1820                             Joint Resolutions

Whereas, Such "land reservation statutes" allow the public sector
of society to withhold the development of subdivisions within areas
defined for public use where (1) an immediate intent is exhibited
to purchase the area, and (2) adequate consideration is allowed the
property owners, for the period the land is reserved; and

Whereas, The courts have upheld the concept of land reservation
on the basis that it is a legitimate exercise of the police power in the
public interest; , WHICH POSSIBLY COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED
THROUGH THE ENACTMENT OF LAND RESERVATION LEG-
ISLATION; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Legisla-
tive Council of the General Assembly appoint a committee to study
the desirability and feasibility of enacting "land reservation" legis-
lation with the assistance of the Secretaries of State Planning,
Natural Resources, and Transportation, and further, if this concept
is approved, legislation be prepared for submission to the 1972 Ses-
sion of the General Assembly; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to send
copies of this Resolution to the Governor, and the Secretaries of
State Planning, Natural Resources, and Transportation.

Approved May 6, 1971.

No. 19
(Senate Joint Resolution 81)

Senate Joint Resolution requesting the Governor of Maryland to
appoint an independent commission to study the problems of nurs-
ing homes in depth.

Whereas, In July of 1970 there occurred a Salmonella epidemic
at a nursing home in Baltimore and a Board of Inquiry was appointed
by the Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene of the State of
Maryland, consisting of three members: Dr. David E. Rogers, Dean
of the School of Medicine of The Johns Hopkins University; Dr. John
H. Moxley, III, Dean of the School of Medicine of Maryland Univer-
sity; and Dr. Joseph A. Sellinger, Dean of the School of Medicine
of Loyola University; and

Whereas, a Report of the Board of Inquiry's Findings was sub-
mitted on October 27, 1970, which reads in part as follows:

"What you are about to read is the story of a human tragedy. This
document reports our findings stemming from an investigation into
the deaths of 36 men and women in the summer of 1970 at the Gould
Convalesarium, a nursing home in Baltimore, Maryland. The investi-
gation indicates individual failures by physicians, by those who run
nursing homes, by state and city health officials, by state and national
government. Collectively they add up to the failure of our society
to properly concern itself with the fate of its sick old people. The
fact that such a tragedy could occur in a nursing home in Maryland
that is considered above average clearly indicates the generally
serious and unacceptable situation which exists in nursing homes.