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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: No, and let
me say this: I think it is important to look
at the Maryland Constitution to determine
what "special legislation" is. It is neither
a public general law or a public local law.
Special legislation has to do with acts which
are passed, usually for the relief of some
individual. Also, under the examples given
in the 1867 Constitution of what consti-
tutes a special law in Maryland, you Avould
have the granting of divorces, the changing
of names, the creating of corps, and kindred
rather individualized acts on the part of
the State.
Now, our Committee decided that we did
not want to prohibit special laws in their
entirety because there may be occasions
when for the good of the State a special
law would be in order; but what we did
do was to say that you could not pass a
special law when there was a general law
applicable to that area or subject matter.
The General Assembly therefore is al-
lowed under 3.17a as we have submitted it
here to pass a special law.
For example, suppose some industry
wanted to come into the State of Mary-
land and the General Assembly wanted to
grant some special tax concessions as an
inducement to come in. We do not want to
prohibit the General Assembly from doing
something which might obviously be to the
best interest of the State and its economy.
DELEGATE ROSS: Under 3.17b is it
not possible under this language for laws
passed prior to the first day of July to
take effect prior to that time?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
Yes, of course, and that is also possible un-
der the present Constitution, if it is de-
clared to be an emergency law.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Ross.
DELEGATE ROSS: This does not re-
quire it to be an emergency law.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: That is
correct.
It can be done without classifying it
separately as in the past.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Ross.
DELEGATE ROSS: One last point.
I would assume that even with this lan-
guage that the provisions we agreed upon
for referendum would still permit that a
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law that took effect could still be suspended
if the 30 day requirement were met?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I presume
it would.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: You partially an-
swered the questions I intended to direct
to you about 3.17 (a) in answer to ques-
tions by Delegate Ross, but let me be more
specific, if I may, and relate 3.17a to 7.06
in the local government article.
Would the first clause of section 3.17a
the way it now reads not include with it
the proscription of 7.06 where it says the
General Assembly shall enact no public
laws and shall act only public general
laws?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I think if
you look at the facts it is clear that all you
are dealing with is the local law situation,
and if you look at the history and the
uniqueness of the Maryland practice when
it comes to public local laws, one cannot
say one way or the other with any defini-
tiveness that special laws are allowed or
disallowed under the language of 7.06.
I think the question would be an open
one, and we in the Legislative Branch
Committee did not want it to remain open.
We wanted to take a stand on it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: You indicated,
however, that you did want the legislature
to have the power in some cases to enact
a special law. May I point out to you that
it is not clear in my mind that this lan-
guage which you have, which is expressed
in the negative sense, would permit that, if
what you have just said were a correct in-
terpretation of what the law is and the
reason for your having this position. Am I
making myself clear? Do you not have to
state it positively?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Our Com-
mittee discussed that point. I think we
have to go back again to traditional Mary-
land practice. It has been expressed in the
negative in prior Maryland Constitutions.
It follows the model constitution language
as well.
The only place we differ from the model
constitution is that there it states that the
General Assembly shall pass no law when
a general law can be made applicable. We
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