SIGNING OF HOUSE BILL 28 117

portant task. The election of delegates on June 13th is to be non-
partisan in nature. Party politics have played no significant role in
the development of the convention to this point. It is my fervent hope
that the citizens' committees now being formed in Baltimore City and
the various counties will assure that this high level of statesmanship
continues.

Governor Tawes, who honors us with his presence today, set the
proper tone for this convention on June 16, 1965, when he named an
outstanding nonpartisan committee of citizens to study the need for
the convention and to prepare necessary legislation. One of the most
outstanding members of the Maryland bar, Commission Chairman
H. Vernon Eney, and the other very capable members of the Com-
mission are here today. They have given unstintingly of their time
and their talents and I thank them on behalf of the people of Mary-
land.

It is regretted by all of us that former Governor William Preston
Lane, Jr., who was honorary chairman of the commission and who
was so vitally interested in this project, could not have lived to see it
accomplished.

The bipartisan or nonpartisan nature of this task came to full frui-
tion in the Maryland General Assembly session now drawing to a
close. The most gratifying aspect of my early days in office has been
the outstanding cooperation I have received from the leadership of
the Legislature and the manner in which Delegates and Senators of
both parties have responded to the wishes and needs of the people
without resort to partisan politics.

How fitting it is that this particular bill would be the first major
piece of legislation from this constructive, bipartisan session of the
General Assembly!

It is interesting to note that we are now on a very close time table
to that of our predecessors of 100 years ago. The last Constitutional
Convention enabling act in Maryland was passed on January 10, 1867.
The delegates were elected on April 10, 1867, and they convened on
May 8, 1867.

Let us resolve, a century later, to replace their work with a viable
instrument of government that will be flexible enough to serve future
generations as well as our own, without the need for the 215 amend-
ments that brought about the overwhelming public demand for this
revision.