SEC. 51.77 (1) The General Assembly shall not appro-
priate any money out of the Treasury except in accordance
with the provisions of this section.

(2) Every appropriation bill shall be either a Budget
Bill, or a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, as hereinafter
provided.

(3)78 On the third Wednesday in January in each year,
(except in the case of a newly elected Governor, and then
not later than ten days after the convening of the General
Assembly), unless such time shall be extended by the
General Assembly; the Governor shall submit to the Gen-
eral Assembly a Budget for the next ensuing fiscal year.
Each Budget shall contain a complete plan of proposed
expenditures and estimated revenues for said fiscal year and
shall show the estimated surplus or deficit of revenues at
the end of the preceding fiscal year. Accompanying each
Budget shall be a statement showing: (a) the revenues and
expenditures for the preceding fiscal year; (b) the current
assets, liabilities, reserves and surplus or deficit of the State;
(c) the debts and funds of the State; (d) an estimate of the
State's financial condition as of the beginning and end of
the preceding fiscal year; (e) any explanation the Governor
may desire to make as to the important features of the
Budget and any suggestions as to methods for reduction or
increase of the State's revenue.

(4) Each Budget shall embrace an estimate of all
appropriations in such form and detail as the Governor shall
determine or as may be prescribed by law, as follows: (a) for
the General Assembly as certified to the Governor in the
manner hereinafter provided; (b) for the Executive Depart-
ment; (c) for the Judiciary Department, as provided by law,
certified by the Comptroller, (d) to pay and discharge the
principal and interest of the debt of the State in conformity
with Section 34 of Article 3 of the Constitution, and all laws
enacted in pursuance thereof; (e) for the salaries payable by
the State and under the Constitution and laws of the State;
(f) for the establishment and maintenance throughout the
State of a thorough and efficient system of public schools in
conformity with Article 8 of the Constitution and with the
laws of the State; (g) for such other purposes as arc set forth
in the Constitution or laws of the State.

(5)80 The Governor shall deliver to the presiding offi-
cer of each House the Budget and a bill for alt the proposed
appropriations of the Budget classified and in such form
and detail as he shall determine or as may be prescribed by
law; and the presiding officer of each House shall promptly
cause said bill to be introduced therein, and such bill shall
be known as the "Budget Bill." The Governor maj( with
the consent of the General Assembly, before final action
thereon by the General Assembly, amend or supplement
said Budget to correct an oversight, provide funds contin-
gent on passage of pending legislation or, in case of an
emergency, by delivering such an amendment or supple-
ment to the presiding officers of both Houses; and such
amendment or supplement shall thereby become a part of
said Budget Bill as an addition to the items of said bill or

Constitution of Maryland/651

as a modification of or a substitute for any item of said bill
such amendment or supplement may affect.

(5a)*1 The Budget and the Budget Bill as submitted by
the Governor to the General Assembly shall have a figure
for the total of all proposed appropriations and a figure for
the total of all estimated revenues available to pay the
appropriations, and the figure for total proposed appropri-
ations shall not exceed the figure for total estimated reve-
nues. Neither the Governor in submitting an amendment
or supplement to the Budget Bill nor the General Assembly
in amending the Budget Bill shall thereby cause the figure
for total proposed appropriations to exceed the figure for
total estimated revenues, including any revisions, and in the
Budget Bill as enacted the figure for total estimated reve-
nues always shall be equal to or exceed the figure for total
appropriations.

(6)82 The General Assembly shall not amend the Budget
Bill so as to affect either the obligations of the State under
Section 34 of Article 3 of the Constitution, or the provisions
made by the laws of the State for the establishment and
maintenance of a system of public schools or the payment
of any salaries required to be paid by the State of Maryland
by the Constitution thereof; and the General Assembly may
amend the bill by increasing or diminishing the items therein
relating to the General Assembly, and by increasing or
diminishing the items therein relating to the judiciary but
except as hereinbefore specified, may not alter the said bill
except to strike out or reduce items therein, provided,
however, that the salary or compensation of any public
officer shall not be decreased during his term of office; and
such bill, when and as passed by both Houses, shall be a law
immediately without further action by the Governor.

(7) The Governor and such representatives of the exec-
utive departments, boards, officers and commissions of the
State expending or applying for State's moneys, as have
been designated by the Governor for this piu^se, shall
have the right, and when requested by either House of the
General Assembly, it shall be their duty to appear and be
heard with respect to any Budget Bill during the consider-
ation thereof, and to answer inquiries relative thereto.

(S)83 Supplementary Appropriation Bill. Either House
may consider other appropriations but both Houses shall
not finally act upon such appropriations until after the
Budget Bill has been finally acted upon by both Houses,
and no such other appropriation shall be valid except in
accordance with the provisions following: (a) Every such
appropriation shall be embodied in a separate bill limited
to some single work, object or piupose therein stated and
called herein a Supplementary Appropriation Bill; (b) Each
Supplementary Appropriation Bill shall provide the reve-
nue necessary to pay the appropriation thereby made by a
tax, direct or indirect, to be levied and collected as shall be
directed in said bill; (c) No Supplementary Appropriation
Bill shall become a law unless it be passed in each House
by a vote of a majority of the whole number of the members
elected, and the yeas and nays recorded on its final passage;
(d) Each Supplementary Appropriation Bill shall be