312 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 291

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any provision of
this Act or the application thereof to any person or circum-
stances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other
provisions or applications of the Act which can be given effect
without the invalid provision or application, and to this end
the provisions of this Act are declared to be severable.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That this Act is hereby
declared to be an emergency law and necessary for the imme-
diate preservation of the public health and safety and being
passed by a yea and nay vote, supported by three-fifths of all
the members elected to each of the two Houses of the General
Assembly, the same shall take effect from the date of its
passage.

Approved March 31, 1943.

CHAPTER 291.
(Senate Bill 222)

AN ACT to add a new section to Article 64A of the Anno-
tated Code of Maryland (1939 Edition); title "Merit
System, " said new section to be known as Section 10A,
and to follow immediately after Section 10 of said

, Article, relating to the taking of examinations under
the Merit System by persons heretofore or hereafter
convicted of crimes.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That a new section be and it is hereby added to
Article 64A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1939 Edi-
tion), title "Merit System", said new section to be known
as Section 10A, to follow immediately after Section 10
of said Article, and to read as follows:

10A. No person who has been heretofore or who shall
hereafter be convicted of any crime, and who shall have
served his sentence or shall have obtained his release by
virtue of any pardon, full or conditional, on probation or
release by conditional commutation of sentence, or by
parole, shall be rendered ineligible, if otherwise qualified,
by reason of said conviction, to take the examination men-
tioned in Section 10 of this Article; provided, however,
that no person convicted of crime shall be entitled to the
preference given to veterans and that if any such person
is, after the taking of 'any such examinations, certified by