2140

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 300

chairman. A member from the Commonwealth of Virginia shall serve
as chairman for each year whose last numerical digit is odd and
during that year a member from Maryland shall serve as vice
chairman.] The Commission may maintain one or more offices for
the transaction of its business. The Commission may, without
regard to the civil service or the laws of any signatory relative
to public officers and employees, create and abolish offices,
employments, and positions as it deems necessary for the purposes
of the Commission, affix and provide for the duties, conditions
of employment, qualifications, appointment, removal, term,
compensation, and other rights and benefits of the Commission's
officers and employees, and shall appoint the principal officers
of the Commission and allocate among them administrative
functions, powers, and duties. The Commission may delegate to
the officers and employees of the Commission any powers,
functions, and responsibilities under this agreement as it deems
suitable, except that it may not delegate its power to make
recommendations to the respective legislatures, to issue reports
or to adopt the annual expense budget.

(b) [Full-time officers and employees of the Commission
on a salary basis shall be municipal corporation employees, as
defined in Article 73B of the Code, for the purposes of pension,
health insurance, social security, and other employee
benefits.] EVERY FULL-TIME OFFICER AND EMPLOYEE OF THE
COMMISSION ON A SALARY BASIS SHALL BE ELIGIBLE FOR PENSION,
HEALTH, AND RELATED INSURANCE OFFERED TO EMPLOYEES OF ONE OF THE
MEMBER STATES; PROVIDED THAT THE EMPLOYEES SO ELECTS WITHIN 30
DAYS OF COMMENCING EMPLOYMENT; AND PROVIDED, THAT THE COMMISSION
ALLOCATES FUNDS IN ITS BUDGET FOR THE EMPLOYER SHARE OF THESE
BENEFTIS.

Article II

Purposes, Powers and Duties

[7.] SECTION 201. Purposes.--

The purposes of the signatories in enacting this agreement
are to assist the legislatures of Maryland, [and] Virginia, AND
PENNSYLVANIA in evaluating and responding to problems of mutual
concern relating to the Chesapeake Bay; to promote
intergovernmental cooperation; to encourage cooperative
coordinated resource planning and action by the signatories and
their agencies; to provide, where appropriate, through
recommendation to the respective legislature, uniformity of
legislative application; to preserve and enhance the functions,
powers, and duties of existing offices and agencies of
government; and to recommend improvements in the existing
management system for the benefit of the present and future
inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay region.

[8.] SECTION 202. Powers.—

In pursuit of the purposes and duties set forth in this
article, the Commission may exercise the following powers: