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ments being to substitute a single section
for all three sections.
One of these substitutes is offered, or in-
tended to be offered by Delegates Mac-
donald and Fox and the other one by Dele-
gate Macdonald alone.
The Chair would like to inquire of Dele-
gate Macdonald whether one of these is
intended as a substitute for the other or
just what the situation is.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: Mr. Chair-
man, we are not going to offer the first
two which we have mentioned, just the
last one, which is designated "L".
THE CHAIRMAN: The ones designated
"L" and "O" will not be offered?
DELEGATE MACDONALD: The one
designated "L" will be offered. The other
two will not be offered.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thinking this was
a multiplicity, the Chair was going to sug-
gest that we take then up one after the
other. In view of the situation, and in order
to avoid the necessity of reconsidering, the
Chair suggests that you now offer this
amendment as a substitute for the pending
Amendment No. 8, if that is agreeable to
you.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: I will offer
the amendment which has been designated
as Amendment No. L as a substitute for
Amendment No. 8.
THE CHAIRMAN: The clerk will read
the amendment. This will be Amendment—
I think it would be simpler for uniformity
to call it Amendment No. 9.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 9
to Committee Recommendation LG-1, by
Delegate Macdonald: On pages 3 and 4 of
Committee Recommendation No. LG-1,
strike out all of sections 7.07, 7.08 and 7.09
start on page 3 line 50 and extending
through page 4 line 27 and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
"Section 7.07. Municipal Corporations.
A county by law may establish, merge
and dissolve municipal corporations within
the county, may alter their boundaries, and
may grant and withdraw from them any
and all powers of the county. No municipal
corporation existing at the effective date
of this article may be dissolved, have its
boundaries diminished or have withdrawn
any of its existing powers as set forth in
its charter, without the consent of its gov-
erning body or the consent of the General
Assembly by public general law.
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THE CHAIRMAN: Is Amendment No.
9 seconded?
(Whereupon, the amendment was duly
seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment
having been seconded the Chair recognizes
Delegate Macdonald to speak to Amend-
ment No. 9.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: May I in-
quire, Mr. Chairman, how much time I
have?
THE CHAIRMAN: You have ten min-
utes under the debate schedule, including
the time spent in answering any questions
put to you.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: Mr. Chair-
man, Members of the Committee of the
Whole :
It is a pleasure to be able to offer an
amendment which addresses itself to a
matter which is completely devoid of emo-
tion and which we may look at with easy
objectivity.
We have in the State of Maryland 152
municipal corporations. They vary in size,
but all totaled, the population of municipal
corporations outside of Baltimore City is
approximately 15 percent of the population
of the State.
Most of the area of the State is served
by county government. The municipalities
comprise only a minority of the area of
the State. In some areas, the municipal
corporations duplicate the services of the
counties. This is particularly true in the
counties which have become urban in na-
ture. In some other areas the municipali-
ties do perform very valuable services,
which are not available from the county
government. Nevertheless, the county is
the basic unit of local government in the
State of Maryland. This is our tradition.
It has been thus for a long period of time.
The counties perform services and func-
tions which are not performed by the mu-
nicipal corporations. They are the arm of
the State insofar as appropriations for
schools are concerned. They handle assess-
ments for the State. They handle welfare
matters for the State, and in addition, they
perform other services of local government.
I give you this background to put this
subject in proper perspective.
This brings us to the matter of the
Committee's recommendation in sections
7.07, 7.08, and 7.09. In section 7.08 the
Committee recommends that new municipal
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