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MARYLAND MANUAL 715
WASHINGTON COUNTY: Catherine L. Beachley 1655 Prospect Street, Hagerstown 21740 E. Stuart Bushong 100 W. Washington Street, Hagerstown 21740 Vincent R. Groh 40 Summit Avenue, Hagerstown 21740 Richard Grumbacher 1151 The Terrace, Hagerstown 21740 WICOMICO COUNTY: E. Dale Adkins, Jr. Ill High Street, Salisbury 21801 Hamilton P. Fox East Main Street, Salisbury 21801 WORCESTER COUNTY: Godfrey Child 2 Winter Quarters Drive, Pocomoke City 21851 On September 12, 1967, the Constitutional Convention of Maryland assembled in the House of Delegates chamber of the State House in Annapolis to write a new constitution for the State of Maryland to replace the document which had been in effect since 1867. The Con- vention consisted of 142 delegates, elected on June 13, 1967, from the same districts as were used in the 1966 general election for the election of members of the House of Delegates. The calling of the Convention was authorized by the General Assembly when it enacted Chapter BOO of the Acts of 1966, followed by a public endorsement in a special referendum election held on September 13, 1966. A concentrated effort for a constitutional convention began in June, 1965, when Governor J. Millard Tawes appointed a 27-member Con- stitutional Convention Commission to determine whether the 1867 Constitution should be revised or modified, whether a constitutional convention should be called to revise the constitution, and, if so, to prepare a study and recommendation with respect to such revision and the holding of a constitutional convention. The Commission re- ported in September, 1965, after review, that a complete revision was necessary and desirable, and should be accomplished by means of a constitutional convention composed of delegates elected from all parts of the State. The 1966 General Assembly enacted the two laws which set in motion the machinery for the calling of a constitutional convention. Chapter 501 of the Acts of 1966 provided for the holding of a special referendum election on September 13, 1966, to "take the sense of the people" on the calling of the constitutional convention to frame a new constitution. The vote on this referendum was 160,280 in favor of a constitutional convention and 31,680 against. A second Act, Chapter 500, provided for the calling of a convention on September 12, 1967, should the "sense of the people" favor a convention in the September 13, 1966, election. Since the vote favoring a convention was over- whelmingly favorable, the Commission began to prepare for a con- stitutional convention and commenced a study of the present Constitution. The 1967 General Assembly enacted three additional acts pertaining to a constitutional convention. Chapter I of the Acts of 1967 author- ized and directed the Attorney General of Maryland to institute a declaratory judgment proceeding to determine the eligibility of certain persons to be delegates to a constitutional convention. In response to this action and upon an appeal from the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, the Court of Appeals of Maryland ruled on April 14, 1967, that the position of delegate to a constitutional convention is not an office within the meaning of Articles 33 and 35 of the Decla- ration of Rights or within the meaning of Section 6, Article I or Sections II and 17 of Article III of the Constitution of Maryland. Chapter 4 of the Acts of 1967 provided for the election of delegates to, and the holding of a convention to frame a new constitution for |
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Maryland Manual, 1967-68
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