2746

VETOES

Executive agencies provide to individual members of the
General Assembly specific information requested by them.
The agency is authorized to delete material identifying
individuals in order to protect their privacy, "so long
as the deletions do not substantially impair the
usefulness of the information." The agency may, in
addition, deny the request if its chief executive officer
determines that disclosure would do "substantial injury
to the public interest." The bill further provides that,
if an agency denies a request for information, the house
of which the initiator of the request is a member may
subpoena the information, and if the Legislature is not
then in session, the Legislative Council may issue the
subpoena.

My objections to the bill are that, in part it is
inconsistent with Senate Bill 555, which I signed into
law on May 4, 1976, and that, in light of that bill, the
existing Constitutional powers of the General Assembly to
compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of
records while it is in session, and the State Public
Information Act, Senate Bill 286 is unnecessary.

The inconsistency between Senate Bill 286 and Senate
Bill 555 arises from the fact that the latter bill
abolished the Legislative Council, and replaced it with
the Legislative Policy Committee and the continued
existence and vitality of the standing committees of the
General Assembly during the interim between sessions.

It is a rare occasion indeed that information
requested by a member of the Legislature from an
Executive agency is not given for any reason not
recognized in Senate Bill 286. Should such an occasion
arise, however, the member individually may pursue the
remedies set forth in the Public Information Act (Article
76A of the Code). In addition, if the Legislature is
then in session, it has ample authority to compel the
information. If the Legislature is not in session, under
Senate Bill 555, any standing committee, with the
approval of the Legislative Policy Committee, may issue a
subpoena. Thus, the entire purpose and effect of Senate
Bill 286 is achieved through existing law, as
supplemented by Senate Bill 555.

For these reasons, I have vetoed Senate Bill 286.

Sincerely,
Marvin Mandel
Governor