We are not living in an era in which you
can have the clock fit the accommodations
and requirements of human relations prob-
lems, of environmental problems, the prob-
lems I mentioned. They just will not fit our
lives. It would be very nice if we could say
this afternoon at twelve o'clock we will end
this debate, or tomorrow at noon I shall
play golf. Life is no longer regulated by
the clock as we would like to have had it
in a more leisurely era.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Singer.
DELEGATE SINGER: Delegate Bard,
I think you also advocate a mandatory date
by which the budget must be passed.
DELEGATE BARD: Under this amend-
ment, the legislature could determine at the
very beginning that the budget should be
discussed and deliberated on, and passage
completed during the first 60 days, if they
so desired.
You will note under the Majority Report,
up until this time, at any rate, there is no
discussion of this point. This point is im-
portant, Mr. Singer, and if anything, the
flexible schedule permits you to vary the
time you are going to deal with the budget
according to the requirements of the
budget. But it does not keep you from set-
ting a target date on the budget. The point
is excellent, and I agree with you, there
can be a target date set.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Groh has
the floor.
DELEGATE GROH: Dr. Bard, did you
intend to eliminate the possibility of the
governor convening special sessions by
these words?
DELEGATE BARD: No. It is a good
point. We did not, at all. We believe there
will come a time, as is true in all of the
seventeen states—an excellent point; it is
the second part of our amendment, and you
will see it—there will come a time when
the legislature will want to adjourn sine
die. That is necessary and important.
All we are saying is that the time when
it adjourns sine die should not be deter-
mined in the constitution, that this should
be flexible.
Some of the seventeen states have ad-
journed sine die in April, some in May, and
you still need a special session.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Burgess.
DELEGATE BURGESS: Dr. Bard, in
some of the preliminary matters we con- |
sidered prior to meeting here I was given
to understand that a great deal of local
legislation presently passes through the
General Assembly. I believe between 50 and
75 percent of the bills passing the General
Assembly would be local legislation.
However, I understand that we have a
strong indication here by the Local Govern-
ment Committee that strong home rule for
the counties will eliminate the bulk, if not
all of this local legislation. I am wondering
if your witnesses and/or your Committee
considered this in considering this question
of the local legislation. If so, what deter-
mination was made?
DELEGATE BARD: We gave a good
deal of thought to that. The Legislative
Branch Committee has been impressed dur-
ing all its sessions with the fact that after
you splinter off all the local legislation
which will be handled by the county gov-
ernments, you will still have a calendar,
and practically every last one who ap-
peared before us stated that you will still
have a calendar that is very heavy in re-
gard to general legislation. Indeed, the
compromise position between the Commit-
tee on Local Government and the Legis-
lative Branch Committee is such that there
will be a movement back and forth, and
integration of the general laws and local
laws. And within this integration—you
have a very good point—within this in-
tegration, if county government wants to
do something, is it going to wait until the
legislature comes back a year later or 90
days later, under this necessary integration
which you need to check on general law
and home rule law? No.
It may be necessary to have a one-day
session to clear this up so Anne Arundel,
or Prince George's, or Montgomery County
can get moving.
I would say to you the existence of more
home rule by counties necessitates even
more greatly than ever the requirement of
a flexible situation, so that this very intri-
cate dovetailed integration can take place.
We did consider it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: A point of in-
formation. I think we want to state that
the subject of budget and time require-
ments is covered by recommendations and
reports of the Committee on State Finance
and Taxation.
DELEGATE BARD: I know under the
flexible schedule we can move within that
spirit without difficulty. |
