As the Maryland General Assembly begins its annual 90-day session in Annapolis Wednesday, the most prominent topics are likely to include a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, rising energy costs and the incoming Trump Administration.

“This upcoming legislative session is not going to be easy,” House Speaker Adrienne Jones warned in a recent interview. “We've got tough budget and revenue decisions to make, and despite these fiscal realities, we do plan to protect the investments we made in education, health care and transportation.”

Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson have said closing a roughly $2.5 billion deficit will require both new taxes and cuts to existing programs.

But Republican lawmakers are not on board with that plan.

“The minority party is adamantly opposed to raising taxes,” said House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy. “We're adamantly opposed to raising fees.”

According to the legislature’s nonpartisan analysts, school funding formulas, Medicaid and the state’s child care scholarship are major drivers of the deficit. Republican leaders have named all of these as potential areas that could see cutbacks, but Democratic leaders have vowed to protect these programs.

“We are not going to throw 50,000 people off of Medicaid,” Senate President Bill Ferguson told reporters last month. “We are not going to throw 20,000 families out on the street to not have childcare subsidy credits, and so we have to find a way to cut from other places.”

Meanwhile, Jones said there are other factors at play, coming from about 30 miles west of Annapolis.

“Three words: incoming Trump administration,” she said. “We're only beginning to understand what this new Trump presidency will mean for our fiscal outlook, but we're going to fight to hold the federal government to the financial commitment they made to Maryland.”

She said if the federal government cuts funding for programs such as public pre-kindergarten or environmental initiatives, Maryland lawmakers may try to backfill those dollars so the programs don’t feel the pinch.

Concerns about the new Trump administration will also lead to legislation related to abortion rights, said House Majority Leader David Moon.

“A number of colleagues are generally looking at legislation to lock down different state databases and different health care databases so that they can't be used to penalize our residents, should the feds or other states try to use Maryland data to punish doctors or patients,” Moon said.

Likewise, he said he anticipates bills related to immigration enforcement in light of changes the incoming Trump Administration is expected to make.

Rising energy costs are expected to be another major topic during the next 90 days.

“I think you're going to see a very robust discussion about energy this session, with lots of proposals for ways to both reduce costs and increase supply, and particularly to increase in-state production of energy,” Moon said.

He expects to see Democrats looking to boost production of wind, solar and maybe nuclear energy.

However, Pippy said Republicans will push a different approach.

“The minority caucus is not opposed to green energy in theory, but we cannot close down power plants without an alternative source, and that's exactly what we've done,” Pippy said.

He highlighted the coal-powered Brandon Shores Generating Station in Anne Arundel County. The plant’s owner, Talen Energy, announced plans to close the plant this year, following a series of state regulatory changes and legal challenges.

Pippy declined to offer specific policy proposals. Republican leaders in both chambers plan to reveal their legislative package Wednesday morning, before the General Assembly convenes at noon.

Those will just be some of the several hundred — or more — bills lawmakers consider this year.

Jones highlighted topics such as health care and housing shortages, and she said she plans to introduce legislation “that will focus on our social equity laws we need to support communities that have been historically and disproportionately affected by certain policies.” She said she wasn’t ready to reveal the details of that legislation.

The 90-day session formally opens at noon Wednesday and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7.