Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a number of bills into law Tuesday including legislation to protect college athletes, repeal the state song, and allow for carryout alcohol.

The bill signing comes more than a month after the end of the state’s legislative session which was jam-packed with a flurry of legislation to implement police reform measures, stop the spread of COVID-19, and reduce the fiscal impact of the pandemic on the state.

One bill, which has taken nearly three years to pass, is the Jordan McNair Act. The law will provide health and safety measures for college athletes. McNair was a 19-year-old University of Maryland football player who died from heatstroke after staff failed to treat his symptoms or seek help. More than an hour passed from when McNair first started showing symptoms to when a trainer called 911.

The law, which take effect July 2023, requires college sports teams to adopt guidelines to prevent, assess, and treat sports-related conditions like brain injury, heat illness, sickle cell, asthma, and rhabdomyolysis (a condition which leads to a breakdown in muscle tissue and the release of proteins which can damage kidney function). The bill also requires the state’s university system to implement return-to-play protocol for athletes that experience serious sports injury or illness.

Other provisions of the bill allow student athletes to enter into sponsorship deals with athletic brands — making Maryland one of the first states to allow students to be paid for endorsements. The bill allows a company to use an athlete’s name, image or likeness so long as they’re not engaged in official team activities and they disclose the contract to the athletic program.

In addition to the numerous police reform measures that passed into law after the legislature overrode Hogan’s vetoes, there were also calls to repeal the state’s pro-Confederate song, considered offensive by many. It is based on the poem written in 1861 by James Ryder Randall to support the Confederate efforts to fight Union militias. However, the repeal of the song means lawmakers will have to approve a new state song in the coming legislative sessions.

After years of no movement on the state song repeal, House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), the first Black female in the position, made the bill a priority this legislative session. Jones was also pivotal in removing a plaque from the statehouse honoring Civil War Union and Confederate soldiers, settling a $577 million, long-standing lawsuit between the state and its historically Black colleges and universities, and calling for the removal of the last standing Confederate statue in the state.

The state’s recovery following the pandemic was also top of mind for legislators. They voted unanimously to legalize the sale of alcohol for carryout at bars and restaurants.

Early in the pandemic, Hogan signed an emergency order that allowed the sale of alcohol for carryout during the health emergency. This measure has helped some restaurants survive the pandemic — though at least 40% of the state’s restaurants permanently closed. The law takes effect July 1.

The pandemic also drove concern for climate change and the need for environmental regulation. The legislature passed a bill that would require 1% of the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard to come from geothermal energy produced in the state, by 2028. Geothermal energy relies on the temperature of the earth to heat and cool buildings and provides one-sixth the carbon dioxide than a natural-gas power plant emits, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The bill is expected to double the size of the current geothermal market and drastically reduce carbon emissions, Ian Rinehart, an energy policy consultant with The Ad Hoc Group, told Maryland Matters. The law goes into effect Oct.1.

The other focus for lawmakers coming out of the pandemic was changes to health care expenses, especially reducing the cost of prescription drugs. A bill that will take effect Oct. 1 will require pharmacists to inform consumers of the equivalent brand name of their prescribed drugs that are the lowest cost alternative. The bill also requires that pharmacies report that they’ve notified the patient of their options in writing or orally.

Another health bill — to take effect July 2022 — will create an inspector general for the state’s department of health to investigate waste, fraud and abuse within the agency. The inspector general will be appointed by the governor, attorney general, and state treasurer for a term of five years and will serve until a successor is appointed.

Lawmakers passed 917 bills this legislative session. At least 90 have been signed into law or took effect without Hogan’s signature. The governor is expected to take action on the remainder of the bills by the end of next week.