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presence in the rear gallery of 15 members
of the Covenant Guild, Inc. of Baltimore
and their President, Mrs. Melvin M. Katz.
I am delighted that they took the interest
to come down and observe our delibera-
tions here. Thank you ever so much for
coming. (Applause.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: I would just
like to add to what my good friend Dele-
gate Willis has said about Miss Mary
Risteau. I had the pleasure of serving in
the General Assembly with her many years
ago, and I know no one in public life in
Maryland who has contributed more to the
good government of this State than Miss
Mary Risteau. (Applause.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen.
DELEGATE PULLEN: Mr. Chairman,
I should like especially to pay tribute to
Miss Risteau, too. One million children in
the State of Maryland owe a great deal of
respect to this educator. Truly her life
has been a gracious benediction upon them.
(Applause.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Mr. Chairman,
I should like to ask a few clarifying ques-
tions of Delegate Case.
Delegate Case, with reference to section
8.02, is it your understanding of the word-
ing in section 8.02 that that will mandate
the legislature to set up more than one
class of assessable property?
DELEGATE CASE: That is correct.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Would it not be
clearer if the word "may" were changed
to "shall"?
THE CHAIRMAN: You mean in line 6?
DELEGATE SYBERT: Yes, so as ac-
tually to mandate the legislature to set up
more than one classification.
DELEGATE CASE: Well, the word
"may" probably was suggested by the word
surgeons as relating to the word property,
taxpayers, and events, but if it makes it
clearer to you, I would have no objection
to it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Can we under-
stand that the word "may" in line 6 is
being changed or has been changed to
"shall"?
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DELEGATE CASE: If Delegate Penni-
man and the others in the Style Committee
feel it is necessary to make this clear, I
would not have any objection to that.
THE CHAIRMAN: Will Delegate
Penniman please note that section 8.02 is
intended to impose upon the General As-
sembly the obligation to make classifica-
tions of property for the purposes therein
set forth, and the Committee should deter-
mine whether the word "may" in line 6
should remain "may" or whether it should
be "shall."
DELEGATE SYBERT: With the section
being understood in that manner, it would
mandate the legislature to make more than
one classification.
DELEGATE CASE : That is correct.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Now, getting
down to the last three lines in section 8.02,
that wording would — the whole section
would permit the legislature to delegate
to the State Department of Taxes and As-
sessments the job of setting up these clas-
sifications and establishing the rules which
will govern in those classifications. That
is correct, is it not?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case.
DELEGATE CASE: Subject to criteria,
Delegate Sybert, which must in every tax
statute be stated. You cannot have a law
which merely says in effect the General
Assembly hereby delegates to the State De-
partment of Taxation the right to do
things. There has to be criteria in which
the administrative agency is to act. After
these criteria are established, then the ad-
ministrative agency can, as I said earlier,
fill in the details.
DELEGATE SYBERT: We understand
that there are standards governing such
rules and regulations must be provided in
the enabling statute. Would this not permit
a situation like this to arise: We all know
that developers of land must look ahead for
properties to develop after the property or
development on which they are working
has been fully developed and maybe sold
off.
Sometimes developers must look years
ahead in purchasing property to develop
so that they can stay in business. Could a
situation not arise in which a developer in
order to keep himself in business buys a
piece of property that he may not want to
develop for two or three or five or 20 years,
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