WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                   Ch. 563

SUBCOMMITTEE COMMENT: This section is new language derived
without substantive change from former Art. 56, §
232A.

As to the Md. Program Evaluation Act, see Title 8,
Subtitle 4 of the State Government Article.

GENERAL SUBCOMMITTEE COMMENT:

I.  General Comments.

Senate Bill ____ is the product of several months of

intensive study by the Joint Subcommittee on the Business
Occupations Article and the staff of the Code Revision Division
of the Department of Legislative Reference. Originally, this
project was part of the Code Revision Division's overall revision
of the State's business occupations laws. However, after
extensive analysis and consultation with various experts in the
field (including representatives of the Department of Licensing
and Regulation, the Real Estate Commission of Maryland, and the
Office of the Attorney General) the Code Revision staff
recognized that the Real Estate Brokers law contained serious
problems that it would be inappropriate to address and attempt to
resolve in a formal, nonsubstantive revision such as that of the
proposed Business Occupations Article. It was clear that these
problems were not merely academic but created uncertainty in the
interpretation and application of the law. Consequently, the
Joint Subcommittee on the Business Occupations Article was formed
from members of the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs
Committee and the House Economic Matters Committee to undertake
an exhaustive study of these problems and to present its
recommendations to the General Assembly, independent of the
general revision work of the Code Revision Division. The scope
of the review was not to be limited to a nonsubstantive revision
and, indeed, the Joint Subcommittee was requested to consider
substantive proposals.

The revision addresses hundreds of problems. In many
instances the solutions proposed by the Joint Subcommittee had
substantive effects. In each instance the problem and the
solution recommended by the Subcommittee are discussed in the
Subcommittee Comment to the affected section. The following sets
forth a summary of only the most fundamental, or otherwise
significant, problems addressed by the Subcommittee.

II.  Specific Problems.

1. Licensing of individuals as opposed to firms.

It was uncertain, under the former law, whether both
individuals and firms could qualify for licenses to provide real
estate brokerage services or only individuals could qualify for
licenses. The former law made reference to both individuals and

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