ROBERT L. EHRLICH, JR., Governor

Ch. 5

Also throughout this article, for consistency, the term "grants" is used and is
substituted for former references such as "awards" and "grants and awards".

Also throughout this article, for consistency, the term "municipal corporation" is
substituted for former references such as "municipality", "incorporated city",
"incorporated town", and "incorporated municipality" to conform to Art. XI-E of the
Maryland Constitution.

Also throughout this article, for consistency, references to the "local governing
body of a county" are substituted for former references such as the "board of county
commissioners, county council of the county, and the Mayor and City Council of
Baltimore". The reference to the "local governing body" of a county is broad enough to
encompass any form of government in the county, including traditional commission
government, charter home rule, and code home rule.

In some provisions in this article, as in other revised articles, the term "unit" is
substituted for former references to State entities such as an "agency", "department",
"division", "office", "commission", "board", "committee", and "council". In revised
articles of the Code, the term "unit" is used as the general term for an organization in
the State government because it is broad enough to include all such entities. The
titles "Police Training Commission" and "State Fire Prevention Commission" are
retained in the revision, however, because they indicate specific entities.

The Public Safety Article Review Committee also decided to use the term "law
enforcement agency", rather than "law enforcement unit", throughout this article
because "law enforcement agency" is the more commonly used term.

References to current units and positions are substituted for obsolete references
to entities and positions that have been abolished or have otherwise ceased to exist.

In some "Membership" provisions in this article, there is a subsection captioned
"Tenure; vacancies". A standard paragraph included in those subsections provides
that a "member who is appointed after a term has begun serves only for the rest of the
term and until a successor is appointed and qualifies". This paragraph applies: (1)
when a successor is appointed to replace a member who has died, resigned, or failed
for any other reason to complete a term; (2) when a member is appointed to succeed a
member who has "held over" to part of the next term, pending the delayed
appointment and qualification of the successor; or (3) when, in any other situation, a
member takes office after a term has begun, e.g., when, at the completion of a term,
there is a delay in the appointment of a successor but the member who served the
prior term does not "hold over".

The Public Safety Article Review Committee considered several provisions
contained in the public safety laws to be more suitable for revision in other articles.

Former Art. 27, § 268C and part of § 268B, which prohibited target practice or
discharging a gun or weapon on the land of another without permission in Anne
Arundel County, Caroline County, and St. Mary's County, are revised in § 4-108 of the
Criminal Law Article.

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