2156                                      Vetoes

I am informed by the Attorney General that House Bill 392 is
constitutionally defective. For the reasons given in the attached
copy of the Attorney General's opinion, which is to be considered a
part of this message, I believe that the measure must be vetoed.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marvin Mandel,

Governor.

Letter from State Law Department on House Bill 392

May 11, 1970.

The Honorable Marvin Mandel
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

Re: House Bill 392
Dear Governor Mandel:

At your request, we have reviewed the provisions of House Bill
392, and it is our opinion that this legislation, as passed, is constitu-
tionally vague.

The bill proposes the addition of Section 452A to Article 27 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland to provide that no unauthorized
person shall interfere with or broadcast on any police or fire radio
broadcast.

The constitutional problem with this statute is that the term
"unauthorized person" is not defined. As originally drafted, Section
(b) excluded certain specific groups of persons and it could have been
argued that by inference all other persons or groups were "unauthor-
ized". But this section was deleted prior to final enactment.

A penal statute which is so vague that persons of ordinary in-
telligence must necessarily guess at its meaning violates the consti-
tutional guaranty of due process of law, State v. Magaha, 182 Md.
122 (1943); Glickfield v. State, 203 Md. 400 (1953). And if the stat-
ute is so vague and indefinite that a person could not know when he
might be held to have violated it, it is unconstitutional, Police Com-
missioner of Baltimore City v. Siegel Enterprises, Inc., 223 Md. 110
(1960), cert, den., 364 U.S. 909.

I believe that this statute, finally enacted, fails to meet the neces-
sary test and is unconstitutional.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Francis B. Burch

Attorney General.

House Bill No. 489—Repeal of Abortion Laws

AN ACT to repeal Sections 149E, 149F and 149G of Article 43 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland (1969 Supplement), title "Health,"