AMERICAN LEGION BOYS' STATE 305

We would not be amiss to compare the government of Maryland to
a huge corporation. The Governor is the head of this corporation, you
the citizens are its stockholders, and the General Assembly — now
meeting in special session at the State House — could be considered
its Board of Directors.

This corporation, like any business, produces both goods and serv-
ices. State roads and highways, the University of Maryland and State
colleges, forest and parklands, hospitals for the physically or emotion-
ally ill are just some of the facilities which are produced by the State
government.

State programs and services are as extensive as the demands of its
citizens, who are not only the primary stockholders but the primary
consumers of the products developed by the State corporation.

In order to administer and provide these services, over 240 various
departments, agencies, commissions and bureaus have come into being.
The size and operating costs of each unit are directly related to its
functions and responsibilities. This ranges from the tremendous State
Roads Commission which in 1968 will employ over 4, 200 persons and
spend almost f 174 million, to the State Board of Osteopathic Examin-
ers whose services will cost the State only f 150 next fiscal year. How-
ever, in the last analysis, the Governor is responsible for the adequate
and efficient performance of every one of these 240 units which com-
prise the executive branch of the Maryland State government.

The budget is the major instrument to finance all State services
and to provide for the orderly expansion and development of pro-
grams and facilities. This year the State budget exceeded one billion
dollars.

The Governor is responsible to present the budget for the next en-
suing fiscal year during the first ten days of the annual General As-
sembly session. The General Assembly must approve the budget in
order for it to take effect, in much the same manner that the Legis-
lature enacts all statutes. The General Assembly, may, in fact, reduce
or delete budget recommendations, but it cannot increase or add any
appropriations to the budget bill.

The Governor can by increasing the budget for a certain depart-
ment or agency provide the financial means to initiate or expand a
program. Conversely, by decreasing any unit's budget recommendation
the Governor can effectively eliminate obsolete programs, curtail the
duplication of services or combat unnecessary expenditures. The State