HARRY HUGHES, Governor

2061

CHAPTER 576

(Senate Bill 813)

AN ACT concerning

Bistate Agreement on the Chesapeake Bay

FOR the purpose of enacting on the part of this State an
agreement between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the
State of Maryland for the utilization of the resources
and management of the Chesapeake Bay; creating a
Chesapeake Bay Commission; establishing the terms,
composition, compensation, procedures, and budgetary
system of the Commission; establishing the purposes,
powers, and duties of the Commission relative to the
Chesapeake Bay; providing for amendments to the
agreement, and for the duration and dissolution of the
Bistate Agreement on the Chesapeake Bay; providing for
the enactment and effective date of this agreement; and
generally relating to the Bistate Agreement on the
Chesapeake Bay.

BY adding to

Article - Natural Resources

Section 8-302

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1974 Volume and 1979 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, The Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, wetlands,
and dependent natural resources constitute a unified
ecosystem shared and used by the State of Maryland and the
Commonwealth of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Utilization of the resources of the Bay,
including, but not limited to, management and regulatory
programs for migratory fowl, finfish, shellfish and
implementation of methods to achieve compatible usage of the
Bay for commercial and mercantile interests and all actions
which affect changes in water quality, substantially involve
the joint interests of the State and the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, By mutual resolution, the legislatures of
Virginia and Maryland established the Chesapeake Bay
Legislative Advisory Commission which was charged with
reviewing bistate and federal Chesapeake Bay management
practices; and

WHEREAS, The Chesapeake Bay Legislative Advisory
Commission has identified, in its final report to the State
and the Commonwealth, the need for improved coordination of