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under the governor is subject to this re-
quirement.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Judge, you
have stated that in section (>.04 on the third
Wednesday of January in each year (ex-
cept in the case of a newly elected governor
and then not later than 12 days after the
convening of the General Assembly into
regular session) unless such time be ex-
tended by the General Assembly, the gov-
ernor shall submit a budget for the ensuing
fiscal year.
Under the provisions of the legislative
article we have given the General Assembly
the power to fix a date for the commence-
ment of the regular session different from
that of the third Wednesday in January.
If it did set a different time, would you
interpret the language on the top of page
2 "unless such time be extended by the
General Assembly'' to encompass that situa-
tion, so that let us say, they met on the
second Wednesday in February ? Would that
be an extension in your point of view ?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Yes. I would
rather see it spelled out. I do not think
there ought to be that kind of a doubt.
Delegate Gallagher.
This is something that the Committee on
Style must address itself to. If it is not
cured, we ought to do it in the form of
proper amendments, either to the legisla-
tive or this budget section. There ought not
to be any doubt about it. It is too big an
item to be left to interpretation.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: It would be
your interpretation that the mere fixing; of
the General Assembly of a different time
other than the third Wednesday in January
would not be sufficient to operate under this
language but that in addition to that, if
the time be moved for the commencement
of the regular session, a specific act or part
of an act should be made into law which
says that the budget shall come in on such
and such a day in that session ?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: We are both
thinking of the same thing. We are not
wedded to the language we used. We de-
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liberately got over that hurdle by saying we cannot do any differently until your
legislative article can be determined and we
say this is something that really has to be
spelled out so that there will not be any
question of leaving it to somebody's idea of
what the words mean.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I have one
last question, Judge, and pardon me, it is
something by way of a statement.
But I heard the exchange between Dele-
gate Vecera and yourself about .the manda-
tory school budget and the history of the
act, and he made certain inquiries to you
about school children generally; without in
any way disagreeing with you, you do not
intend to indicate by your answer that there
are federal acts such as the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act which count all
the school children rather than only public
school children, this would be totallv differ-
ent?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Deleg-ate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Totally differ-
ent. I did not want to open it up. Because it
opens up the heartbreaker of handicapped
children. I was addressing myself only to
the $370 item, how you count it and how
is it done. That is all I was trying to limit
myself to.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
The Chair recog-nizes Delegate Bennett.
DELEGATE BENNETT: Judge Sherbow,
would you indulge me a little by discussing
further section (5.07? I am accustomed to
the federal budget where the Congress may
raise any item in the budget or lower it;
under the Maryland budget, as I under-
stand it, the General Assembly cannot do
that and as you pointed out, that is very
frustrating to them, but it must be even
more frustrating to a state officer who has
a program or is responsible for a program
to which the governor perhaps may be hos-
tile, or some particular group may have a
prog-ram to which the governor may be
hostile.
Now, is there not some way other than
this supplementary appropriation business,
which is very awkward it seems to me, by
which the legislature can mandate an ap-
propriation ?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: All you have
to do is pass a law and you have to get that
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