J. MILLARD TAWES, GOVERNOR                         1709

The Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Matters had been studying
the so-called Bailey report which nearly one year earlier had studied
the distribution of gasoline tax funds and motor vehicle revenue funds.

The Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Matters endorsed in
principle that part of the Bailey report which recommended that the
State's system within Baltimore City be identified for the purpose
of distributing State funds. The Committee also thought there was
merit in the proposal of the Bailey Commission that the density of
motor vehicle registration be made a factor in the distribution of
highway funds. However, the Committee was unable to accept the
method by which this factor had been utilized in the Bailey report
because its effect would have been to freeze the distribution of local
highway funds in twenty counties and reduce it in Baltimore City.
Only three jurisdictions would have gained an immediate benefit.

Because the Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Matters believes
that each jurisdiction must have enough funds to maintain a basic
road net, it could not endorse such a drastic revision of the distribution
of local highway funds. It believes that the only method by which
this factor can be employed with equity would involve an increase in
the total amount of funds available for highway maintenance and
construction.

In the judgment of the Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Matters,
there is a need for three separate funds: (1) to maintain a basic road
net in each political sub-division; (2) to provide necessary additional
facilities where there are heavy concentrations of vehicles; (3) to
provide against emergencies such as heavy snows or floods wherever
they may occur.

These recommendations seemed to involve technical problems which
were beyond the resources of the Committee on Taxation and Fiscal
Matters. Accordingly, it is felt that they should be studied by the
State Roads Commission; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Gov-
ernor be requested to refer the subject matter of the Bailey report
to the State Roads Commission with a directive that the State Roads
Commission conduct a study to determine local highway needs, the
cost thereof, and the means of providing for those costs; and be it
further

RESOLVED THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL APPOINT A COMMITTEE TO COLLABORATE WITH
THE STATE ROADS COMMISSION FOR SUCH STUDY; AND BE
IT FURTHER

Resolved, That the State Roads Commission AND SUCH COM-
MITTEE TO BE APPOINTED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL be requested to report the results of its
SUCH study together with its SUGGESTED recommendations to
the Legislative Council and to the members of the General Assembly
not later than October 1, 1961.

Approved March 23, 1961.