2250                                                    VETOES

May 29, 1979

Honorable James Clark, Jr.
President of the Senate
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

Dear Mr. President:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the
Maryland Constitution, I have today vetoed Senate Bill 1036.

This bill authorizes the Board of Public Works to
adopt, subject to approval by the Joint Standing Committee
on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review,
regulations by which State agencies may enter into capital
project related contracts and change orders prior to or
without the Board's approval under certain circumstances.
It is a significant piece of legislation for two reasons:
First, because it would enable the Board to relieve itself
of the unnecessary and increasing burden of relatively minor
contracts and change orders. Secondly, because it paves the
way for a judicial resolution of the constitutional
authority of the General Assembly to condition the exercise
of an administrative agency's rule making authority upon the
approval of a legislative committee, i.e., it subjects
administrative rule making to a so—called "legislative veto"
mechanism.

Senate Bill 1036 is substantially the same as Senate
Bill 296 of 1978, which my predecessor vetoed on both policy
and constitutional grounds.1/

I too have serious reservations regarding the wisdom of
such mechanisms. However, I also agree with the sponsor of
this measure that the significant question of the
constitutionality of legislative veto mechanisms should be
made available for resolution by the courts of Maryland.
Accordingly, I did not oppose this measure during its
passage through the General Assembly.

Nevertheless, in order to preserve my strong policy
objections to the use of such devices and to insure that the
courts are presented with a legislative veto question which
is not tainted by an apparent gubernatorial approval, 2/ I am
vetoing Senate Bill 1036.

Sincerely,
Harry Hughes
Governor