Theodore R. McKeldin, Governor                 1665

When considered in the light of these decisions of the Court of
Appeals of Maryland, Senate Bill No. 528, in our opinion, is uncon-
stitutional since it violates Section 29 of Article III of the Constitution
of Maryland. A member of the General Assembly who read the title
to the bill would assume that it would in no way permit fishing with
a buck net or purse net in the Chesapeake Bay, but would only permit
such uses in the Atlantic Ocean except within three miles of the beach
adjacent to Ocean City, Maryland. The body of the bill, however, goes
further and permits the use of certain types of buck nets or purse
nets in the Chesapeake Bay. The title is particularly misleading in
view of the fact that the bill, as originally drawn, expressly provided
that its amendment would make legal the catching of menhaden in
the Chesapeake Bay or the Atlantic Ocean by the use of buck nets
or purse nets. However, this original title and the corresponding
provisions in the body of the act were stricken out of the bill. When
the title of the bill was amended, it in no way indicated that the
amendment to the body of the bill would apply to the Chesapeake Bay.

The provisions of the bill which permit the use of purse nets under
certain conditions in the Chesapeake Bay constitute a substantial
change in the law of Maryland. In the recently decided case of Corsa
v. Tawes, reported in The Daily Record of March 29, 1957, a three-
judge Federal District Court upheld the validity of Section 259 of
Article 66C prohibiting the use of purse nets in Maryland waters on
the grounds that the regulation of fishing by purse nets was a matter
to be dealt with by the Maryland Legislature. The Plaintiffs in that
case did not even ask the court to permit them to fish with purse nets
in the Chesapeake Bay, recognizing that different considerations were
applicable in the Bay than in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A
legislator reading no more than the title of Senate Bill No. 528 would
not have known that by voting for the bill he was doing any more
than merely permitting commercial fishermen to use purse nets to
catch menhaden in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, as they had
sought to do as a result of their suit in the Federal Court.

It is, therefore, our opinion that Senate Bill No. 528 is invalid.

In view of the aforegoing opinion, I have vetoed Senate Bill 528.

Respectfully,

(s) Theodore R. McKeldin,

Governor.
TRMcK:tk

Senate Bill No. 530—Safety signs in Kent and Queen Anne's Counties

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 363 of
Article 66C of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1951 Edition),
title "Natural Resources", sub-title "Roadside Trees", and Section
89 of Article 89B of said Code, title "State Roads", sub-title "Road
Signs", providing that the County Board of Education of Kent
County AND QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTIES shall be permitted to
display signs to provide for the safety of students and display the
donor's name thereon and providing further for certain restric-
tions thereof.
53