J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                      437

license shall be obtained for each house in which oysters are shucked
or otherwise prepared for market; such license to be in the nature
and form of a contract between the State of Maryland and the appli-
cant, and shall provide for the payment of a license fee of twenty-
five dollars ($25.00), and shall further provide that the licensee shall
turn over to the State of Maryland [fifty percent (50%)] twenty-
five percent (25%) of the shells from the oysters shucked in his es-
tablishment for the current season, said shells to be removed on or
before the twentieth day of August following. Said license shall have
effect from the first day of September in the year in which it may
have been obtained until the twenty-fifth day of April, inclusive,
next succeeding.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
on June 1, 1964.

Approved April 7, 1964.

CHAPTER 178
(House Bill 275)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 3 (5) of
Article 73B of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1963 Supple-
ment), title "Pensions," subtitle "In General," amending the laws
concerning the State Employees' Retirement System with particu-
lar respect to certain officials entitled to a pension or retirement
allowance under the provisions of any law other than said Arti-
cle 73B.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 3 (5) of Article 73B of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1963 Supplement), title "Pensions," subtitle "In General," be and
it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as
follows:

3.

(5) Optional membership of certain officials.—Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in this article, membership in the Retire-
ment System shall be optional with any class of officials elected
or appointed for fixed terms; or with any desk officer or employee
of either house of the General Assembly who receives an annual
salary as his compensation for such employment, who shall be
deemed to be an appointed official within the application of this sub-
section. All officials elected or appointed for fixed terms on or after
July 1, 1957, may become members of the system upon making appli-
cation therefor at any time after their elections or appointment and
before the expiration of their respective terms. All such officials
shall be entitled to credit for previous service rendered by them to
the State, or a participating municipal corporation, including serv-
ice rendered prior to the establishment of the Employees' Retire-
ment System. If any such official is entitled to a pension or retire-
ment allowance under the provisions of any other law, and such
pension or retirement allowance is supported wholly or in part by