1650                                      VETOES

to the provisions of Section 1.16 of Volume 4 of Federal regulations
related to highways.

The regulations state that "No contractor shall be required by
law, regulation or practice to obtain a license before he may submit
a bid or before his bid can be considered for an award of contract."
This appears to us to be directly contrary to the provisions of the
house bill and in our opinion would preclude our approval of any
Federal-aid highway projects in Maryland.

Sincerely yours,
(s) Richard Ackroyd,

Division Engineer.

Letter from Federal Highway Administration on H. B. 714

May 6, 1968.

Mr. Robert Montgomery, Jr.

Governor's Office

State House

Annapolis, Maryland 21404

Dear Mr. Montgomery:

You have asked this Office to comment on the provisions of
subparagraph 270 (r) under section 1 of Maryland House Bill No. 714
on the licensing of contractors.

We are in agreement with Mr. Richard Ackroyd, Public Roads
Division Engineer in Maryland, that the requirements in subpara-
graph 270 (r) that a certificate of registration must be issued to a
prospective architect or engineer bidder before his bid is considered,
are contrary to the Federal Aid Regulations of this Administration.
Specifically, the second sentence of section 1.16 of the Federal Aid
Regulations reads as follows:

No contractor shall be required by law, regulation or practice
to obtain a license before he may submit a bid or before his bid
may be considered for award of a contract.

We would have no legal objection to the bill, however, if a
proviso were added to subparagraph 270 (r) to make it inapplicable
to Federal-aid projects or if provision were made for an exemption
of Federal-aid projects under subparagraph 270 (t).

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely yours,
(s) Howard A. Heffron,

Chief Counsel.

House Bill No. 765—State Employees

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 33
of Article 64A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1966 Supple-