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the cost of government continues to spiral,
and the pace of life grows more rapid.
We, therefore, respectfully urge the Con-
vention to retain the Board of Public
Works — increasing its membership to five
and recommending to the General Assem-
bly that its duties be streamlined.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the minority spokesman for pur-
poses of clarification?
Delegate Raley.
DELEGATE RALEY: Mr. Chairman
and Judge Dorsey, the Committee Chair-
man said that the Board of Public Works
.could be set up by the General Assembly,
that the article as submitted here would
not prohibit it. I have not, of course, had
the opportunity of the study and research
that all of you on the Committee have had,
but it did seem to me that section 4.18
clearly prohibits the General Assembly
from setting up the Board of Public Works
because it says "All powers and duties
shall be put into twenty principal depart-
ments." If I understand it correctly, 20
principal departments would certainly not
include the Board of Public Works. There-
fore, this section, it seems to me, would pro-
hibit the General Assembly from setting up
a Board of Public Works.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: I am inclined to
agree with you that it would. I would rather
you take it up with some members after
the Convention. However, I say to you, and
I say to this Convention, that the Board of
Public Works has always acted for the
benefit of the people of this State and
should be retained in the constitution, and
discretion should not be given to the legis-
lature.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions of the minority spokesman?
Delegate Henderson.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Judge Dor-
sey, is it not true that all of the powers
enjoyed by the Board of Public Works at
the present time are legislative rather than
constitutional in origin?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: That is true
and so far as the minority is concerned, we
are perfectly willing that the legislature
prescribe their duties. However, the compo-
sition of the Board of Public Works is
described in the Constitution in Maryland
and the legislature is given leeway to pre-
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scribe its duties. All we ask is that it be
retained in the constitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Henderson.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Why is it
necessary to retain it in the constitution
if all of the powers it now exercises are
legislative in origin as you have just said?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: Suppose the
legislature decides to abolish it. If it is not
written in the constitution, what is to stop
the legislature from abolishing it?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Henderson.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Are you
asking me the question? I would say in an-
swer to your question, if all its powers are
legislative the legislature could abolish
those powers and withdraw them tomorrow.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: As long as the
Board of Public Works remains in the con-
stitution there will never be a legislature
in history that will have the nerve to take
away its duties. But take it out of the con-
stitution, and the legislature might not
hesitate to do so. Does that answer your
question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions?
(There was no response.)
If there are no further questions, we
could proceed to a consideration in accord-
ance with the debate schedule.
Under the debate schedule Delegate Dor-
sey has twenty minutes of controlled time
and Delegate Morgan twenty minutes of
controlled time and there is thirty minutes
of uncontrolled but limited time.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: At this time I
would like to allot three minutes to Dele-
gate Bushong.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bushong.
DELEGATE BUSHONG: I was home in
a county of a little over 100,000 people this
weekend and I talked to many of the
people about the proposition of the Board
of Public Works, the attorney general, the
comptroller and the rights of the governor
which will exist in the State of Maryland
regardless of what we do here.
It was almost unanimous that they do
not understand why this constitution wants
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