412                              Laws of Maryland                       Ch. 147

by a yea and nay vote supported by three-fifths of all the members
elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, the same
shall take effect from the date of its passage.

Approved April 15, 1970

CHAPTER 147
(House Bill 20)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Sections 1 and 4
of Article 38 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1965 Replace-
ment Volume and 1969 Supplement), title "Fines and Forfeitures";
Sections 113(b) and 113(c) of Article 26 of said Code (1966
Replacement Volume and 1968 Supplement), title "Courts," sub-
title "Municipal Court of Baltimore City"; Section 39 of Article 5
of said Code (1968 Replacement Volume and 1968 Supplement),
title "Appeals," subtitle "Appeals to Circuit Courts for Counties
and Superior Court of Baltimore City"; and Section 340 of Article
66½ of said Code (1967 Replacement Volume and 1968 Supple-
ment), title "Motor Vehicles," subtitle "Offenses and Prosecu-
tions," eliminating imprisonment for non-payment of costs of
criminal prosecutions and eliminating such costs as part of any
penalty, amending the law generally with regard to the payment
of fines and commitment for non-payment thereof, providing for
the limitation, or elimination of, fines in certain circumstances and
for the resentencing in certain circumstances of defendants sen-
tenced to pay fines, making the provisions of Section 4 of Article 38
as hereby amended applicable uniformly throughout the State and
repealing all acts inconsistent therewith to the extent of such
inconsistency.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 1 of Article 38 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1965 Replacement Volume and 1969 Supplement), title "Fines and
Forfeitures," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments, to read as follows:

FINES AND FORFEITURES

1.

When any fine or penalty is imposed by any act of Assembly of
this State or by any ordinance of any incorporated city or town in
this State enacted in pursuance of sufficient authority, for the doing
of any act forbidden to be done by such act of Assembly or ordi-
nance, or for omitting to do any act required to be done by such act
of Assembly or ordinance, the doing of such act or the omission to
do such act shall be deemed to be a criminal offense [;]. Any such
offense alleged to have been committed within their respective ter-
ritorial jurisdictions may be prosecuted in Baltimore City in the
Municipal Court of Baltimore City, or in a County, in the People's
Court or before a trial magistrate of such County whenever author-
ized by applicable law to try cases involving violations of the statute
or ordinance for which such fine may be imposed; or any such