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Delegate Beatrice Miller.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: I would like
to ask a question of Delegate Needle if I
may.
THE CHAIRMAN: Will delegate Needle
yield to a question?
DELEGATE NEEDLE: Surely.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Miller, you
may proceed.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: In the last
few words, "the General Assembly has not
rejected a resolution," do you mean if the
General Assembly fails to act or if it posi-
tively approves?
DELEGATE NEEDLE: It means if the
General Assembly fails to act, then the
counties will have that tax power.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any other
discussion?
(There was no response.)
Are you ready for the question?
(Call for the question.)
The question arises on the adoption of
Amendment No. 6. A vote Aye is a vote in
favor of the adoption of the amendment.
A vote No is a vote against. Cast your
vote.
Have all delegates voted? Does any dele-
gate desire to change his vote?
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being 10 votes in the affirmative
and 108 in the negative, the motion is lost.
The amendment is rejected.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Needle to
offer a further amendment to section 7.05.
DELEGATE NEEDLE: I would like to
offer Amendment No. 8, which would be-
come Amendment No. 7.
THE CHAIRMAN: It will be Amend-
ment No. 7. The Clerk will read the
amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 7
to Committee Recommendation LG-1, by
Delegate Needle: On page 3, section 7.05,
Powers of Counties, line 14 strike out the
words "and power to tax"; and on page 3
line 25, after the period add the following:
"A county may also exercise any taxing
power requested by a resolution submitted
by the governing body of the county and
approved by the General Assembly in ac-
cordance with procedures established by
law."
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THE CHAIRMAN: Is there a second?
(There was no response.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there a second to
Amendment No. 7?
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Second.
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
seconded. The Chair recognizes Delegate
Needle to speak to the amendment.
DELEGATE NEEDLE: Mr. Chairman,
there is only one substantive change in this
amendment from Amendment No. 6 and
that is that it requires affirmative action
by the General Assembly in order for the
counties to impose the requested new tax
power.
As you see, I do not quit very easily. I
think this is a very crucial question. I
think it goes to the heart of the shared
powers doctrine, so heartily recommended
by your Committee on Local Government.
However, with regard to the tax powers,
as has already been pointed out by Dele-
gate Moser, the Committee Recommenda-
tion on that particular issue was adopted
by a vote of ten to seven, with two ab-
stentions. We have a 19-member Committee
and the barest majority of ten favored the
absolute exclusion of the tax power from
the shared powers of the counties.
I think that this second compromise
amendment comes the closest to the Case-
Raley Proposal No. 387. It still retains all
of the virtues which I discussed formerly,
but requires affirmative action by the Gen-
eral Assembly before the county may im-
pose the new tax.
In other words, the county cannot impose
that tax if the General Assembly fails by
inaction to act.
I, therefore, say that it retains all of the
virtues which Delegate Case and Raley de-
sired for the General Assembly, namely,
retaining the plenary power of the General
Assembly over local taxing powers.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Moser to speak in opposi-
tion to the amendment.
DELEGATE MOSER: Mr. Chairman,
I think that proposal tends to be more re-
strictive upon local initiative than what is
actually provided in section 7.05 of the
Committee Recommendation.
I am not going to repeat all I said pre-
viously, but I respectfully suggest that this
amendment should also be defeated.
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