62                                          LAWS OF MARYLAND                                 Ch. 42

SHALL BE NO CHARGE TO THE COUNTY FOR THE RECORDING AND
INDEXING THEREOF.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take
effect July 1, 1973.

Approved April 10, 1973.

CHAPTER 43
(House Bill 704)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 3(s)(2) of Article 25 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland (1971 Supplement), title "County
Commissioners," subtitle "General Provisions," to permit Dorchester County to
establish a building or housing code.

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That Section 3(s)(2) of Article 25 of the Annotated Code of
Maryland (1971 Supplement), title "County Commissioners," subtitle "General
Provisions," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read
as follows:

3.

(s)(2) The county commissioners of Harford, Frederick, Caroline, Calvert,
DORCHESTER and Kent counties may adopt, and from time to time may
amend, supplement or abrogate, a building code and a housing code, or either of
such codes. The building code, if adopted, shall provide and prescribe regulations
for the issuance of building permits to be required prior to the construction or
improvement of any buildings; and any such code shall prescribe standards of
construction, maintenance, and repair, covering structural safety, fire prevention
requirements, lights and ventilation, and proper means of ingress and egress. The
housing code, if adopted, shall provide and prescribe regulations and standards for
human habitation, covering sanitation, density of occupancy, open-space
requirements, rodent infestation, and human standards of occupancy.

A building code and a housing code, if either is adopted, and all regulations
thereunder, shall be designed to assure and protect the public health, safety,
comfort, and moral and economic welfare. They may include provisions for
enforcement, including the appointment and maintenance of inspectors and
including penalties for a violation of either a code or the regulations thereunder.

Any such code may incorporate by reference a portion or all, if applicable, of
either a building code or a housing code, as the case may be, issued or proposed
and made available for general circulation by any governmental agency or by any
trade or professional association; but any subsequent amendment to or change in
whatever is adopted by reference shall not be effective in Harford, Frederick,
Caroline and Kent counties until and unless it is specifically incorporated therein
by action of the board of county commissioners.

All buildings on a farm and on any premises devoted solely to agricultural
pursuits are exempt from the provisions and the application of both building and
housing codes.