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bureau head and approval by the state
auditor.
Comptroller Goldstein left with the Com-
mittee the minutes of the Board of Public
Works for five months, and I believe those
minutes add up to, in toto, some 270 pages,
which is better than fifty a month.
Furthermore, section 4.18 of the execu-
tive article proposed by the Committee in
Committee Recommendation EB-1 will re-
move the need for many of the Board's ac-
tivities.
Over the years the Board has become re-
sponsible for the administration and super-
vision of more than 30 activities not other-
wise allocated to agencies in the executive
branch, according to the Curlett Commis-
sion Report.
Since section 4.18 of the proposed ex-
ecutive article mandates that these activi-
ties be allocated within principal depart-
ments of the executive branch, a depart-
ment head will be available to act as ad-
ministrator and supervisor.
Although the Committee feels that many
of the Board of Public Works' functions
should be exercised at a lower administra-
tive level, it fully recognizes that many of
the Board's decisions are of vital impor-
tance to the State and should be made in
the open at public meetings where minutes
are kept.
The Committee wishes to emphasize that
the General Assembly will still have the
authority to provide that each decision of
the Board of Public Works must be made
in public, the minutes must be kept and
must be made only with the approval of
the Board of Public Works or some other
board that the General Assembly estab-
lishes.
The Committee acknowledges that under
the proposed executive article the existing
constitutional checks within the executive
branch have been eliminated. But it has
left undisturbed — and this Convention is
indeed strengthening — the checks between
the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches. By far the best check within any
branch is the requirement that can be im-
posed by the General Assembly that all its
decisions be openly worked out in public.
In the area of fiscal management the
General Assembly will, through the post-
audit authority the Convention specifically
provided for, be able to provide an ex-
tremely effective check. Moreover, the Gen-
eral Assembly could assign by law to the
Board of Public Works or some other board
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major decisions relating to budget execu-
tion, and the creation of state debt. It
would require that this decision be made at
public meetings where hearings are held
and minutes are kept.
Under the Committee Recommendation
EB-1, any such board would be directly re-
sponsible to the governor.
For the reasons stated, the Committee on
the Executive Branch respectfully submits
that the Board of Public Works should not
be constitutionally created.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the Committee Chairman for pur-
poses of clarification?
(There was no response.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Apparently there
are no questions.
The Chair calls on Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: Ladies and gen-
tlemen of the Convention: At the outset
let me express the same sentiment that my
good friend Gerald Morgan has expressed
for the Committee on the Executive Branch.
I have never served with a finer group than
the twenty members who composed this
Committee. And let me say that I have
never known a finer Chairman than Dele-
gate Gerald Morgan. He is a real soldier
under fire. During the heat of debate he
never changed his mind. While I always
voted with the minority — I never had the
pleasure of voting with the majority — I
have the highest admiration for the men
and women who composed this Committee.
Now, speaking for the minority, we offer
a minority report that the Board of Public
Works be retained in the constitution of
Maryland. For 100 years this has been in
the constitution of Maryland, and for 100
years it has been a check on the executive
of this State.
We propose that the Board of Public
Works be retained as it is now composed,
with an elected comptroller, and a treasurer
elected by the General Assembly.
We are perfectly willing that this be
amended so as to give the governor com-
plete control by including in the Board of
Public Works a budget director appointed
by the governor, and a superintendent of
public works appointed by the governor,
which would always give the governor a
majority on the Board. But we feel that
for the protection of the people of Mary-
land this Board should be retained in the
constitution. A Board of Public Works per-
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