J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                     1431

DEPARTMENT OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AFFAIRS BY REGU-
LATIONS TO PROVIDE THE PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO
SUCH TAKING.

May 6, 1966.

Honorable William S. James
President of the Senate
State House
Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Mr. President:

I have today vetoed Senate Bill 496 and, in accordance with the
provisions of Article 2, Section 17 of the Maryland Constitution, I
am returning the same to you along with my message concerning
this action.

On May 4 of this year, I received a letter from the Attorney
General, a copy of which is attached and to be considered a part of
this message, advising that in the opinion of that office, the bill was
unconstitutional. In light of this advice, I felt that I could not sign
the same into law.

With kindest regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

(s) J. MILLARD TAWES,

Governor.
Letter from State Law Department on S. B. 496.

May 4, 1966.

The Honorable J. Millard Tawes
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland

Re: Senate Bill 496
Dear Governor Tawes:

As requested, I have reviewed Senate Bill 496 and found the
Bill to be unconstitutional.

This Bill suffers from the same defect as House Bill 781, 1965
Session, concerning which I wrote you on April 27, 1965. Both of
these bills were an attempt to restrict the taking of crabs from the
waters of Worcester and Somerset Counties, by means of crab pots,
to residents of the respective counties. Senate Bill 496 seeks to
achieve this result by requiring that regulations relating thereto
promulgated by the Department of Chesapeake Bay Affairs must
provide that every applicant for licensing must have resided in either
Worcester or Somerset County, respectively, for more than one year
prior to his application.

In my opinion, Senate Bill 496 is unconstitutional for two rea-
sons. First, the title of the Bill does not clearly state the restric-
tion on regulations to be promulgated by the Department of Chesa-