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all right, but we think, also, that this re-
quires the utmost care on their part so
that when it comes back, the executive de-
partment area and the budget area will
mesh, concerning the presentation of the
budget by the governor after his election
for a first term.
Now, the budget has certain very care-
ful, rigid restrictions and requirements.
We recommend in our very first section
the change of one word, but in this par-
ticular instance, I do not think it will
provoke the comment that we have had with
respect to that word heretofore.
We are asking that the word "shall" be
substituted for the word "may" in the re-
quirement that the General Assembly shall
not appropriate any money out of the
treasury except by a budget bill for a
supplementary appropriation bill. This ties
it clown. I think the word "may" really has
the same meaning as "shall".
Now, we come to the budget. We provide
here that on the third Wednesday in Janu-
ary, the governor shall submit the budget.
If he is a newly elected governor, then
not later than twelve days after the Gen-
eral Assembly convenes unless that time
is extended by the General Assembly.
Now he submits his budget and he has
got an advantage over the governors in the
years past. He only has to submit a budget
for one year under our present system
which has been in effect now for the last
ten or fifteen years.
The budget shows the estimated surplus
or deficit of revenues at the end of the
preceding year. Then it contains for the
fiscal year an estimate of revenues, a com-
plete plan of proposed expenditures by
program, including all appropriations re-
quired by the constitution or by law, and
any additional information that is required
by law, all in such form and detail as the
governor shall determine.
Then the total shall be limited to the
funds available as shown in the budget.
Now, you will find here that we have
added the word "program", because, as rec-
ommended by the Sobeloff Commission
many years ago and as recommended by
all who are knowledgeable in this field, this
line by line determination while it may
serve a useful purpose is not the way to
i>%o over a billion dollar budget.
It ought to be by program, so that you
can see really what the State is aiming
for, what it is striving to do, and how
much money it is willing to appropriate.
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Then you can compare this if you will on
a line by line basis with what has hereto-
fore been done.
Now, there are certain things that the
governor must do and each of these has a
fundamental reason for existence. The esti-
mate of appropriations for the legislative
branch, which is certified by the presiding
officer of each branch, and for the judicial
branch, certified by the chief judge, shall
be transmitted to the governor in such
form and at such time as he shall direct
to the extent that the appropriations for
the legislative and judicial branches and
for state support of public school systems
are required by law; the estimates therefor
shall be included in the budget without
revision.
What we are saying here is simply this.
These mandatory provisions fall into three
classes. First they relate to the legislative
branch, secondly to the judicial branch,
and third for state support of our school
system.
But I hope you will understand that this
is not an open end. It is an appropriation
only to the extent required by law. These
appropriations are in the budget, I repeat,
only to the extent required by law. If the
legislature wants to change the law, it may
do so. That law goes into effect the follow-
ing June and then for the next budget that
law will be carried out.
Now, we know from the moment we met
here that we separated the legislative and
the judicial branches from the executive
branch. But in the budget, as you know,
the power of the purse is really the ulti-
mate power within the State. You could
not give the governor the opportunity, if
he so chose and none ever has in this State,
to obliterate the judiciary or to downgrade
the legislative by simply taking all of their
funds away from them.
This cannot be done in Maryland. What-
ever the law says, it says the salary of the
legislature shall be whatever the law says
shall be the requirements for the mainte-
nance of the legislative branch; whatever
the law says, shall be the judicial salary,
whatever the law says the maintenance of
the judicial system shall require; to that
extent as required by law, the governor
must insert those provisions in the budget.
He does not have any opportunity on his
part to reduce them. He cannot. The reason
he cannot is because he could simply take
complete power by reducing them to what-
ever he chose to, even as low as one dollar,
and we would have no legislative branch
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