4010

VETOES

House Bill No, 789 — Individual Care for Mentally
Retarded Persons

AN ACT concerning

Mental Retardation

FOR the purpose of providing an individualized plan of
care, including training and appropriate therapy and
recreation for certain patients, and to provide that
the Director of Mental Retardation shall issue
certain rules and regulations.

May 15, 1975.
Honorable John Hanson Briscoe
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the
Maryland Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill
789.

This bill requires that, on October 1, 1975, every
individual in or admitted to a residential facility
operated by the Mental Retardation Administration shall
have an individualized plan of care, including training,
appropriate therapeutic programs, and recreational
activities developed for him in writing by professional
and supportive personnel. The Director of Mental
Retardation is required to issue appropriate regulations,
on or before September 1, 1975, to carry out the intent
of the Act.

Whatever the value of having such detailed
individualized plans for each patient may be, it is
practically and fiscally impossible to implement this
bill in accordance with its terms. Enactment of the
bill, therefore, would serve only to create a legal
mandate, which is incapable of being carried out.

The Director of Mental Retardation has advised that
it would be impossible for him to prepare and adopt the
required regulations by September 1, 1975. By virtue of
the requirements of Article 40, Section 40A(f), and