752                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [CH. 541

Judgment Fund," to provide an alternative method for the deter-
mination of the annual fee to be paid by uninsured motorists to
the Maryland Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, and to change
the time for return of registration certificates and plates of a motor
vehicle becoming uninsured during the registration year.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 151 (d) of Article 66½ of the Annotated Code of Mary-
land (1964 Supplement), title "Motor Vehicles," subtitle "Unsatisfied
Claim and Judgment Fund," be and it is hereby repealed and re-
enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

151.

(d) On December 30 in each year, beginning with 1961, the
Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Board shall calculate the
probable amount which will be needed to carry out the provisions
of this subtitle during the ensuing registration license year. If, in
its judgment, the estimated balance of the fund at the beginning of
the next registration license year will be insufficient to meet such
needs, the Board shall recommend to the Commissioner and the Com-
missioner shall assess the estimated deficiency:

(1)     Against insurers, so as to produce an aggregate sum which
shall not exceed:

(A)     ½ of 1% of the aggregate net direct written premiums of
all insurers during the preceding calendar year as shown by the
records of the Commissioner of Insurance, or

(B)     10% of the estimated deficiency, whichever shall be the
smaller;

Provided, that the aggregate sum shall be apportioned among in-
surers in the proportion that the net direct written premiums of
each bears to the aggregate net direct written premiums of all insurers
during the preceding calendar year as shown by the records of the
Commissioner of Insurance, and

(2)     Against those persons registering uninsured motor vehicles
during the ensuing registration license year the remainder of the
estimated deficiency, with each such person paying for each uninsured
motor vehicle he registers a sum to be determined by dividing the
remainder of the estimated deficiency by the number of uninsured
motor vehicles registered during the last preceding registration
license year; provided that for the purpose of rounding out the
amount so determined the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund
Board, in its discretion, may increase it by a sum not exceeding forty-
nine cents ($.49). Whenever the formula under the previous sentence
results in a fee for uninsured motorists which in the opinion of the
Board may be difficult of collection because of the amount of the fee,
the Board may in its discretion set the uninsured fee at a lesser sum
which is more collectible and which will produce optimum revenue
for the Fund. Any person registering a motor vehicle other than an
uninsured motor vehicle shall, if such motor vehicle becomes an un-
insured motor vehicle at any time during the registration license year,
immediately notify the Commissioner thereof and shall pay the
amount prescribed in this subparagraph or return his registration