MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                          249

tive date of this Act, together with all rules, regulations, general and
special orders and other directives relating thereto, OR PROMUL-
GATED THEREBY, and then in effect for the government of the
departments and agencies, shall continue in force pending exercise
by the Secretary or the departments and agencies of the powers,
duties and responsibilities vested in him or them by these provisions.

Sec. 29. And be it further enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That all persons who are employees of the departments or
agencies which constitute parts of the Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene on the effective date hereof are hereby confirmed in
the office, position or civilian classification which they hold on
such date, except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act.
MARYLAND, THAT ALL PERSONS WHO ARE CLASSIFIED
EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENTS OR AGENCIES WHICH
CONSTITUTE PARTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
AND THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HYGIENE ON THE
EFFECTIVE DATE HEREOF SHALL RETAIN THEIR MERIT
SYSTEM STATUS, EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY
PROVIDED IN THIS ACT.

Sec. 30. And be it further enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That if any part of this Act, or any section or part of the
section thereof, shall be held to be unconstitutional or invalid for any
reason, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the re-
maining parts of this Act, or any section or part of a section hereof,
the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed
the remaining parts of this Act, or sections or parts of sections
hereof, if such unconstitutionality or invalidity had been known;
and to this end, all parts, sections, and parts of sections of this Act
are declared to be severable.

Sec. 31. And be it further enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That all laws or parts of laws, public general or public
local, inconsistent with the provision of this Act are hereby re-
pealed to the extent of any such inconsistency.

Sec. 32. And be it further enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That this Act shall take effect July 1, 1969.

Approved April 9, 1969.

CHAPTER 78
(Senate Bill 580)

AN ACT to repeal Section 71 of Article 41 of the Annotated Code
of Maryland (1957 Edition and 1965 Replacement Volume), title
"Governor—Executive and Administrative Departments," subtitle
"Budget and Procurement," and to enact new Section 71 to stand
in the place and stead of the section so repealed to be under the
same title, but to be under the new subtitle, "The Department of
Budget and Fiscal Planning," and to repeal Section 16 of Article
15A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition and 1968