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20 CONSTITUTION OF MARYLAND. [ART. XVI
fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses of the Gen-
eral Assembly; provided, however, that said period of suspension may
be extended as provided in Section 3 (b) hereof. If before said first
clay of June there shall have been filed with the Secretary of the State
a petition to refer to a vote of the people any law or part of a law
capable of referendum, as in this Article provided, the same shall
be referred by the Secretary of State to such vote, and shall not
become a law or take effect until thirty days after its approval by a
majority of the electors voting thereon at the next ensuing election
held throughout the State for Members of the House of Representa-
tives of the United States. An emergency law shall remain in force
notwithstanding such petition, but shall stand repealed thirty days
after having been rejected by a majority of the qualified electors vot-
ing thereon; provided, however, that no measure creating or abolish-
ing any office, or changing the salary, term or duty of any officer, or
granting any franchise or special privilege, or creating any vested
right or interest, shall be enacted as an emergency law. No law mak-
ing any appropriation for maintaining the State Government, or for
maintaining or aiding any public institution, not exceeding the next
previous appropriation for the same purpose, shall be subject to rejec-
tion or repeal under this Section. The increase in any such appropria-
tion for maintaining or aiding any public institution shall only take
effect as in the case of other laws, and such increase or any part thereof
specified in the petition, may be referred to a vote of the people upon
petition.
Sec. 3 (a). The referendum petition against an Act or part of an
Act passed by the General Assembly, shall be sufficient if signed
by ten thousand qualified voters of the State of Maryland, of
whom not more than half shall be residents of Baltimore City, or of
any one County; provided that any Public Local Law for any one
County or the City of Baltimore, shall be referred by the Secretary of
State only to the people of said County or City of Baltimore, upon a
referendum petition of ten per cent, of the qualified voters of said
County or City of Baltimore as the case may be, calculated upon the
whole number of votes cast therein respectively for Governor at the last
preceding Gubernatorial election.
(b) If more than one-half, but less than the full number of signa-
tures required to complete any referendum petition against any law
passed by the General Assembly, be filed with the Secretary of State
before the first day of June, the time for the law to take effect, and
for filing the remainder of signatures to complete the petition shall
be extended to the thirtieth day of the same month, with like effect.
Sec. 4. A petition may consist of several papers, but each paper
shall contain the full text of the Act or part of Act petitioned upon;
and there shall be attached to each such paper an affidavit of the person
procuring the signatures thereon that of the said person's own personal
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