MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                            1327

finds (a) that the immediate initiation or continuation
of such project is critical to the public health or water
quality standards of the State, and (b) that a timely and
sufficient Federal grant is not available for such
project.

SECTION 14. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section
5(b) of Chapter 561 of the Acts of 1966, as amended by
Chapter 689 of the Acts of 1967, and as amended by
Chapter 55 of the Acts of 1973, be and it is hereby
repealed and re—enacted, with amendments, to read as
follows:

5.

(b) Any county, municipality, or any agency which
is entitled to receive a State grant pursuant to the
provisions of Section [387(A) 2] 387B(A)2 of Article 43
of the Annotated Code of Maryland, as amended from time
to time, may petition the State Department of Health for
a grant, within the following conditions and limitations:

1.    That a preliminary application, in such
form as the State Department of Health shall specify,
must be received by the State Department of Health for
each project no later than January 1 of each year, for
projects to be financed during the fiscal year starting
the following July 1.

2.    That the final petition and such
supporting documents as may be required by the State
Department of Health are received by the State Department
of Health no later than May 1 of each year, for all
projects to be financed in the fiscal year starting the
following July 1.

3.   Except as provided below, a State grant
offer shall be made only for a project or part of a
project on which a Federal grant offer is made, and the
State grant offer shall BE IN AN amount UP to one—half of
the eligible cost remaining after the maximum Federal
grant has been applied. In the case of a project to be
operated by a State owned institution or facility, the
State grant offer may equal the total cost of the
project.

4.    The Board of Public Works is authorized,
in its discretion and upon recommendation of the
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, to approve a
State grant not to exceed 87—1/2 percent of the eligible
cost of a project or part of a project, if the Board
finds (a) that the immediate initiation or continuation
of such project is critical to the public health or water