3122                                                VETOES

enactment or by executive order subject to approval
by the General Assembly, and clarifying the language
therein.

May 31, 1974.

Honorable John Hanson Briscoe
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the
Maryland Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill
578.

This bill prohibits any change in the inflation
allowance determined for purposes of real property
assessment except by legislative enactment or by
executive order subject to prior approval of the General
Assembly.

Section 14(b)(1) of Article 81 of the Annotated Code
of Maryland requires that real property be assessed at
its full cash value on the day of finality, which Section
29A of Article 81 declares to be January 1 of each year.
The term "full cash value" is defined in Section 14(b) (1)
as current value less an allowance for inflation, if in
fact inflation exists. Thus, the inflation allowance
must be determined prior to January 1.

At present, as part of the jurisdiction granted by
Section 232 of Article 81, the Director of the State
Department of Assessments and Taxation determines the
inflation allowance. House Bill 578 would, in effect,
remove this responsibility from the Director and place it
in the General Assembly.

My objections to the bill are twofold. First,
absent a special session, the General Assembly does not
convene until after January 1; and it would therefore be
impossible to effectuate a change in the inflation
allowance for eighteen months after a determination is
made that such a change is necessary. Such inflexibility
is hardly a desirable goal, particularly in times of
abnormal inflation or deflation. Second, even to the
extent that such delay and rigidity can be overcome by
calling the General Assembly into special session, I am
not convinced that the responsibility for determining
whether, and precisely to what degree, inflation exists
each year is an appropriate one for the collective
judgment of 188 people.

The Director of the Department must, of necessity,
keep abreast of economic trends in his daily work. He