SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS
DIRECT LEGISLATION1
(Initiative, Referendum, and Recall—how they apply in Maryland, how they are
used in other states, with supporting state-by-state data on questions submitted,
signatures required, sponsors, and related facts.)
THE REFERENDUM IN MARYLAND
In Maryland, an act of the General
Assembly may be submitted to the peo-
ple in two ways. First, the measure may
contain a section which provides that it
shall be voted upon by the people. This
is authorized only when the measure is
a constitutional amendment or a local
law.2 Second, a bill can be brought to
referendum by petition as provided for
in Article XVI of the state Constitution.
This provision applies to both general
and local bills, but only to those local
laws affecting either Baltimore City or
a county; it does not apply to local bills
for municipalities other than Baltimore
City.3
REFERENDUM BY
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
The rule established by the Court of
Appeals is that, although the legislature
may add a referendum provision to a
local bill, any attempt to do so on a
statewide bill amounts to an unconsti-
tutional delegation of legislative power.4
The court says :
". . . that the people of Maryland,
having delegated to the Legislature of
1 This article was prepared for the Com-
mission by Frank T. Ralabate, research as-
sistant to the Constitutional Convention Com-
mission; B.S., 1964, Canisius College; LL. B.,
1967, Eastern College, Mount Vernon School
of Law. This article was prepared prior to
the 1966 general elections.
2 G. bell & J. spencer, the legislative
process in maryland 73 (2d. ed. 1963).
3 Strange v. Levy, 134 Md. 645, 107 Atl.
549 (1919).
4 Everstine, The Legislative Process in
Maryland, 10 md. L. rev. 91, 141 (1949).
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Maryland the power of making its
laws, that body could not legally or
validly redelegate the power and au-
thority thus conferred upon it to the
people themselves; [also] that the
people of the State, from whom the
legislature itself derives its powers,
having prescribed in the Constitution
of the State the manner in which its
laws shall be enacted, it is not com-
petent for the Legislature to prescribe
any other or different way in which
its laws may be enacted."5
If the bill is local in its operation, the
legislature can refer it to the people of
the locality because its power over its
"derivative creations" is unlimited ex-
cept by the state and federal constitu-
tions.6
REFERENDUM BY PETITION UNDER
ARTICLE XVI
Article XVI was proposed by the
General Assembly of 1914 and ratified
by the voters in 1915. It provided only
for referendum and excluded both the
initiative and recall powers adopted in
many other states. The article provides
that:
"The people reserve to themselves
power known as The Referendum, by
petition to have submitted to the
registered voters of the State, to ap-
prove or reject at the polls, any Act,
or part of any Act of the General
Assembly, if approved by the Gover-
5 Brawner v. Supervisors, 141 Md. 586, 595,
119 Atl. 250 (1922).
6 Id. at 594.
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