3740                                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                                         Ch. 793

CHAPTER 793

(Senate Bill 663)

AN ACT concerning

Environmental Protection - Chesapeake Bay -
Drainage of Agricultural Lands

FOR the purpose of protecting the Chesapeake Bay and other waters
of the State from pollution by requiring that a public
drainage association intending to drain certain lands obtain
approval from the Secretary of Agriculture of construction
and operation and maintenance plans before initiating
construction; requiring the Secretary of Agriculture to
establish certain criteria; defining design, construction,
operation, and maintenance practices for agricultural
drainage projects; exempting agricultural drainage systems
from a certain permit issued by the Department of Natural
Resources provided that construction and operation and
maintenance plans have been approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture; authorizing the joint promulgation of certain
rules and regulations by the Secretaries of Agriculture,
Health and Mental Hygiene, and Natural Resources;
establishing certain administrative procedures; providing
certain procedures for enforcement of this Act by those
Secretaries and specifying the availability of certain other
legal remedies to the State; authorizing civil penalties
imposed under this Act to be placed in a special fund to be
used for certain purposes; defining certain terms; and
generally relating to the establishment of pollution
controls through approval of plans for the construction,
operation, and maintenance of certain agricultural drainage
projects.

BY adding to

Article - Agriculture

Section 8-603

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1974 Volume and 1983 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article - Natural Resources

Section 8-803(f) and (g)

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1983 Replacement Volume and 1983 Supplement)