than the 30th day of the regular session of the General
Assembly immediately preceding its submission to the
voters, or (2) authorized by an Act of the General Assem-
bly. The ordinance shall provide for the discharge of any
such debt or credit within theperiod of 40 years from the
time of contracting the same. The Mayor and City Council
may, temporarily borrow any amount of money to meet
any deficiency in the City treasury, and may borrow any
amount at any time to provide for any emergency arising
from the necessity of maintaining the police, or preserving
the health, safety and sanitary condition of the City and
may make due and proper arrangements and agreements
for the renewal and extension, in whole or in part, of any
and all debts and obligations created according to law
before the adoption of this Constitution.

The General Assembly may, from time to time, fix a
limit upon the aggregate amount of bonds and other
evidences of indebtedness of the City outstanding at any
one time to the same extent as it fixes such a limit upon the
indebtedness of the chartered counties.

SEC. 8. All Laws and Ordinances, now in force,
applicable to the City of Baltimore, not inconsistent with
this Article, shall be, and they are hereby continued until
changed in due course of Law.

SEC. 9. The General Assembly may make such
changes in this Article, except in Section seventh thereof,
as it may deem best; and this Article shall not be so
construed, or taken as to make the political corporation of
Baltimore independent of, or free from the control, which
the General Assembly of Maryland has over all such Cor-
porations in this State.

ARTICLE XI-A.175
LOCAL LEGISLATION.

SECTION I.176 On demand of the Mayor of Balti-
more and City Council of the City of Baltimore, or on
petition bearing the signatures of not less than 20% of the
registered voters of said City or any County (Provided,
however, that in any case 10,000 signatures shall be suffi-
cient to complete a petition), the Board of Election Super-
visors of said City or County shall provide at the next
general or congressional election, occurring after such
demand or the filing of such petition, for the election of a
charter board of eleven registered voters of said City or five
registered voters in any such Counties. Nominations for
members for said charter board may be made not less than
forty days prior to said election by the Mayor of Baltimore
and City Council of the City of Baltimore or the County
Commissioners of such County, or not less than twenty
days prior to said election by petition bearing the signa-
tures written in their own handwriting (and not by their
mark) of not less than 5% of the registered voters of the
said City of Baltimore or said County; provided, that in any
case two thousand signatures of registered voters shall be
sufficient to complete any such nominating petition, and if
not more than eleven registered voters of the City of
Baltimore or not more than five registered voters in any
such County are so nominated their names shall not be
printed on the ballot, but said eleven registered voters in
the City of Baltimore or five in such County shall constitute
said charter board from and after the date of said election.
At said election the ballot shall contain the names of said
nominees in alphabetical order without any indication of

Constitution ofMatyland/665

the source of their nomination, and shall also be so ar-
ranged as to permit the voter to vote for or against the
creation of said charter board, but the vote cast against said
creation shall not be held to bar the voter from expressing
his choice among the nominees for said board, and if the
majority of the votes cast for and against the creation of
said charter board shall be against said creation the election
of the members of said charter board shall be void; but if
such majority shall be in favor of the creation of said charter
board, then and in that event the eleven nominees of the
City of Baltimore or five nominees in the County receiving
the largest number of votes shall constitute the charter
board, and said charter board, or a majority thereof, shall
prepare within twelve months from the date of said election
a charter or form of government for said city or such county
and present the same to the Mayor of Baltimore or Presi-
dent of the Board of County Commissioners of such county,
who shall publish the same in at least two newspapers of
general circulation published in the City of Baltimore or
County within thirty days after it shall be reported to him.
Such charter shall be submitted to the voters of said City
or County at the next general or Congressional election
after the report of said charter to said Mayor of Baltimore
or President of the Board of County Commissioners; and
if a majority of the votes cast for and against the adoption
of said charter shall be in favor of such adoption, the said
charter from and after the thirtieth day from the date of
such election shall become the law of said City or County,
subject only to the Constitution and Public General Laws
of this State, and any public local laws inconsistent with
the provisions of said charter and any former charter of the
City of Baltimore or County shall be thereby repealed.

SEC. lA.177The procedure provided in this section for
adoption of a charter may be used in any county in lieu of
the procedures provided in Section 1 of this Article, and a
charter adopted pursuant to this section has the effect of a
charter adopted in accordance with the provisions of Section
1. The board of county commissioners of any county at any
time may appoint a charter board. Said charter board shall
be registered voters and shall consist of an uneven number
of members, not fewer than five or more than nine. The
board of county commissioners shall appoint a charter board
within thirty days after receiving a petition signed by five
percent of the registered voters of the county or by ten
thousand voters of the county, whichever is the lesser num-
ber. If additional charter board members are nominated by
petitions signed by three percent of the registered voters of
the county or by two thousand registered voters, whichever
is the lesser number, delivered to the board of county
commissioners within sixty days after the charter board is
appointed, the board of county commissioners shall call a
special election not less than thirty or more than ninety days
after receiving petitions, unless a regular election falls within
the designated period. The ap^^ees of the board of
county commissioners and those nominated by petitions
shall be placed on the ballot in alphabetical order without
party designation. The voters may cast votes for, and elect a
number of nominees equal to the number of charter board
members originally selected by the board of county commis-
sioners, and those so elected are the charter board. The
charter board, within twelve months from the date of its
appointment, or if there was an election for some of its
members, within twelve months from the date of the elec-
tion, shall present a proposed charter for the county to the
board of county commissioners, which shall publish it at