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16 MARYLAND MANUAL recently completed and dedicated the most modern cargo terminal on the East Coast. Among the major laws the Governor sponsored and saw enacted were: the strictest handgun law in the Nation; a unique insurance law that combines a limited "no fault" feature with the Nation's only State insurance company which provides coverage for 170,000 Mary- land motorists who otherwise would be unable to obtain insurance; a model Power Plan Siting law which the National Governors' Confer- ence has adopted as its own suggested legislation; a State Drug Abuse Authority and a model narcotics law; a State Housing Agency to encourage the development of low-income housing; and a land use law to protect Maryland's critical areas and provide for orderly development and growth across the State. Unique in the continental United States is the State School Con- struction Program which was conceived and sponsored by Governor Mandel to relieve the 23 counties and Baltimore City of the financial burden of building schools. Under the program, the State assumed full financial obligation for the construction and major renovation of all public schools in Mary- land, and full financial responsibility for outstanding bonded indebted- ness for schools and counties built prior to inception of the program. Since the program began in 1971, the State has obligated nearly $1 billion for school construction in the subdivisions which relieved the taxpayers of the costly burden of increased taxes to support the need for schools. The program has led to the reduction of local property taxes in many subdivisions and a stabilization of taxes in others. Under Governor Mandel, Maryland also became the first State in the Nation to provide State operating funds for private colleges and universities. And the Governor also greatly increased the amount of State aid for education to the subdivisions. During Governor Mandel's six years in office, the State has expanded its network of day care centers and has increased from 8,000 to 140,000 the number of children receiving free school lunches. Recently the Governor created by Executive Order a Division of the Aging to deal with the special problems of the elderly and has set aside 26 percent of the State's lottery proceeds for programs for the aging. While welfare grants have been increased, there has been a steady decline in caseloads because of safeguards taken at Governor Mandel's direction to weed out abuses and ineligibles. Through this steady and progressive expansion of State aid and services in virtually every area of State government, Governor Mandel has been able to achieve a record of financial stability through prudent management of Maryland's fiscal resources. Maryland is one of only four states in the Nation that has not had an increase in income or sales taxes in the past five years. Maryland has consistently main- tained the highest bond rating of any state in the Nation, while at the same time it has not had an increase in the State property tax for three consecutive years. The rate is now—and has been—21 cents, lower than it was in Maryland during the Civil War. Governor Mandel was born on April 19, 1920 in Baltimore. He attended Pimlico Elementary School, Garrison Junior High School, and was graduated from City College in 1937. He attended the Uni- versity of Maryland and the University's Law School, receiving his LL.B. in 1942. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was an instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground and at Texarkana, Texas. He was discharged in 1944. The Governor is married to the former Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey. Governor Mandel's parents, the former Rebecca Cohen and Harry Mandel, were natives of Baltimore City. Both are deceased. |
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Maryland Manual, 1975-76
| Volume 177, Page 16 View pdf image (33K) |
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