6                                                    LAWS OF MARYLAND                                      Ch. 2

(15)  (i) 1. Expenses incurred of up to $1,000 for any
one taxable year by employers in providing readers for blind
employees of that employer; and

2. Expenses incurred of up to $1,000 for
any one taxable year by blind employees in obtaining a reader for
use in the employment of the blind employee.

(ii) In this paragraph, "blind" means permanent
impairment of both eyes of the following status: central visual
acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective
glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is
a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to
such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends
an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees on the better eye;
AND                                                   

(16)  TO THE EXTENT INCLUDED, AMOUNTS RECEIVED BY
INDIVIDUALS UNDER TITLE II OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT OR TIER I
BENEFITS UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT.

294.

(a) (4) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISIONS OF THIS
SUBTITLE TO THE CONTRARY, SOCIAL SECURITY OR RAILROAD RETIREMENT
BENEFITS SHALL NOT BE INCLUDED IN GROSS INCOME FOR THE PURPOSE OF
DETERMINING THE REQUIREMENT TO FILE A STATE RETURN.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act is
hereby declared to be an emergency measure and necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public health and safety and having
been passed by a yea and nay vote supported by three-fifths of
all the members elected to each of the two Houses of the General
Assembly, the same shall take effect from the date of its passage
and shall be applicable to all taxable years beginning after.
December 31, 1983.

Approved January 25, 1985.

CHAPTER 3

(Senate Bill 395)

AN ACT concerning

Jury Trials

FOR the purpose of specifying that, in a civil action, a demand
for a jury trial must be filed in a timely manner, to effect
a transfer of jurisdiction from the District Court to a