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statutory. I refer the delegates to page 2
of Committee Report EB-1, where at the
bottom of the second long paragraph, it is
stated that the only constitutional func-
tion which a board still exercises is pro-
vided for in Article III, Section 34, of the
present Constitution and authorizes the
Board of Public Works to borrow money to
meet temporary deficiencies in the treas-
ury.
I submit, Mr. Chairman, that that is a
very important constitutional function
which the people have committed to the
Board of Public Works. It is true that over
the years because of the efficiency of the
Board of Public Works and the concept of
having such a check on an inept or corrupt
governor, that the legislature has com-
mitted to the Board many functions.
The statutes providing for these func-
tions were distributed to us on the Com-
mittee and possibly to every delegate and
they comprise thirty-three pages of statutes
setting forth the powers and the duties of
the Board of Public Works.
Mr. Chairman, former Governor Tawes
told us on the Committee on the Executive
Branch that Maryland already has one of
the strongest governors in the nation, so
we do not have a situation where it is
necessary to bolster a weak governor. We
have heard many times in the public press
and here today on the floor at times that
the Board of Public Works constitutes a
hobble on the ankles of the governor.
No one has pointed out any specific in-
stance where the governor has been ham-
pered in doing what the law provides as
governor. The function of the Board of
Public Works is to see to it that the law
is carried out with respect to state ex-
penditures, state purchases and things of
that nature.
Mr. Chairman, and fellow delegates, I
submit that the question here is whether
or not we are going to take a further
power away from the governor and away
from the people and do away with the state
comptroller, do away with the Board of
Public Works or put the legislature in a
position to abolish that whole. I submit
we should not.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Maurer.
DELEGATE MAURER: I rise to op-
pose the amendment. If we want the ex-
ecutive branch to be subject to the same
kind of reasonable standards which this
democratic Convention demonstrated for
the legislative and judicial branches then
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it is essential that the Board of Public
Works be constitutionalized.
When the Board of Public Works was
established in the mid-19th century it rep-
resented in part a political philosophy, in
part a response to political problems of the
day, but also in part to what was known
about management techniques at that time.
At that, the time of the Convention, 100
years ago, the typewriter and the tele-
phone were on the verge of being invented.
The average manufacturing establishment
in Maryland had seven employees. We are
all keenly aware of the scientific and in-
dustrial revolutions which have occurred
in the intervening years but we cannot
overlook the fact that the managerial revo-
lution has paralleled the other revolution
and has assisted in our national growth.
More than a knowledge of atoms and
molecules, more than scientific machinery
has made possible the efficient and vast
business enterprises which exist today and
complex projects such as space flights. It
has taken new methods of management
and the development of organizational pat-
terns which can be applied appropriately.
Now it is time for these modern managerial
techniques to be applied to our state gov-
ernment.
As an example of what happens under
the Board of Public Works, last April the
Board directed that the director of public
improvement stop paying bills over $200
without the prior approval of the Board of
Public Works.
Should you continue the Board of Pub-
lic Works in the constitution then for dec-
ades the legislature will not have the free-
dom to modernize the framework in the
Executive Branch.
THE CHAIRMAN: For what purpose
does Delegate Storm rise?
DELEGATE STORM: Would Delegate
Maurer yield to a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Would you yield?
DELEGATE MAURER: I will yield, if
I may finish two sentences.
DELEGATE MAURER: Under the pro-
posed Committee Report the legislature
will be able to organize and reorganize the
agencies and departments, and while this
is important, the crucial element of execu-
tive authority commensurate with execu-
tive responsibility will be placed beyond
the reach of ordinary law.
I urge you to support the Committee and
to vote against the amendment.
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