324                              Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 73

lar congressional election and in accordance with requirements as to
time, notice, and form in Article 33 of this Code; and shall be for
adoption or rejection by a majority of those voting on the question.

(2)   The referendum petition shall be filed with the board of super-
visors of elections within forty days after a bill is enacted and shall
contain the signatures of at least ten per centum of the registered
voters of the county. If more than one half but less than the full
number of signatures required to complete any referendum petition
against a public local law are filed within forty days from the date
it is enacted, the time for the public local law to take effect and the
time for filing the remainder of signatures to complete the petition
shall be extended for an additional forty days, with like effect.

(3)  A petition may consist of several papers, but each paper shall
contain the full text of the public local law or part of the public local
law petitioned to referendum, and there shall be attached to each
paper an affidavit of the person procuring the signatures thereon that,
to his personal knowledge, each signature thereon is genuine and
bona fide, and that to the best of his knowledge, information, and
belief the signers are registered voters of the State of Maryland and
of the code county, as set opposite their names. The board of super-
visors of elections shall verify the registration of the petitioners.

(4)   If the petition is filed with the board of supervisors of elec-
tions in compliance with all provisions of law, the public local law
shall not take effect until thirty days after its approval by a majority
of the registered voters voting on the question. An emergency bill
shall remain in force from its effective date notwithstanding the
filing of the petition, but it shall be repealed thirty days after having
been rejected by a majority of the registered voters voting thereon.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act is hereby de-
clared to be an emergency measure and necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public health and safety and having been passed
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 23, 1971.

CHAPTER 73
(Senate Bill 348)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 16 of
Article 25B of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1970 Supple-
ment), title "Home Rule for Code Counties," subtitle "Creation of
Public Debt by Code Counties," removing the maximum interest
rate provision relating to the sale of bonds by a code county.

'Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 16 of Article 25B of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1970 Supplement), title "Home Rule for Code Counties," subtitle
"Creation of Public Debt by Code Counties," be and it is hereby
repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows: