MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                        341

WHO VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL
BE DEEMED GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR, AND UPON
CONVICTION THEREOF SHALL BE FINED NOT MORE THAN
$1,000 OR IMPRISONED NOT MORE THAN ONE YEAR, OR
BOTH.

18.

(b) The term "employer" means a person engaged in an industry
who has twenty-five or more employees for each working day in each
of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calen-
dar year, and any agent of such a person, [but] such term does [not]
include [(1)] the State of Maryland to the extent as may be provided
in this Article [, (2)] but such term does not include a bona fide
private membership club (other than a labor organization) which is
exempt from taxation under Section 501 (c) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1954 [; provided that during the first year after July 1,
1965, persons having fewer than one hundred employees (and their
agents) shall not be considered employers, and during the second
year after such date, persons having fewer than seventy-five em-
ployees (and their agents) shall not be considered employers, and
during the third year after such date, persons having fewer than
fifty employees (and their agents) shall not be considered employers;
provided further that it shall be the policy of the State of Maryland
to insure equal employment opportunities for State employees with-
out discrimination because of race, color, creed, sex or national origin
under existing authority as expressed in Article 64A, Section 12A (a)
of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1964 Replacement Volume)].

Sec. 2. That all laws or parts of laws, public general or public
local, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed
to the extent of any such inconsistency.

Sec. 3. That if the provisions of this Act or the application
thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid for any reason,
such invalidity shall not affect the other provisions or any other
application of this Act which can be given effect without the invalid
provisions or applications, and to this end, all the provisions of this
Act are hereby declared to be severable.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1969.

Approved April 23, 1969.

CHAPTER 154
(House Bill 1311)

AN ACT to add new Sections 232 through 239, inclusive, to Article
41 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition, 1965 Re-
placement Volume), title "Governor—Executive and Administra-
tive Departments," subtitle "State Civil Defense," to be under the
same title, but to be under the new subtitle "The Department of