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THE CHAIRMAN: In the absence of
objection the Chair will consider Amend-
ment 4 modified. In line 8, strike the words
"popularly elected"; strike out all of line
9, and in line 10, strike the words "other
units of local government".
Is there any objection? If not, the modi-
fication will be considered as having been
accepted. The Chair recognizes Delegate
Sybert to speak for the amendment.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Mr. Chairman,
I am not going to spend much time in ex-
plaining this amendment. It would serve
simply to make mandatory, as now written,
any law providing for the establishment or
alteration of boundaries of multi-county
governmental units. It also spells out the
governmental units in which a referendum
would have to be held by the words in lines
11 to 14, "no such law shall become effec-
tive until submitted to the voters of each
county affected and approved by a majority
of those voting on the question in each such
county."
In line with what Delegate Carson
pointed out yesterday, section 7.10 as writ-
ten by the Committee and as amended up
to this point, would permit the legislature
to provide for any multi-county govern-
mental unit without any action on the part
of the counties affected.
That would mean as a practical matter,
Mr. Chairman, that a majority of the mem-
bers of the legislature in each house could
provide for any type of intergovernmental
unit, and as we have already heard, any
such unit could be invested with almost all
of the powers of any county.
In effect, even though a county were not
actually and completely destroyed by such
action, it could virtually be destroyed by
having almost all of its governmental pow-
ers taken away from it, through the action
of a mere majority vote of the legislature.
Now, how would such a majority be ob-
tained in the legislature of each house?
Baltimore City to be specific, could join
with one or possibly two of the larger
counties and have a majority of the legis-
lature. While there may not be any log-
rolling in the legislature now, it is possible
that in the future Baltimore City and one
or two of the larger counties could join
forces in order to set up any type of bi-
county or tri-county governmental unit. In
this way they could take away many or al-
most all of the powers of one or more coun-
ties, very probably nearby counties, in turn
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for some delegate in another part of the
State.
I submit, if your Honor please, that
the counties should have some protection
from such action. They should not be forced
to join unwillingly within any regional gov-
ernment that the people of that' county do
not want and as a matter of fact may be
violently opposed to.
I think this explains the intent and pur-
pose of the amendment. I am not wedded to
the matter of requiring a referendum by
the voters of these counties, and as a matter
of fact, would be willing to submit, or to
substitute in place of such a referendum,
the words "such a law shall not be effec-
tive until approved by the governing bodies
of each county affected."
That is an alternative possibility. I sub-
mit, therefore, Mr. Chairman, that the
amendment be adopted by the Convention.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Moser to speak in opposition
to the amendment.
DELEGATE MOSER: Mr. Chairman
and ladies and gentlemen of the Commit-
tee of the Whole, this amendment goes
much, much further than the one 4that yes-
terday was defeated by a 90 to 20 vote, and
I rise in opposition to the amendment.
With all due respect, what it does is
give a veto over action of the General As-
sembly with respect to multi-county prob-
lems to either the county governmental
body or the voters in the county.
It would affect a situation as simple as
establishing a regional planning council
for the Baltimore region.
In effect it would permit a veto of this
at the local level. As I said yesterday we
came down here to strengthen the legis-
lature, who are our popularly elected repre-
sentatives. This amendment could hog-tie
them.
Under the present Constitution, the Gen-
eral Assembly can create multi-county
units. Today, more than ever, problems of
the State go beyond county boundaries. I
do not have to detail all the ones that do.
This is true of the Eastern Shore, of South-
ern Maryland and Western Maryland; it
is not limited to the Baltimore and Wash-
ington areas alone. The General Assembly
has to have the power to provide for inno-
vation such as the Regional Planning Coun-
cil, and should not, I submit, be required to
submit to referenda, as the amendment sug-
gests.
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