WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

May 25, 1989

The Honorable R. Clayton Mitchell, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill 1362.

This bill would establish a special grant program for community
colleges offering licensure programs for health occupations found
by the Secretary of health and Mental Hygiene to be in short
supply. Under the bill, a community college would receive a
grant of $1,500 for each graduate from these programs in excess
of the number of graduates from the programs during the 1987-1988
academic year. Initially, nursing would be the only health
occupation in short supply for purposes of the bill.

This Session the General Assembly passed, and I have signed,
legislation enhancing the financial resources of community
colleges. With enactment of the community college funding bill
(H.B. 1449), general funding for community colleges increased by
almost $10 million, to a level of $92 million in fiscal year
1990. The State is paying an additional $26 million for
professors' pension and Social Security payments. The total
State support for community colleges in fiscal year 1990,
therefore, is over $118 million.

I also signed four bills aimed at improving nursing education in
the State. These bills deal with transition courses to
facilitate the reentry of nurses (S.B. 703), authorizing State
scholarships for part-time nursing students (S.B. 706),
determining the feasibility of a cooperative degree program at
the University of Maryland (S.B. 705), and establishing a task
force to study certain aspects of nursing education programs
throughout the State (S.B. 704).

While I am very supportive of efforts to increase the number of
individuals entering health occupations, I am not convinced that
House Bill 1362 would actually create the incentives envisioned
by the sponsors. The payment of the grant to a community college
after graduation of a student does not seem likely to encourage
students to initially decide to enter a health occupation
education program.

Given these new laws for improving nursing education and the
significantly increased level of funding for community colleges,
I do not believe that an additional, small categorical grant

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