1078                             Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 485

19-22.

Every act or omission designated as a misdemeanor in this chapter,
unless otherwise provided, shall be punishable by any trial magistrate
or the circuit court of the county within which such offense is com-
mitted, and the offender shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine
of not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) or to confinement
for not more than thirty (30) days in the county jail, or both, in
the discretion of the magistrate or circuit court. Where such act or
omission is of a continuing nature and is persisted in, in violation
of the provisions of this chapter or any rule or regulation formulated
thereunder, a conviction for one offense shall not be a bar to the
conviction for a continuation of such offense subsequent to the first
or any succeeding conviction.

19-23.

Any land owned by a church, and constituting the premises occu-
pied by such or its parsonage, and used exclusively for public wor-
ship or for other religious or customary purposes of a church or
parsonage and not for investment, gain or other secular purposes,
and any land owned by any private eleemosynary corporation wherein
is conducted a school or schools, shall be exempt from the benefit
assessments provided for by this chapter in respect of a frontage
of not exceeding 150 feet. The [commission] Department may, in
its discretion, exercise in each individual case, grant or withhold a
further exemption of the land so owned and used in respect of any
frontage thereof in excess of 150 feet hereinbefore provided for.

19-24.

The [commission] Department shall be, and it is hereby author-
ized to prescribe all needful rules and regulations for the adminis-
tration and enforcement of this chapter.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1971.

Approved May 17, 1971.

CHAPTER 485
(Senate Bill 699)

AN ACT to waive the provisions of Section 10 of Chapter 409 of the
Acts of 1969, this section relating to the time by which projects
contained in the General Construction Loan of 1969 must be placed
under contract, insofar as this section relates to the following
item contained in the General Construction Loan of 1969: Section
5 (I) (4) (a) Installation of Sprinkler System in Various Build-
ings, Rosewood State Hospital; and to extend for two (2) years
SIX MONTHS the period during which this item may be placed
under construction.