Marvin Mandel, Governor                          1463

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 411 SECTIONS 411 AND 412(B) of Article 41 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland (1970 Supplement), title "Governor—
Executive and Administrative Departments," subtitle '"Greater Balti-
more Consolidated Wholesale Food Market Authority," be and it is
THEY ARE hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to
read as follows:

411.

The General Assembly of Maryland makes the following declara-
tions as a statement of its legislative intent in the enactment of this
subtitle:

(1)    The marketing of food is a matter of public interest; the
maintenance of wholesale market places is and has always been recog-
nized as a public function; the vast quantities of food and related food
products brought annually from all parts of the United States into
the wholesale markets in the Greater Baltimore Region are obliged to
pass through market facilities which are obsolete and inadequate to
meet present needs; the scattered locations and difficulty of access
with respect to such markets constitute an economic loss; the obsoles-
cence of these markets is responsible for much of the high cost of food
handling and for the deterioration which takes place both within the
wholesale markets and between the markets and the consumer's door-
step; modern consolidated facilities would result in an annual saving;
there is need for a consolidated wholesale food market within the
Greater Baltimore Region; and in spite of this great need, efforts on
the part of the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, the wholesale
food trade, the growers, and the transportation industry have failed
to bring about the creation of a satisfactory consolidation of whole-
sale markets.

(2)    The construction, operation, and maintenance of wholesale
markets, and in particular a single consolidated market for the
Greater Baltimore Region, as defined herein, would require the expen-
diture of a large sum of money; the financial systems of the political
subdivisions of the Greater Baltimore Region are not designed to
handle projects of this type on a nonprofit, self-liquidating basis, and
the best method of distributing responsibility for this problem and of
achieving the creation of a market is to create and empower a market
authority as a public corporation, the function of which would be to
acquire land for and to construct and operate such a market; and to
aid and assist by the making of loans and otherwise those persons
engaged in the wholesale food industry who wish to locate in such
market.

(3)    The public health and safety of the citizens of the State of
Maryland are adversely affected by the unsafe, obsolete, and unsani-
tary conditions of existing food markets.

(4)    It is desirable and in the public interest that these conditions
be eliminated and corrected and that an economical and modern meth-
od of marketing wholesale food in the State of Maryland be estab-
lished by the construction of a modern, sanitary, and accessible mar-
ket, including [parking and other ancillary] facilities [,] ancillary

thereto and such other facilities, including but not limited to retail

and non-food facilities, WAREHOUSE FACILITIES USED BY