332 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 313

(b) The issuance of certificates under a lawfully transacted
group life or group disability policy, where the master policy
was entered into in a State in which the insurer was then
authorized to transact insurance.

(e) The renewal or continuance in force, with or without
modification, of contracts otherwise lawful and which were
not originally executed in violation of this section.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1943.

Approved April 30, 1943.

CHAPTER 313.
(House Bill 73)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Sub-section
(d) of Section 144 of the Article 81 of the Annotated Code
of Maryland (1939 Edition), title "Revenue and Taxes, " as
said section was amended by Chapter 912 of the Acts of
1941, exempting certain corporations from the payment of
the annual franchise tax.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Sub-section (d) of Section 144 of Article 81 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title "Revenue
and Taxes, " as said section was amended by Chapter 912 of
the Acts of 1941, be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted,
with amendments, to read as follows:

144. (d) Every domestic corporation having no capital
stock or having no capital as of the preceding thirty-first day
of December or the last day of its preceding fiscal year, as
the case may be, except volunteer fire associations, charitable
and benevolent institutions, service clubs, social clubs, War
Veterans^organizations, cemetery corporations, political clubs,;
musical or cultural corporations and civic improvement asso-
ciations, not operated for profit, and every domestic building
or homestead association and credit union, shall pay annually
for the use of the State, in addition to any other tax imposed
by law, a tax of $10 for its franchise to be a corporation. This
sub-section shall not be construed to apply to any incorporated
church, parish or other purely religious corporation heretofore
or hereafter incorporated by the General Assembly or under
the laws of this State, and that no penalty or forfeiture shall