2814

VETOES

or legally insufficient, I feel that it would be unwise
to sign into law a bill which, due to possible
ambiguities, may cause significant practical problems for
the Anatomy Board. More important, at least one
amendment which was made to the bill apparently produces
a result which was not intended by its sponsors.

The Anatomy Board can ill afford a lack of clarity
with respect to duties of such an important and sensitive
nature. In addition, the General Assembly should have
ample time during its next regular session to clarify its
intent in the particular area addressed by the Attorney
General.

For these reasons, I have decided to veto House Bill
583.

Sincerely,
Marvin Mandel
Governor

Letter from State Law Department on
House Bill 583

March 26, 1976

Honorable Marvin Mandel
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

House Bill 583

Dear Governor Mandel:

House Bill 583 deals with the distribution of bodies
under the custody and control of the Anatomy Board. As
introduced the Bill purported only to clarify certain
provisions of Article 43, Section 160(c) by authorizing
the transportation of human specimens by certain persons
outside of the State for use at "educational programs,"
subject to the approval of the Anatomy Board.

Before turning to the problems created by the
amendments to the Bill, we should note that certain
interpretative questions may be raised by the manner in
which the law was changed to deal with out—of—state
educational programs. Under the present law human
specimens may be taken out of the State by physicians and
similar persons with the permission of the Anatomy Board
for use at "scientific or medical meetings,
demonstrations or exhibits." It is clear that the
adjectives "scientific" and "medical" modify all three of
the nouns used — meetings, demonstrations and exhibits.