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The Chair was in error a moment ago.
There is one other amendment I think.
Delegate Mentzer, do you still desire to
offer your Amendment D to section G. 02?
DELEGATE MENTZER: Yes, I desire,
but I hope not tonight.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any other
— the plea in the voice means the Chair
cannot possibly push on. Are there any
other amendments to section 6.01? We will
carry over.
Delegate Mentzer.
DELEGATE MENTZER: This does not
seem to be my night but I prefer to finish
it. It shouldn't take that long, I do not
think.
THE CHAIRMAN: Arc there any
amendments to section 6.01?
If not, the pages will distribute, with the
thanks of the Chairman to Delegate Ment-
zer, Amendment D.
This will be Amendment No. 4.
The Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 4
to Committee Recommendation SF-4 by
Delegate Mentzer: On page 2 strike out all
of section 6.02, Gift or Loan of Assets or
Credit, and insert in lieu thereof the fol-
lowing:
"Section 6.02 Gift or Loan of Credit.
The credit of the State shall not in any
manner or for any purpose be given or
loaned to or in aid of any individual, pri-
vate association or private corporation."
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
submitted by Delegate Mentzer.
Is there a second?
(Whereupon, the motion was seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment hav-
ing been seconded, the Chair recognizes
Delegate Mentzer.
DELEGATE MENTZER: Those of you
who are familiar with the present Consti-
tution will undoubtedly recognize that this
phrase occurs in nearly similar form in the
present Constitution, section 34 of Article
III. In the draft Commission report they
state that the Commission is fully mindful
of the very strong arguments which can be
made for a complete prohibition of a gift
or loan of credit or a loan of assets.
We did not hear these strong arguments
in the Taxation Committee as far as I re-
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member and I introduced this really to get
further clarification along the way. I do not
feel that the public purpose as Judge Sher-
bow pointed out, himself, can be circum-
scribed with any precise meaning at all. A
research paper prepared for the Convention
said the phrase "public purpose'' in Mary-
land as well as in other states has no
exact definition in law. Cases in Maryland
and elsewhere have used this phrase in a
flexible manner. That flexibility of the
phrase would allow changing social and
economic conditions to be met but it has an
aspect of vagueness and possibility of fre-
quent judicial review. It is one of those
litigation breeder words. I think in Mary-
land we have seen that giving the assets
of the State can be done in the most flexi-
ble manner as we have done it in the past,
no doubt will continue to do it in the future,
but I do not like the idea of giving other
than assets to groups and which could be
private groups, organizations or individuals
and have it serve only a public purpose. A
gift of assets is a one-time-only thing, but
the gift of credit or loan of credit con-
tinues into the future and I think this is
not a step forward for Maryland.
THE CPIAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Mr. Chair-
man, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will
vote against this amendment. In the years
past, Maryland has aided schools. We have
helped Johns Hopkins. We have helped hos-
pitals. We have helped the Provident Hos-
pital. We have helped institutions of this
nature. We have been very careful in when
and how it was done.
This would be a tremendous step back-
ward because in the years to come there
will be g-igantic federal matching funds and
projects. What will we do? Will we say the
only way Maryland can ever act is to have
only help for those which are State insti-
tutions? What a step backward. The Court
of Appeals in the Horace Mann case said,
they made it perfectly clear, I have it
there in mimeographed form here it is in
printed form. Court of Appeals speaking-,
we have heard of no Maryland case deny-
ing right of the Legislature to make grants
to private institutions provided money is
appropriated and expended for a public
use, here is a long list of cases where this
was done.
I urge you not to tie us down forever,
put us back a hundred years, and prevent
the State from really and truly moving
into the next century. I ask you to vote no.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any fur-
ther —
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