(3) If the vacancy occurs in a district which has boundaries
comprising a portion or all of two or more counties, the Central
Committee of each county involved shall have one vote for
submitting the name of a resident of the district; and if there is
a tie vote between or among the Central Committees, the list
of names there proposed shall be submitted to the Governor,
and he shall make the appointment from the list.

SEC. 14.⁵⁵ The General Assembly shall meet on the
second Wednesday of January, nineteen hundred and seventy-
one, and on the same day in every year thereafter, and at no
other time, unless convened by Proclamation of the Governor.
A Proclamation convening the General Assembly in extraordi-
nary session must be issued by the Governor if a majority of the
members elected to the Senate and a majority of the members
elected to the House of Delegates join in a petition to the
Governor requesting that he convene the General Assembly in
extraordinary session, and the Governor shall convene the
General Assembly on the date specified in the petition. This
section does not affect the Governor's power to convene the
General Assembly in extraordinary session pursuant to Section
16 of Article II of this Constitution.

SEC. 15. ⁵⁶ (1) The General Assembly may continue
its session so long as in its judgment the public interest may
require, for a period not longer than ninety days in each
year. The ninety days shall be consecutive unless otherwise
provided by law. The General Assembly may extend its
session beyond ninety days, but not exceeding an addi-
nonal thirty days, by resolution concurred in by a three-
fifths vote of the membership in each House. When the
General Assembly is convened by Proclamation of the
Governor, the session shall not continue longer than thirty
days, but no additional compensation other than mileage
and other allowances provided by law shall be paid mem-
bers of the General Assembly for special session.

(2) Any compensation and allowances paid to members
of the General Assembly shall be as established by a commis-
sion known as the General Assembly Compensation Com-
mission. The Commission shall consist of nine members, five
of whom shall be appointed by the Governor, two of whom
shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and two of
whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of
Delegates. Members of the General Assembly and officers
and employees of the Government of the State of Maryland
or of any county, city, or other governmental unit of the State
shall not be eligible for appointment to the Commission.
Members of the Commission shall be appointed for terms of
four years commencing on June 1 of each gubernatorial
election year. Members of the Commission are eligible for
re-appointment. Any member of the Commission may be
removed by the Governor prior to the expiration of his term
for official misconduct, incompetence, or neglect of duty. The
members shall serve without compensation but shall be
reimbursed for expenses incurred in carrying out their respon-
sibilities under this section. Decisions of the Commission
mast be concurred in by at least five members.

(3) Within 15 days after the beginning of the regular
session of the General Assembly in 1974 and within 15 days
after the beginning of the regular session in each fourth year
thereafter, the Commission by formal resolution shall submit
its determinations for compensation and allowances to the

General Assembly. The General Assembly may reduce or
reject, but shall not increase any item in the resolution. The
resolution, with any reductions that shall have been con-
curred in by joint resolution of the General Assembly, shall
take effect and have the force of law as of the beginning of
the term of office of the next General Assembly. Rates of
compensation and pensions shall be uniform for all mem-
bers of the General Assembly, except that the officers of the
Senate and the House of Delegates may receive higher
compensation as determined by the General Assembly
Compensation Commission. The provisions of the Com-
pensation Commission resolution shall continue in force
until superseded by any succeeding resolution.

(4) In no event shall the compensation and allowances
be less than they were prior to the establishment of the
Compensation Commission.

SEC. 16. No book, or other printed matter not apper-
taining to the business of the session, shall be purchased,
or subscribed for, for the use of the members of the General
Assembly, or be distributed among them, at the public
expense.

SEC. 17. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as
such, notwithstanding he may thereafter resign, shall dur-
ing the whole period of time, for which he was elected, be
eligible to any office, which shall have been created, or the
salary, or profits of which shall have been increased, during
such term.

SEC. 18. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any
civil action, or criminal prosecution, whatever, for words
spoken in debate.

SEC. 19.⁵⁷ Each House shall be judge of the qualifi-
cations and elections of its members, as prescribed by the
Constitution and Laws of the State, and shall appoint its
own officers, determine the rules of its own proceedings,
punish a member for disorderly or disrespectful behaviour
and with the consent of two-thirds of its whole number of
members elected, expel a member; but no member shall be
expelled a second time for the same offence.

SEC. 20. A majority of the whole number of members
elected to each House shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business; but a smaller number may adjourn
from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent
members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each
House may prescribe.

SEC. 21. The doors of each House, and of the Com-
mittee of the Whole, shall be open, except when the
business is such as ought to be kept secret.

SEC. 22. Each House shall keep a Journal of its
proceedings, and cause the same to be published. The yeas
and nays of members on any question, shall at the call of
any five of them in the House of Delegates, or one in the
Senate, be entered on the Journal.

SEC. 23. Each House may punish by imprisonment,
during the session of the General Assembly, any person, not
a member, for disrespectful, or disorderly behavior in its
presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings, or any
of its officers in the execution of their duties; provided, such
imprisonment shall not, at any one time, exceed ten days.