WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor Ch. 219

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article 41 - Governor - Executive and Administrative

Departments

Subtitle 1. Maryland Food Center Authority

13-102.

The General Assembly of Maryland makes the following
declarations as a statement of its legislative intent in the
enactment of this subtitle:

(1)  The marketing of food is a matter of public
interest; the maintenance of wholesale market places is and has
always been recognized as a public function; the vast quantities
of food and related food products brought annually from all parts
of the United States into the wholesale markets in the [Greater
Baltimore Region] STATE are obliged to pass through market
facilities which are obsolete and inadequate to meet present
needs; the scattered locations and difficulty of access with
respect to such markets constitute an economic loss; the
obsolescence of these markets is responsible for much of the high
cost of food handling and for the deterioration which takes place
both within the wholesale markets and between the markets and the
consumer's doorstep; modern consolidated facilities would result
in an annual saving; there is need for a consolidated wholesale
food market within the [Greater Baltimore Region] STATE; and in
spite of this great need, efforts on the part of the State of
Maryland, the City of Baltimore, the wholesale food trade, the
growers, and the transportation industry have failed to bring
about the creation of a satisfactory consolidation of wholesale
markets.

(2)  The construction, operation, and maintenance of
wholesale markets, and in particular a consolidated market for
the [Greater Baltimore Region, as defined herein,] STATE would
require the expenditure of a large sum of money; the financial
systems of the political subdivisions of the [Greater Baltimore
Region] STATE are not designed to handle projects of this type on
a nonprofit, self-liquidating basis, and the best method of
distributing responsibility for this problem and of achieving the
creation of a market is to create and empower a market authority
as a public corporation, the function of which would be to
acquire land for and to construct and operate such a market; and
to aid and assist by the making of loans and otherwise those
persons engaged in the wholesale food industry who wish to locate
in such market.

(6) It appears that sufficient revenue will be
derived from the operation of the market and park to amortize the
cost thereof within a reasonable period, and it is therefore

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