PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor                             Ch. 431

(e) Any offense against the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor and
shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding [five hundred dollars ($500)] $500 or
imprisonment for not exceeding [ninety] 90 days, or both, in the discretion of the court.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
October 1, 1996.

Approved May 14, 1996.

CHAPTER 431
(House Bill 127)

AN ACT concerning

Commission to Revise the Election Code

FOR the purpose of creating a Commission to Revise the Election Code; specifying the
composition, powers, and duties of the Commission; providing for the staffing of the
Commission; requiring the Commission to report its findings and recommendations,
including suggested legislative changes, to the Governor and the General Assembly
by a certain date; providing for the termination of this Act; and generally relating to
the establishment of the Commission to Revise the Election Code.

BY adding to

Article 41 - Governor - Executive and Administrative Departments

Section 18-309

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1993 Replacement Volume and 1995 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, During the 1995 Session, the General Assembly enacted legislation
to establish the Task Force to Review the State's Election Law to analyze Maryland's
election process in the wake of the contentious 1994 general election; and

WHEREAS, Over the course of the summer and fall of 1995, the Task Force to
Review the State's Election Law received considerable testimony from individuals
involved in the State's election process; and

WHEREAS, The comments and testimony of State and local election law officials
and other individuals involved in the administration and enforcement of the election laws
consistently affirmed that a comprehensive, substantive revision of Article 33 of the
Annotated Code is required in order to remove archaic provisions and resolve omissions
and contradictions that exist in the current law; and

WHEREAS, The usual Code Revision process is limited to making stylistic,
restructuring, nonsubstantive changes in the law, but not substantive revisions; and

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