1978                             Laws of Maryland                       Ch. 702

Whereas, Chapter 403 of the Laws of Maryland of 1969 (the
"Act") authorized and directed the Board of Public Works to issue
a State loan to be known as the "Outdoor Recreation Land Loan of
1969" in the aggregate amount of $60,000,000, the net actual cash
proceeds of which are to be expended to fund Program Open Space;
and

Whereas, It was the intention of the General Assembly of Mary-
land in enacting the Act that the bonds evidencing the Outdoor
Recreation Land Loan of 1969 would be sold over a 5-year period,
beginning with the fiscal year 1969-1970, and that appropriation of
the net actual cash proceeds realized from the sale of such bonds
could be made annually by Acts of the General Assembly of Mary-
land designating the State and local projects to which such proceeds
should be allocated, and

Whereas, The primary source of debt service for the Outdoor
Recreation Land Loan of 1969 is the State Property Transfer Tax
laid by Section 6 of the Act and imposed pursuant to the provisions
of Section 278A of Article 81 of the Annotated Code of Maryland as
set forth in Section 10 of the Act and the secondary source of such
debt service is the ad valorem property tax levied by Section 7 of the
Act; and

Whereas, Question has been raised as to whether, considering the
decisions of the Court of Appeals of Maryland in Panitz v. Comp-
troller, 247 Md. 501 (1967), and Balenson v. Maryland Airport
Authority, 253 Md. 490 (1969), the General Assembly of Maryland
can make the annual appropriations intended to be made under the
Act without in the same bill expressly providing for the collection
of an annual tax or taxes sufficient to cover the debt service on the
bonds which will be sold under the Act to fund such appropriations;
and

Whereas, The General Assembly wishes to resolve any such ques-
tion by repealing the tax provisions of the Act, being Sections 6 and
7 thereof, as amended by Chapter 4 of the Acts of the Special Session
of December 16, 1969 and re-enacting those provisions without
change, and by adding new Sections 11A, 11B and 11C, AND 11B to
the Act, which allocates funds for the fiscal year 1971; now, therefore

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Sections 6 and 7 of Chapter 403 of the Acts of the General
Assembly of 1969, as amended by Chapter 4 of the Acts of the
Special Session of December 16, 1969, be and they are hereby re-
pealed and re-enacted, without change, to read as follows:

6.

That for the primary source of payment of the principal of and
the interest on the bonds or Certificates of Indebtedness issued under
the provisions of this Act as the same become due and payable, there
shall be and is hereby laid an annual tax which shall consist of such
amounts as may be necessary of the proceeds of the tax on written
instruments, imposed pursuant to the provisions of Section 278A of
Article 81 of the Annotated Code of Maryland as set forth in Section
10 of this Act.