|
and any debate in opposition to that is, of
course, in order, Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: I rise in very
strong opposition of Amendment 16-A and
in favor now of leaving the Style Commit-
tee's language just as it is.
As I said earlier, Amendment No. 16
which Delegate Carson offered, in my view,
really made no substantial difference to
the language which is here now. I think
16-A does change it. In my view, 16-A
changes what the Committee on Local
Government came out with, and I would
suggest to you that the Court of Appeals
would have some rather substantial diffi-
culty in interpreting the meaning of 16-A
once it is adopted.
I, therefore, hope that you will vote
against it.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you ready for
the question?
Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Mr. Chairman
and Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen
of the Convention, let me ask you to fol-
low this approach in order that you can
be clear with respect to the effect of the
Amendment No. 16-A. Please look at your
section 3.22. In line 44, the sentence be-
gins "No county shall be exempt from a
public general law". Turning the page to
line 12 on page 9 and there you will find
the exact same language stricken by the
Committee on Style. That language strikes
"No county shall be exempt from a public
general law". Now, going back to page 8,
once again, if we took the sentence on line
44, "No county shall be exempt" et cetera,
and moved it back to its original position
on page 9, line 12, and left it there and
then changed the next sentence on line 45,
page 8, to read as follows: "The General
Assembly shall have the power notwith-
standing this limitation to enact laws," et
cetera. You would then have clearly before
you exactly what 16-A does accomplish.
Now, if you followed me along that line,
you will see why I feel so strongly, having
lived with this material, that section 3.22
makes this amendment an important one.
Delegate Carson is not being fair when
he says I want the General Assembly to
enact a local law providing specifically for
twenty-three counties and not mentioning
two other counties. I say to you that when
the General Assembly attempts to enact a
law with respect to twenty-two counties,
it will go the next step further and pass
a general law applicable to all twenty-four
|
counties, and that would be in the best in-
terest and welfare of the State as a whole.
It is a different method of approach.
There is nothing wrong with giving the
General Assembly a degree of flexibility
by local law to deal with matters which
are of more importance than they are
merely at the local level and, therefore, of
statewide or general effect.
There is nothing wrong with giving them
that degree of flexibility, but it is wrong
to throw us back into an old practice which
has been so much criticized, where so much
trading and abstraction has been found
and criticized, and all of the recommen-
dations have been to eliminate it.
We want you to go forward, not to go
back. I ask you to support Amendment
No. 16-A.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, probably Delegate Clagett or
probably Delegate Hanson can answer this
question that is perplexing me a little bit.
Probably it is covered somewhere else, but
Montgomery County has a system a little
unique in that they have a county-owned
liquor dispensary. I am wondering1 if that
comes under this exception pertaining1 to
natural environment and resources?
(Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Are you ready for
the question?
(Call for the question.)
The Clerk will ring the quorum bell.
The question arises on the adoption of
Amendment N'o. 16-A to Committee Rec-
ommendation LB-1, LB-2, and LB-3 as
amended by Report S&D-16.
A vote Aye is a vote in favor of Amend-
ment No. 16-A. A vote No is a vote against.
In other words, a vote Aye is a vote for
the language of Amendment No. 16-A. A
vote No leaves the language as is in sec-
tion 3.23. A vote Aye is a vote in favor. A
vote No is a vote against.
Cast your votes.
Has every delegate voted?
Delegate Boileau.
DELEGATE BOILEAU: Mr. President,
I hope you really have my switch fixed to-
morrow. This would be too much to do it
two days in a row.
Aye.
|
