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DELEGATE MOSER: Mr. President and
ladies and gentlemen, you should have in
your booklets three pieces of paper. One is
Committee Report LG-1 which is a two-
paragraph affair.
The second one is Resolution No. 24 by
the Committee on Local Government and
the third is a memorandum with respect
to that Resolution.
Resolution No. 24, which the Local Gov-
ernment Committee recommends, urges the
governor to establish a commission on local
affairs. The idea has been discussed with
representatives of Governor Agnew and
he has no objection to it. The Resolution
has the unanimous approval of the Legisla-
tive Liaison Committee. This is what the
commission would do if the governor ap-
points it:
First, analyze existing public general
and public local laws and advise the Gen-
eral Assembly what status affecting local
government should be retained, repealed or
amended.
Secondly, to assist counties in the prepa-
ration of their instruments of government
which all of them must have under the
local government article by July of 1!)72.
Thirdly, to advise the Governor's Task
Force on Modern Management and the
General Assembly on the desirability of
establishing a permanent department on
local affairs and fourth, to perform any
other functions that the governor sees fit
to assign to this commission. I will be glad
to answer. In the meantime, Mr. President,
I move that the Convention adopt this
Resolution.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any ques-
tions of the Committee Chairman? There
appear to be none.
Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: What is the
situation with respect to the unlikely event,
but still a possible event, having created
a Commission, if this Constitutional docu-
ment should fail on the election next May?
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: Delegate Gleason,
1 think that whether or not the Constitu-
tion is adopted, and 1 am certain it will be
or reasonably certain, such a Commission
is, we think, a necessity. One of the things
that it should do is go into great detail
into the inter-relationships of local govern-
mental units and the relationships of these
units with the State and this is something
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that ought to be done under the present
Constitution as well as under the new one.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: Well, would you
not consider that this decision reflects an
executive opinion and not the Committee on
Local Government at this Constitutional
Convention, and if there is a need, there
are a lot of needs in government. If we are
going to get into the area of recommending
that the various branches of government
do certain things, I just wonder where this
course would tend to leave us.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: Let me make one
further comment on your first comment and
that is that I think it is up to the governor.
It bears on your second comment, too. It
is up to the governor whether he actually
does it. We are simply suggesting it, but
in connection with the local government
article. I might observe at this time one of
the things that we are going to do is to
recommend that a part of it, that is the
shared powers concept not go into immedi-
ate effect. One of the things that the local
government article does is ,to reverse the
procedure by which the counties will get
their powers. I think that that alone really
necessitates someone taking a very close
look into what functions are properly state
functions and what functions are properly
local functions. I want to emphasize that
this recommendation of ours stems from the
local government article that we hope will
be in the new constitution and that is the
reason for it. It goes with that.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any further
questions?
Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: I assume the
suggestion originated with your Committee
and not with the governor's office in which
you have said that he had no objection to it.
I was wondering if the commission, as
you recommend it, will have a certain
function with respect to the legislature. I
was wondering whether you had any dis-
cussions with the leaders of the legislature
with respect to this commission?
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: Yes, let me go into
detail with respect to both of these items.
In the first place, this did originate with
the Committee or within the Committee. We
talked with Mr. Montgomery. We have
talked with the members of the Governor's
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