600                                        LAWS OF MARYLAND                                Ch. 234

CHAPTER 234
(Senate Bill 660)

AN ACT to repeal Section 88 of Article 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1969 Replacement Volume and 1972 Supplement), title "Public Service
Commission Law," subtitle "Procedure Before Commission," and to enact
new Section 88 [[to said article, title and subtitle,]] in lieu thereof, to stand in
the place of the section so repealed, repealing the annual filing fee payable by
public service companies, providing for a new method of financing the
operations of the Public Service Commission, requiring all public service
companies to contribute a specified proportion of the expenses of such
operations and providing for the allocation and determination of such
proportions and the method of assessing and collecting the same, and relating
generally to the financing of Public Service Commission operations.

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That Section 88 of Article 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1969 Replacement Volume and 1972 Supplement), title "Public Service
Commission Law," subtitle "Procedure Before Commission," be and it is hereby
repealed and that new Section 88 be and it is hereby enacted in lieu thereof [[to
said article, title, and subtitle,]] ,to stand in the place of the section so repealed,
and to read as follows:

[(a)The commission shall charge and collect the following fees; For copies of
papers and records not required to be certified or otherwise authenticated by the
Commission, ten cents for each folio; for certified copies of official documents and
orders filed in its office, fifteen cents for each folio, and one dollar for every
certificate under seal affixed thereto; for certifying a copy of any report made by
any corporation to the Commission, two dollars; for each certified copy of the
annual report of the Commission, one dollar and fifty cents; for certified copies of
all evidence and proceedings taken before the Commission, twenty cents for each
folio.

(b)   Subsection (a) shall not apply to typewritten transcripts of evidence at
hearings before the Commission by any of the Commission's stenographers, but
the Commission shall regulate by rule the fee chargeable by such stenographers for
copies of such transcripts.

(c)   No fee shall be charged or collected for copies of papers, records or official
documents furnished to public officers for use in their official capacity, or for the
annual reports of the Commission in the ordinary course of distribution. All fees
charged and collected by the Commission shall belong to the State of Maryland
and shall be paid monthly accompanied by a detailed statement thereof into the
treasury of the State, and become part of the general funds of the State.

(d)  In addition to all other fees and charges specified in this section or elsewhere
in this article, there is hereby imposed upon every public service company, whose
gross receipts amount to $10,000. or more, an annual filing fee in an amount equal
to the product of .0009 multiplied by the company's annual gross receipts for the
preceding year. The fee shall be payable on or before April 1 in any year, with the
computation being based upon the gross receipts for the preceding calendar year.
"Gross receipts" shall apply only to the revenues from such types of utility
business and operations as are within the regulatory jurisdiction of the
Commission. The proceeds of the filing fees shall be accounted for monthly into
the general funds of the State treasury.

88.