Marvin Mandel, Governor                          1113

(d) If any contract or purchase is entered into by the board of

trustees of any community college and a conflict of interest exists

contrary to the provisions of this section, the contract or purchase

may be set aside in a suit brought on behalf of the board by its counsel
or by the Attorney General of Maryland, unless the court finds the
contract or purchase is in the public interest; and the burden of proof

shall be upon the party seeking to uphold the contract or purchase

to show that the contract or purchase is in the public interest; and

except as herein provided, no contract or purchase of the board

shall be set aside on the ground of conflict of interest.
(e) Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section
is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be punished by a

fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one

year; and, in addition it shall be obligatory upon the Governor forth-
with to cause the convicted person to be removed from office.

6BA.

If the cost of any building, improvement, supplies, or equipment
of any sort for a community college exceeds the sum of five thousand
dollars ($5,000), the board of trustees for the college shall advertise
for bids in one or more newspapers published in their respective
counties, publication of the advertisement to appear at least two weeks
prior to the date on which bids are to be filed. The contract for the
building, improvements, supplies, or other equipment shall be award-
ed to the lowest responsible bidder, conforming to specifications, with
consideration being given to quantities involved, time required for
delivery, purpose for which required, competence and responsibility
of bidder, and his ability to render satisfactory service; and the
board of trustees may reject any and all bids and readvertise for
other bids, and any contract entered into or purchase made in viola-
tion of the provisions of this section shall be null and void; but (1)
the provisions of this section shall not apply to contracts for the
purchase of books and/or other materials of instruction, (2) the
board may name in the specifications and advertisements for bids
under this section the particular make, kind or brand of article or
articles to be purchased or contracted for, (3) nothing in this section
applies to emergency repairs during the period of the regular academ-
ic year, and (4) this section shall not apply to contracting or purchas-
ing for a community college done by a local government under proced-
ures authorized by charter or by an act of the General Assembly.

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

Approved May 17, 1971.

CHAPTER 500
(House Bill 98)

AN ACT to add new Subsection (c) to Section 293 of Article 27 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland (1970 Supplement 1971 RE-
PLACEMENT VOLUME), title "Crimes and Punishments," sub-