J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                        19

mileage traveled in those states, and providing for the administra-
tion of the Compact; to repeal and re-enact, with amendments,
Section 273 (a) of the said Article 81 of the Code (1963 Supple-
ment) , sub-title "Tax for Use and Maintenance of Roads", to pro-
vide for charging the excise tax for the issuance of every original
certificate of title to vehicles registered under this section.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That new Sections 395 to 405, inclusive, be and they are hereby added
to Article 66½ of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1963 Supple-
ment), title "Motor Vehicles", to follow immediately after Section
394 thereof and to be under the new sub-title "Bus Taxation Pro-
ration and Reciprocity Agreement", and to read as follows:

395.

The Bus Taxation Proration and Reciprocity Agreement is hereby
enacted into law and entered into with all jurisdictions legally join-
ing therein in the form substantially as follows:

BUS TAXATION PRORATION AND RECIPROCITY
AGREEMENT

396.

Article I. Purposes and Principles

(a)  Purposes of Agreement. It is the purpose of this agreement
to set up a system whereby any contracting state may permit owners
of fleets of buses operating in two or more states to prorate the
registration of the buses in such fleets in each state in which the
fleets operate on the basis of the proportion of miles operated within
such state to total fleet miles, as defined herein.

(b)  Principle of Proration of Registration. It is hereby declared
that in making this agreement the contracting states adhere to the
principle that each state should have the freedom to develop the
kind of highway user tax structure that it determines to be most
appropriate to itself; that the method of taxation of interstate buses
should not be a determining factor in developing its user tax struc-
ture; and that annual taxes or other taxes of the fixed fee type upon
buses, which are not imposed on a basis that reflects the amount of
highway use, should be apportioned among the states, within the
limits of practicality, on the basis of vehicle miles traveled within
each of the states.

397.

Article II. Definitions

(a)  State. State shall include the states of the United States,
the District of Columbia, the territories of the United States, the
provinces of Canada, and the states, territories and Federal District
of Mexico.

(b)  Contracting State. Contracting state shall mean a state which
is a party to this agreement.

(c)  Administrator. Administrator shall mean the official or agency
of a state administering the fee involved, or, in the case of proration