2786

VETOES

I feel that the wiser course of action in this case
is to refuse to compound this maze. At the 1977 session,
the General Assembly and the State Administrator of
Election Laws will perhaps be able to unravel these
inconsistencies, so that the Code will properly set forth
the school board district boundaries in the county. The
sponsor has advised me that he has no objection to a veto
in this instance.

For these reasons, I have decided to veto Senate
Bill 863.

Sincerely,
Marvin Mandel
Governor

Letter from State Law Department on
Senate Bill No. 863

April 26, 1976

Honorable Marvin Mandel

Governor

State of Maryland

Annapolis, Maryland

Re: Senate Bill 863

Dear Governor Mandel:

While Senate Bill 863, altering the boundaries of
the School Board Election Districts of Prince George's
County, is hereby approved for constitutionality, we
should point out that both the existing law amended by
the Bill and the Bill itself contain several errors which
may generate some confusion as to the precise
configuration of some of the school board district
boundaries.

Directing your attention to Article 77, Section
36C (a) (ii) and (iii), you will note that both paragraphs
(ii) and (iii) contain an elaborate description of an
area by reference to street lines and other boundary
reference points. The area described in both paragraphs
is the same, with the area in question purportedly
included in School Board District II as a consequence of
paragraph (ii) and excluded from School Board District
III (under the present law) as a consequence of paragraph
(iii).* Despite the implication of paragraph (iii) that
the specially described area consists entirely of a
portion of Election District 17, we are advised that in
fact the area in question includes parts of both Election
District 16 and 17 as well as a small part of precinct 8
of Election District 2. Since Senate Bill 863 provides