Ch. 224                             MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                                 587

"Veterans," subtitles [["Relief Fund and Rights" and "Privileges."]] "Relief
Fund" and "Rights and Privileges" respectively, be and [[it is]] they are hereby
repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

4. A veterans' relief fund of such amount as may be included in the budget may
be expended to provide the necessities of life for such Maryland veterans of the
world wars or any other war, or the [widows] SURVIVING SPOUSE and infant
children of veterans as are sick, disabled or indigent, and who are without means
to pay for said necessities or for proper care, and for the purpose of providing the
necessary funeral expenses of such veterans, who were indigent at the time of their
death, to the person who assumes responsibilities for the burial of said veteran and
who requests such payment, which in no case shall be less than one hundred dollars
($100.00). Such veterans' relief shall be distributed to such persons of the above
classes and in such amounts as the Commission provided for in §3 of this article
shall deem proper.

The administrative expenses of the Commission, including salaries, shall be
provided for in the budget.

6. The Maryland Veterans Commission shall appoint an officer who shall be
known as the State Service and Executive Officer and who shall be a member of
the merit system for State employees, and such other employees as may be
provided for in the budget. The Commission shall administer and disburse such
direct relief funds as the budget may provide, and shall prepare in proper form and
present and prosecute the claims of male and female veterans, and their
dependents, with the United States Veterans Administration and other federal
agencies, and shall secure and expedite action on said claims. It shall be the duty
of the State Service and Executive Officer to supervise the State service centers
provided for in §7 of this article, and to keep in contact with the United States
Veterans Administration so that the status of any claim shall be known at any
time; to continue to survey the State in order that no veterans or their dependents
may be neglected and to perform such other duties as the Commission may direct.
The State Service and Executive Officer, and the other employees of the
Commission, shall be paid, in addition to the salaries to which they are entitled
under the Standard Salary Law of the State, their actual and necessary traveling
expenses while engaged in the performance of such duties as the Commission may
authorize and direct. Direct financial relief, under this subtitle, shall be limited to
veterans or the chronically sick, disabled or indigent [widows] SURVIVING
SPOUSES or infant children of veterans who have been residents of Maryland for
at least one year immediately prior to the date of their application for such relief,
and providing no compensation is being received from any other state or country.

The Maryland Veterans Commission shall make and preserve a permanent
registry of the graves of all persons who served in the military or naval forces of
the United States in time of war, who are buried in the State of Maryland.

47.

Whenever any federal, State, county or municipal officer, department or agency,
or any corporation requires a certificate showing the birth, marriage or death of a
veteran as defined in this article, or the marriage and/or similar applicable
certificates for [his wife, widow] THE SPOUSE, SURVIVING SPOUSE or
children, such certificate or certificates shall be furnished without requiring or
collecting any fee which may be required for such certificate by any law,
ordinance, rule or regulation, it being the intention of this section that all
certificates required to be furnished by any veteran, or in connection with any
claim by or on behalf of any dependent or dependents or beneficiary or
beneficiaries of such veteran, shall be furnished without the payment of any fee