For the first time in state history, the House of Delegates picked African American women for its top two posts, unanimously electing House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones to lead her first session and Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Wicomico) as speaker pro tem, the role Jones held until Michael E. Busch — Maryland’s longest-serving House speaker — died in April.

“It’s a new year, a new decade and our House members look more like our state than ever before,” Jones (D-Baltimore County) said as the chamber burst into applause.

In the Senate, Baltimore City Democrat Bill Ferguson, 36, was unanimously elected to take over from the longest-serving state Senate president in U.S. history: Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., who stepped down amid a battle with cancer to become a rank-and-file member.

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The Senate unanimously changed its rules Wednesday to elevate Miller as the chamber’s first “senate president emeritus,” a title one senator said Miller would hold “now and forever.”

It also elected Sen. Melony G. Griffith (D-Prince George’s) as president pro tem, making her the first black woman to have the role. Black women now hold three of the four most senior posts in the General Assembly, another historic first.

Jones and Ferguson, whose chambers hold veto-proof Democratic majorities, promised to advance a sweeping education overhaul designed to end racial disparities in public schools and elevate achievement for students statewide.

“We have an opportunity to ask, ‘What are the values that drive us?’ ” Ferguson said. “Who will we be?’ ”

Vigorous debate is expected over how to pay the eventual $4 billion annual price tag of the overhaul, with Republican lawmakers and Gov. Larry Hogan (R) — whose popularity remains at record-high levels — adamantly opposed to any tax increases.

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The shadow of Maryland’s previous legislative leaders loomed large in both chambers on Wednesday.

Jones acknowledged Busch’s widow and daughters, who were seated on the House floor, then choked up as she described his legacy.

“I worked with Mike for 16 years, and together with many of you we built the foundation on which we stand,” Jones said. “While we embrace change, it’s important to continue a legacy that puts the people first. . . . This is a new day, but our goals remain the same.”

As Sen. Delores Kelley (D-Baltimore County) spoke of Miller, she called him “the man of the hour. He’s the man of the century.”

Miller, 77, arrived in the Senate chamber before anyone else, went straight to his new seat near the back of the room and looked up at the rostrum he was about to climb for the last time as president.

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“This place has a very special meaning to me,” Miller said later. “You always have change in a progressive society. We’re going to make it as happy as we possibly can.”

In his last official act as president, he swore in Charles E. Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County) as the newest state senator, with Ferguson just steps away.

“Have any of you all seen ‘The Two Popes’ yet? It’s on Netflix,” Miller said as the crowd laughed. “We’ve got the old pope and the new pope, you know? The old pope is not supposed to say anything, but, anyway, that’s me.”

As he nominated Ferguson, Miller rattled off directives on the legislation the chamber should pass this year. Ferguson joked that if anyone thought Miller could nominate a successor without scripting the future of the session, “you must not have met him.”

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In the House, Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery) said that in the past it would have been “unfathomable” for many women or delegates of color to even get elected, let alone lead a chamber.

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“Today we are living history,” she said.

Republicans in both chambers supported the new leaders, and they pledged to fight against any proposed tax increases or unpalatable initiatives.

“It’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be fun,” said Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Harford). “It’s going to be tough.”

Aside from the profound changes at the rostrums, the first-day festivities were much like those in years past. Lawmakers took part with babies sitting on their laps and family members filling the seats in the gallery.

House Minority Leader Nicholaus Kipke (R-Anne Arundel) introduced his baby, Margaret, and held a diaper bag aloft, noting that Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery), who had her infant daughter A.J. in tow, owns the same one.

The day began with the traditional early morning public interviews of Maryland’s top political leaders by radio host Marc Steiner at the Calvert House in Annapolis.

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Ferguson and Jones focused on their education overhaul, while Hogan criticized their failure to present a detailed plan to pay for it.

“There is no formula for where the money comes from,” Hogan said. “It’s just all make-believe at this point.”

He also emphasized the need to hold public officials accountable for misconduct. On Tuesday, Hogan announced proposed legislation to toughen state ethics laws and said the legislative session should be considered the “accountability session.”

Six current or former Democratic lawmakers have been charged with or convicted of corruption in recent years, including two at the end of 2019. Maryland’s Republican Party is trying to raise money off some of those scandals.

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Hogan faced questions from Steiner about his own ethics, following a report in the Washington Monthly that questioned whether the governor has adequately separated himself from the real estate development company he owns since taking office in 2015.

The report quoted government ethics watchdogs and Democrats concerned that the governor has not put his company in a blind trust or recused himself from transportation decisions that could affect his business interests.

Hogan turned over control of the company to his brother when he became governor. He called the report “completely false” and said it was orchestrated by Democratic operatives.

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“We were completely transparent,” the governor said, emphasizing that he is complying with all applicable laws and following a process approved by the state Ethics Commission.

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Jones and her top aides said the House Appropriations Committee will take a closer look at state transportation projects to ensure transparency.

Ferguson said lawmakers must act on the education proposals. With only 1 in 4 Maryland high school graduates earning a college degree or an industry-recognized certificate within 10 years of finishing high school, he said, the state over the next decade faces not just an “education problem — we have an economic crisis on our hands.”

“The cost of doing nothing is something the state of Maryland cannot bear.”

The state has identified funding for the first three years of the plan, known as the Kirwan recommendations, that do not involve raising property or income taxes, Ferguson said. But, he added, a time will come when the state will need to look at its tax structure and consider taxing new industries, such as online music sales.

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“We cannot rely on a 19th-century tax system,” he said.

Jones said the General Assembly will probably pass legislation to put sports betting on the ballot to help generate money for schools, and Ferguson suggested that some tobacco taxes could be directed toward education as well.

Other top agenda items for Democrats this session include: a ban on flavored vaping, background checks on private sales of rifles, a settlement for historically black colleges and universities, the future of horse racing, and health care.