MARVIN MANDEL, Governor

4065

This bill extends the grace period of life insurance
policies, whose premiums are collected by agents, for the
duration of a strike by such agents.

The Attorney General has advised me that House Bill
1650 has a defective title and is, therefore, in
violation of Article III, Section 29, of the Maryland
Constitution. For the reasons given on the attached copy
of the Attorney General's opinion, which is to be
considered a part of this message, I believe this bill
must be vetoed.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marvin Mandel

Governor

Letter from State Law Department on H.B. 1650

May 5, 1975
Hon. Marvin Mandel
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Re: House Bill 1650

Dear Governor Mandel:

As requested, we have reviewed House Bill 1650, and
have found that its form and legal sufficiency are
extremely questionable.

I.

Expressed as the purpose of the enactment is:

"the purpose of providing that certain life
insurance policies lapsing for a certain reason
shall be reinstated and of full force and effect."
(emphasis added).

As originally introduced, the bill provided a new
Section 416A to Article 48A (the Insurance Code) of the
Maryland Code Annotated which, in complete conformity
with the title, would have required reinstatement of life
insurance policies which had elapsed as a result of a
strike by insurance agents. However, without any change
in the bill's title, the reinstatement provision was
stricken out entirely, and a new provision, which now
operates to preclude any lapsing of the policies in the
first place, was substituted therefor. A reinstatement
of a lapsed policy is substantially different from
precluding a lapse of the policy altogether, since, in
the former case, there would be no coverage during the