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is permeating through this hall a very great
aura of distrust to the people of this State.
We are talking about writing a Constitu-
tion which will serve the people of this
State, and yet we are saying that we should
not let them decide major decisions that
affect such things as sewerage, transporta-
tion, rapid transit systems, et cetera. On
the other hand, we want to strengthen the
state government, and yet on the other,
we want to destroy the people's right to
participate in the government. When we
note that only 61 per cent of the people of
this State are registered voters, we can
very readily see that past involvement of
the people demonstrated their apathy to-
ward governmental process. I think we
ought to strengthen the power of the people
and not deprive them of a very important
vote in an area where they will choose
wisely and not circumvent the will of the
legislature. If the legislature adopts a pro-
gram which is for the benefit of the people
of that area, they will adopt it overwhelm-
ingly at the polls.
All I say is, give them an opportunity to
speak, so that they may continue to par-
ticipate in our government.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition? The Chair
recognizes Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man, ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion, I rise to oppose the amendment. As I
read it, it does a great deal more than it
would indicate on its face. It says, "no law
providing for the establishment or alter-
ation of boundaries".
I submit that, in effect, this means that
no law providing for the creation of multi-
governmental units shall become effective
until submitted, et cetera, because you can-
not establish a multi-county governmental
unit without indicating what boundaries
are. It seems to me, therefore, that this is
much more than a question of the geog-
raphy of a multi-governmental unit. It goes
to the existence or the proposed existence
of the multi-governmental unit, and would,
therefore, require that there be no law for
the creation of a multi-county governmental
unit without the referendum.
It occurs to me, as I read this, that one
could have a multi-county governmental
unit which involved only a part of one
county, and that despite the overwhelming
support of every voter in the part of that
county which would be affected by the unit
the vote of the county as a whole, partici-
pating in the referendum procedure, could
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override their unanimous will. In effect, one
portion of a county could completely
thwart and make impossible what the
people in another area wanted unanimously,
and without any dissent whatsoever.
I suggest in opposing this amendment
that it is not a question of distrusting the
people, because as I would understand the
law, the people would still have the right
to petition the law to referendum. This
merely would make a referendum manda-
tory with every attempt to create a multi-
county government or to change its bound-
aries including, I might say, making it
smaller as well as larger.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher,
you have one-half minute.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Conse-
quently, I do not feel that this is anything
more than harassment or an additional
obstacle to the creation of these units.
I think I detect throughout this debate
a fear of the large city government of Bal-
timore and a general distrist of where its
tenacles may go. I do not think, however,
that one need to go to this extreme in
order to keep the City of Baltimore in
check, if that be the idea.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment? Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, members of the Convention, I
rise in favor of this amendment. It pro-
vides for a referendum for any of these
bills.
It is true where county lines are being
changed under section 7.07, it must be sub-
mitted to the people. Under the local gov-
ernment set up that we have in this rec-
ommendation, all the power not restricted
to the local subdivision by the Constitu-
tion would reside in those local governing
bodies.
We know also that regional governments
and multi-government set-ups can erode
the reserve powers of the local subdivi-
sions. If these reserve powers are to be
eroded by multi-government laws, you are
allowing the legislature to come in and
erode the very reserve powers of these
local subdivisions.
It is true that any law passed covering
more than one county would be considered
statewide. However, Mr. President, the
other day, by our action, we almost made
the referendum prohibitive, and, therefore,
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