HARRY HUGHES, Governor

4307

Article 16 - Chancery

Section 66G

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1981 Replacement Volume and 1981 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That section(s) of the Annotated Code of Maryland
read(s) as follows:

Article 16 - Chancery

66G.

The court, upon motion of the defendant alleged to be

the putative father A PARTY TO THE PROCEEDINGS or upon its

own motion, shall "order the mother, child, and defendant

ALLEGED FATHER to submit to [the] blood tests [deemed]

necessary to determine whether or not the defendant ALLEGED

FATHER can be excluded as being the father of the child.

The test results may be received in evidence [only] in cases

where definite exclusion is established, AND IN CASES IN

WHICH THERE IS SOME PROBABILITY OF INCLUSION EXCLUSION IS

NOT ESTABLISHED, IF TESTING WAS SUFFICIENTLY EXTENSIVE TO

EXCLUDE 95 97.3 PERCENT OF PUTATIVE FATHERS WHO ARE NOT

BIOLOGICAL FATHERS, AND THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF THE

ALLEGED FATHER'S PATERNITY IS AT LEAST 95 97.3 PERCENT. The

tests shall be made in laboratories located in this State,

selected by the court from a list provided by the bureau of

support enforcement of the Social Services Administration

AND THE TESTING SHALL BE OF SUFFICIENT EXTENT TO EXCLUDE 95

PERCENT OF THOSE PUTATIVE FATHERS WHO ARE NOT BIOLOGICAL

FATHERS. Reports of such tests shall be made by such

laboratories in writing and in the form required by the

court. Copies of the reports shall be furnished to the

petitioner or complainant and to the defendant ALLEGED

FATHER or their counsel. The reports, when admissible in

evidence [as aforesaid], shall be accepted as prima facie

evidence of the results of such tests. UNLESS INDIGENT, THE

PARTY REQUESTING THE BLOOD TESTS SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

THEIR COSTS; HOWEVER, IF THE REQUESTING PARTY PREVAILS IN

THE ACTION, THE COURT SHALL ASSESS SUCH COSTS. AGAINST THE

OTHER PARTY OR PARTIES IN THE ACTION. The tests IF A PARTY

IS INDIGENT, THE TESTS shall be paid for by the county or

city where the proceedings are pending, unless the court

orders one or more of the parties to the proceedings to pay

for [the same or any part thereof] ALL OR PART OF THE COSTS.

When the tests are admitted in evidence, the laboratory

technicians who made them are subject to cross-examination

by all parties to the proceedings. If any person fails to

submit to the blood tests ordered by the court, such facts,

when properly adduced by evidence, shall be disclosed to the

court and jury and may be commented upon by the court or by

counsel to the jury or to the court when the case is tried

without a jury.