CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION STUDY DOCUMENTS

population, or better yet, a broadly de- fined delegation. 4. The General Assembly should be prohibited from enacting local legisla- tion. The General Assembly has con- tinued to enact public local laws for chartered counties, despite Article XI-A. The General Assembly should neither pass public local laws nor public gen-

eral laws which interfere with home rule and are not truly of general matters. 5. Provision should be made for metropolitan area functions subject to careful safeguards. Inter-city/county agreements should be authorized. No special district should be created unless it is to be a part of multi-functional, responsible government.

APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER

LETTER FROM MARYLAND POST MORTEM EXAMINERS COMMISSION TO
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION COMMISSION

DECEMBER 9, 1966

Mr. H. Vernon Eney, Chairman Constitutional Convention Commission Mercantile Trust Building Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Dear Mr. Eney: On or about October 14, 1966, the newspaper reported that your Commis- sion had recommended that the proposed constitution revisions provide that the appointment of administrative depart- ment heads in Departments supervised by ex-officio commissions should be made by the Governor rather than the Com- mission or Board, as is now provided in several State Departments. The Post Mortem Examiners Commis- sion of Maryland, which is the head of this Department is an ex-officio commis- sion consisting of The Professor of Pathology of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (Robert H. Heptinstall, M.D.) The Professor of Pathology, Univer- sity of Maryland (Harlan I. Firminger, M.D.) The Superintendent of Maryland State Police (Col. Carey Jarman) 1182

A representative of the State Health Department (William J. Peeples, M.D.) The Commissioner of Health of Baltimore City (Robert E. Farber, M.D.) At the One Hundred Fifty Second Meeting of the Commission, held on October 18, 1966, the above stated pro- posal was discussed at length. The Commission directed me to set forth to you their concern that the proposed change would be detrimental to the in- terests of the Department of Post Mor- tem Examiners and therefore of the peo- ple of the State. By way of history I would like to point out that the coroner system of the State of Maryland, which existed prior to 1939, was generally inefficient and ineffective in the traditional role of in- vestigating deaths in the public interest. The legislature in 1939 abolished the coroner system and established the pres- ent medical examiner system by Article 22 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. In the opinion of the Commission: 1 . The provision that the chief, the assistants and the deputy medical