from Del. Dana Stein, a Baltimore County Democrat, that would have delayed the penalties associated with not complying with that law failed during the session.

But car manufacturers and dealers got their desired outcome. Moore issued an executive order on April 4 that had the same effect, acknowledging both industry concerns and blaming the Trump administration for not supporting the shift to electric vehicles.

“Hats off to Gov. Moore for standing up for Maryland drivers and protecting vehicle choice with this executive order delaying Maryland’s looming and unachievable gas vehicle ban,” Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella said in a statement after months of running the digital ads featuring Moore’s image.

The energy puzzle: Movement on a handful of major energy bills both benefited and worked against the interests of corporations like Constellation Energy, Baltimore Gas and Electric, Pepco and Washington Gas — some of the largest lobbying entities, who collectively increased their spending by nearly $350,000 this year.

Constellation — whose $793,000 in spending was the most of any company — benefited from a shift in state policy that now supports keeping its Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant online for the long run and exploring options for new nuclear reactors.

But amendments that Constellation proposed to the structure of how the state encourages new nuclear — through procurement methods that would have benefited the company — were not adopted. That left in place a structure that’s likely insufficient for Constellation to effectively manage the substantial costs of pursuing a new reactor, said Mason Emnet, the company’s senior vice president for government relations.

Other amendments that Constellation pushed for in the high-profile Next Generation Energy Act were adopted. That included not going through with a proposed ban on the direct supply of electricity from a generator, like Constellation, to a commercial customer, like a data center. The final law allows the practice but permits the Public Service Commission to apply fees if it determines that such an arrangement would shift costs to other electric customers.

Another top goal for Constellation entering the session didn’t even get off the ground.

Emnet said the company was seeking changes to reverse the impacts of the 2024 Maryland law that restricted the retail energy market. Proponents at the time said the reforms were essential in eliminating marketing tactics that preyed on customers.

With so many other energy policies on the table this year, though, Constellation was unable to even get a bill introduced that would have helped save a part of its business, Emnet said.

Other issues: A few other areas where lobbyists looked to make an impact — and sometimes saw their desired outcome — included:

Baltimore Orioles: After increasing their lobbying spending fivefold — to $180,000 — during a period in late 2023 and early 2024 when they finally secured a new long-term lease to stay at the state-owned Camden Yards, the Orioles slightly scaled back their spending this year to $165,000. Lisa Jones, the team’s top-paid lobbyist, disclosed that her work included the ongoing redevelopment around the sports complex and one piece of legislation: A new law that will allow the Orioles to conduct 50 /50 raffles (where half of the funds go to charity) during every home game. The team was one of only two in Major League Baseball that did not have the raffles because of a state law that limited them to 12 per year.

Child Victims Act: An update to the landmark 2023 law giving victims of child sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers was heavily lobbied by victims’ rights groups as well as lawyers and organizations that stood to either lose or gain from a new cap on settlement payments. Bailey Glasser, one of two-dozen law firms that are representing more than 4,500 people who say they were abused by staff members of Maryland detention centers, spent $157,500 on lobbying — the first time the firm had spent anything in Maryland and immediately putting it in the upper-tier of lobbying groups in the state, The Sun found.

Prescription drug payment limits: Expanding a state board that aims to make medications more affordable was a win for advocates like the Maryland Health Care for All Coalition, despite some increases in lobbying by pharmaceutical companies and groups, The Sun found. The Maryland Pharmacists Association increased its lobbying spending from $14,400 to $24,000 as it opposed the bill. Individual pharmaceutical companies stepped up, too. AbbVie, which produces Skyrizi, started spending on Maryland lobbying last year and saw one of the sharpest increases — from $10,000 to $82,000 — out of any company in the latest six-month period.

Follow The Baltimore Sun this week for more on how lobbyists influenced state government in 2025. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Janesch at sjanesch@baltsun.com, 443-790-1734 and on X as @samjanesch.