3920

VETOES

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
not affect or repeal any local ordinance in existence as of
January 1, 1985.

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1985.

May 28, 1985
The Honorable Benjamin L. Cardin
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21404

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill 212, because
enactment of this legislation may prove detrimental to the public
health and to our efforts to improve the water quality of the
Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and other waters of the State.

Specifically, House Bill 212 would prohibit local health
departments from requiring a lot owner to obtain more than one
approval for the installation of a septic system if initial
approval has been obtained after July 1, 1985. The bill further
provides that subsequent approval for a septic system may be
required where there have been changes to the lot or immediate
vicinity or where new information becomes available indicating
that the system would pose a threat to public health or the
environment. The bill was amended to exclude Anne Arundel,
Baltimore, Harford, Howard, and Montgomery Counties from the
relaxation of current subsequent approval requirements. I have
received veto requests from the Secretaries of Health and Mental
Hygiene and State Planning, the Maryland Conference of local
Environmental Health Directors, the Maryland Association of
County Health Officers, and individual county health departments.

The argument advanced in support of the bill is that a lot
owner who purchases a lot for which approval of a septic system
has been granted earlier in time should not be required to
undergo the inconvenience and expense of obtaining additional
approval to build on the lot today. The premise underlying this
argument is that notwithstanding the passage of perhaps many
years between initial approval of a septic system and actual
construction on the lot, a percolation test of subsoil integrity
is valid in perpetuity.