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HARRY HUGHES, Governor 2321
under Senate Bill 199, those employers within the exclusion would
be exempt from the State ban on industrial homework in those
areas of "garment manufacturing" still subject to federal
regulation. The federal regulations contain no such exemptions,
and the Attorney General has advised me that Senate Bill 199
cannot be read to permit or sanction that which federal law
expressly prohibits. A copy of the Opinion of the Attorney
General is attached and should be considered a part of this
message.
Regardless of whether the bill could be read consistently
with federal law, the existence of such provisions in Maryland
law could result in confusion and could deceptively induce
persons, in reliance on Maryland law, to violate the federal
industrial homework ban.
For these reasons, I have decided to veto Senate Bill 199.
Sincerely,
Harry Hughes
Governor
May 26, 1983
Honorable Harry Hughes
Governor of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Re: Senate Bill 199
Dear Governor Hughes:
We have reviewed for constitutionality and legal sufficiency
Senate Bill 199, which seeks to regulate certain forms of
industrial homework engaged in by garment manufacturers. For
reasons more fully detailed below, it is our opinion that because
of amendments to key provisions of the bill, Senate Bill 199 was
apparently intended to sanction conduct violative of federal law
and regulations of the Department of Labor. Even if construed so
as not to conflict with the federal scheme, the bill, if signed,
nevertheless would result in an invitation to violate federal
law. For these reasons, we do not approve the bill.
Industrial homework has been the subject of strict federal
controls for more than 40 years. In the early 1940's, the Labor
Department banned industrial homework (with minor exceptions) in
selected industries as "a necessary means" to make effective
minimum wage orders. Gemsco v. Walling, 324 U.S. 244, 245
(1945). This prohibition, which was upheld by the Supreme Court,
Id., was imposed on the basis of findings that minimum wages
could not otherwise be maintained in such industries, Id. at 249,
and that low paid homeworkers, by competing with factory workers,
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