538                               Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 243

56B.

[Every mass transit or transportation system or company opera-
ting in the metropolitan transit district as established under Article
64B, except those which are owned or controlled by the Metropoli-
tan Transit Authority, shall pay a seat tax fee to the commission
which shall be deposited with the State Treasurer as general fund
revenue. The payment of such a fee shall be in lieu of any such fee
heretofore levied, paid or payable by such mass transit or trans-
portation system or company operating in the metropolitan transit
district. The annual seat tax fee payable under this article shall be
at the rate of $4.00 per seat, per vehicle used by such mass transit
or transportation companies. The annual seat tax fee shall be paid
in semiannual installments in the months of June and December of
each year and the tax due in the month of June 1969 and each in-
stallment thereafter shall be paid to the Commission.]

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

Approved April 29, 1971

CHAPTER 243
(Senate Bill 555)

AN ACT to waive the provisions of Section 10 of Chapter 759 of
the Acts of 1967 as this Chapter was amended by Chapter 318 of
the Acts of 1969, this section relating to the time by which
projects contained in the General Construction Loan of 1967 must
be placed under contract, insofar as this section relates to the
following item contained in the General Construction Loan of
1967: Section 5 (G) (1) (A) Construction of a Comprehensive
Community Mental Health and Retardation Center, Baltimore
(200 beds) including site improvements, utilities and landscaping;
and to extend for an additional two (2) years the period during
which this item may be placed under construction.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That the provisions of Section 10 of Chapter 759 of the Acts of
1967 as this Chapter was amended by Chapter 318 of the Acts of
1969, be and they are hereby waived insofar as they impose a time
limit for placing under contract the following items contained in
the General Construction Loan Act of 1967: Section 5 (G) (1) (A)
of Chapter 759 and found on page 1678 of the Laws of 1967, making
available to the Department of Mental Hygiene—Headquarters the
sum of Nine Million, Two Hundred Forty-One Thousand, Four Hun-
dred Dollars ($9,241,400) for the construction of a Comprehensive
Mental Health and Retardation Center, Baltimore (construction:
$9,111,400)—(site improvements, utilities, landscaping: $130,000).
There shall be allowed an additional period of two (2) years begin-
ning on the effective date of this Act for placing this project under
construction. If this project shall not have been placed under con-
struction within a period of two (2) years beginning on the effective
date of this Act, then it shall be determined to have been abandoned