3398

VETOES

(To follow immediately after Section UN, as added by
Chapter 559 of the Acts of 1980)

Preamble

WHEREAS, There has been established a program to
finance the acquisition of land and the development of that
land by the State and its subdivisions for outdoor public
recreational and open space purposes, this program being
known as "Program Open Space"; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 403 of the Acts of 1969 (the "Act"),
as amended by Chapter 353 of the Acts of 1972, Chapter 632
of the Acts of 1974, Chapter 564 of the Acts of 1975, and
Chapter 563 of the Acts of 1979, authorized and directed the
Board of Public Works to issue a State loan to be known as
the "Outdoor Recreation Land Loan of 1969" in the aggregate
amount of $56,000,000, the net actual cash proceeds of which
are to be expended to fund Program Open Space; and

WHEREAS, It was the intention of the General Assembly
of Maryland in enacting the Act that the bonds evidencing
the Outdoor Recreation Land Loan of 1969 would be sold over
a period of years, beginning with fiscal year 1969-1970, and
that appropriation of the net actual cash proceeds realized
from the sale of these bonds would be made annually by laws
of the General Assembly designating the State and local
projects to which these proceeds would be allocated; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 626 of the Acts of 1972 and Chapter
433 of the Acts of 1977 extended until 1990 the life of
Program Open Space, including the period of time in which
the bonds evidencing the Outdoor Recreation Land Loan of
1969 would be sold; and

WHEREAS, The primary source of debt service for the
Outdoor Recreation Land Loan of 1969 is the State Property
Transfer Tax laid by Section 6 of the Act and imposed
pursuant to Section 278A of Article 81 of the Annotated Code
of Maryland, and the secondary source of debt service is the
ad valorem property tax levied and imposed by Section 7 of
the Act; and

WHEREAS, Question has been raised as to whether,
considering the decisions of the Court of Appeals of
Maryland in Panitz v. Comptroller, 247 Md. 501 (1967), and
Balensen v. Maryland Airport Authority, 253 Md. 490 (1969),
the General Assembly can make the annual appropriations
intended to be made under the Act without in the same bill
expressly providing for the collection of an annual tax or
taxes sufficient to cover the debt service on the bonds
which will be sold under the Act to fund these
appropriations; and