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2108 VETOES
"Conservation of Natural Resources". The Bill is applicable
only in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties. It provides for
licensing of sand or gravel excavators and imposes upon them
the duty after an excavation operation "to bulldoze the dis-
turbed land to a proper level, or to use some other methods
for this purpose". The Attorney General advises that the
standards set by the Bill for leveling the land are too vague
and indefinite to constitute a standard or guide. Since it is
a criminal offense to violate the law, it would follow that the
provisions of the Bill are too uncertain to afford a constitu-
tional basis for the imposition of criminal penalties for a viola-
tion.
In addition, it would appear probable that the geographic
restriction of the bill violates the equal protection clause of
the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and
Article 23 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. There is no
apparent difference between conditions in the two affected
counties and in other counties of the State where similar opera-
tions are conducted.
Under these circumstances, the decision of the Court of Ap-
peals of Maryland in the case of Maryland Coal and Realty Co.
v. Bureau of Mines, 69 A (2d) 471, relating to a strip mining
law would seem to be determinative of the question. The Court
there held unconstitutional an act which purported to regulate
strip mining only in Allegany County.
I am, therefore, returning this Bill without my approval.
Respectfully,
THEODORE R. MCKELDIN,
Governor
TRMcK/jmt
May 7, 1951
Hon. John C. Luber
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I am returning House Bill No. 406 without my approval for
the following reasons:
House Bill No. 406 repeals and re-enacts, with amendments,
Section 4 of Article 99 of the Code, title "Birds, Game and
Inland Water Fish, " sub-title "Commission. " It, in effect,
adds a provision to that Section requiring the Game and Inland
Fish Commission to match any bounty paid to a person by any
county for killing foxes and weasels.
There is serious question as to the validity of the Bill be-
cause, for all practical purposes, it empowers County Com-
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