Marvin Mandel, Governor                       2145

House Bill No. 45—Retirement for Community College Employees

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 5 (b)
of Article 77A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1969 Supple-
ment) , title "Higher Education," subtitle "Community Colleges," to
provide for membership in the Teachers' Retirement System by full
time professional and clerical employees of the Community Colleges
and defining full time professional employees.

May 26, 1970.

Honorable Thomas Hunter Lowe
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17, of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill 45.

This bill provides that all full-time professional and clerical
employees of the various community colleges of Maryland be required
to become members of the Teachers' Retirement System. The ex-
isting law makes membership in the System optional for such persons.

At the public hearing which I held in reference to this bill,
many of the employees of the community colleges appeared to ex-
press their fears and disapproval of House Bill 45. The arguments
presented by these persons basically fell into two categories: The
first was that the salary scale established for community college
personnel does not contemplate their becoming members of the re-
tirement system, and the budgeting of the individuals in their
personal lives would be seriously affected if they were required to
become members of the retirement system without an appropriate
adjustment in their salary scale. Secondly, it was represented that
a high percentage of the persons teaching at the community colleges
do not remain as teachers in the community colleges for a long
enough time to gain the benefits from the retirement system. In
fact, the bill could possibly have the effect of causing the com-
munity colleges to lose more of their professional employees be-
cause of the requirement that they become members of the retire-
ment system. No one appeared at the hearing to contradict these
arguments.

Apparently, this bill passed the General Assembly with little
notice to the persons who would be affected thereby, and I am con-
vinced that had these persons appeared at the various legislative
hearings, the General Assembly would have taken into considera-
tion their legitimate concerns.

In light of these facts, I believe that this measure must be vetoed.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marvin Mandel,

Governor.