696                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 423

HOME RULE CLASSIFICATION.

10.   (Classification of Municipal Corporations.) Pursuant to the
provisions of Section 2 of Article HE of the Constitution of Mary-
land, requiring the General Assembly to group the several municipal
corporations in this State into not more than four classes based upon
population, the General Assembly hereby declares that there is one
class of such municipal corporations. Every municipal corporation
in this State,

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AS DEFINED BY SECTION 9 ABOVE, SHALL BE TAKEN AND
CONSIDERED AS A MEMBER OF THAT CLASS, and as subject
to the constitutional and statutory laws applicable thereto.

CHARTER AMENDMENTS.

11.   (Applicability.) Every municipal corporation in this State
shall proceed as in this sub-heading provided in exercising and apply-
ing the powers for the amendment of municipal charters which are
granted thereto by Article HE of the Constitution of Maryland.

12.   (Initiation of Amendments.) An amendment of a municipal
charter may be initiated by the legislative body of the municipal cor-
poration or by a petition of registered QUALIFIED voters of the
municipal corporation.

13.   (Initiation by Legislative Body.) The legislative body of the
municipal corporation, by whatever name known, may initiate a pro-
posed amendment or amendments to the municipal charter, by a
resolution ordained or passed as in the usual course of considering
resolutions in the government of the municipal corporation, by a
majority of all the persons elected to the legislative body. The reso-
lution shall contain the complete and exact wording of the proposed
amendment or amendments. The mayor or other chief executive
officer of the municipal corporation, by whatever name known, shall
give notice by posting and publication of any resolution which pro-
poses an amendment or amendments to the municipal charter. A
complete and exact copy of the resolution containing the proposed
amendment or amendments shall be posted at the town hall or other
main municipal building or public place for a period of at least forty
days following its adoption, or the posted notice shall state that, if
the proposed amendment is adopted, the municipal corporation then
shall be governed under and according to the municipal corporation
charter contained in Article 23B of the Annotated Code of Maryland,
title "Municipal Corporation Charter". A fair summary of the pro-
posed amendment or amendments shall be published in a newspaper
of general circulation in the municipal corporation not less than four
times, at weekly intervals within a period of at least forty days after
the adoption of the resolution containing the proposed amendment or
amendments. The amendment or amendments so proposed by the
legislative body of the municipal corporation shall become and be
considered a part of the municipal charter, according to the terms
of the amendment or amendments, in all respects to be effective and
observed as such, upon the fiftieth day after being so ordained or
passed, unless on or before the fortieth day after being so ordained
or passed there shall be presented to the legislative body of the