WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

shall be deemed to provide additional, alternative and
supplemental authority for borrowing money and shall be regarded
as supplemental and additional to powers conferred upon the
County by other laws and shall not be regarded as in derogation
of any power now existing; and all previously enacted laws
authorizing the County to borrow money are hereby continued to
the extent that the power contained in them is continuing or has
not been exercised, unless any law is expressly repealed by this
Act, and the validity of any bonds issued under previously
enacted laws is hereby ratified, confirmed and approved. This
Act, being necessary for the welfare of the inhabitants of the
County, shall be liberally construed to effect its purposes. All
Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act are hereby repealed to the extent of any inconsistency.

SECTION 10. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect June 1, 1988.

May 27, 1988

The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.

President of the Senate

State House

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. President:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed Senate Bill 847.

This bill would require the Department of Human Resources to
adopt certain standards for the protection of children in foster
care. The bill would establish a maximum caseload for foster
care staff, require the Department to obtain the medical record
of each child in foster care, and require the local department to
visit a foster home at least once each week until a report of
suspected child abuse is ruled out. It was introduced in
response to the Legal Aid litigation against the State in L.J.,
et al v. Massinga, et al and attempts to codify the consent
decree in this case.

The Department of Human Resources has requested a veto, because
it represents an attempt at "legislative micro-management" of the
State's foster care program. Although the Department is
supportive of the legislative intent behind SB 847, i.e. to
assure minimum standards for the protection of children in foster
care, the Department argues that this bill sets restrictive and
superficial requirements.

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