ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 61

known as Section 6 3A, to follow immediately after Section 63 of
said Article, and to read as follows:

63 A. Any instrument recorded under the provisions of Section
63 of this Article, which is retained in the office of the Clerks of the
Circuit Courts for the several counties or the Superior Court of
Baltimore City for a period of twenty years after the date when it
is recorded', may be destroyed by the respective Clerks after comply-
ing with the provisions of Section 153 and 154 of Article 41 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland (1951 Edition).

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted', That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1955.

Explanation:

Italics indicate new matter added to existing law.
[Brackets] indicate matter stricken from existing law.

Finally, we tried once more to free ourselves from the effects of an
opinion of the Attorney General which prevents the destruction of certain
types of records even though a microfilm copy has been prepared for
permanent retention. The staff of the Attorney General prepared this bill
for us and we have otherwise received the utmost cooperation from his office
in this critical impasse. But again the General Assembly was unsympathetic.
With certain amendments this bill has now received a favorable report from
the Judiciary Committee of the Legislative Council, and we are hopeful of its
passage in 1956.

A BILL

ENTITLED

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 154 of
Article 41 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1954 Supple-
ment), title "Governor—Executive and Administrative Depart-
ments", providing for the destruction of all original records or
documents of any agency, department, board, or commission of
the State of Maryland, or of any County or incorporated mu-
nicipality thereof without regard to the provisions of any other
statute requiring their retention, when they become obsolete and
useless.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 154 of Article 41 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1954 Supplement), title "Governor—Executive and Administra-
tive Departments", be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments, to read as follows:

154. If the Commission shall decline to accept any original
papers, official books, records, documents or files offered to it under
the provisions of Section 153, then the custodian thereof, with the