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DELEGATE MARION: Delegate Moser,
I rise with some hesitation because you
have been under the gun a long time. I
think you have been doing an admirable
job.
To understand this better I would like
to go back to one of the questions I asked
you earlier on section 7.05, the third alter-
native, and the use of the word "denied"
in line 19. The word "denied" seems to me
to be more stringest than I understand the
Committee's commentary on this section
in your previous answers referring to the
preemption of a particular field would indi-
cate.
In dealing with this on a subject by sub-
ject basis, will the General Assembly say
either that in acting in a particular field
it is preempting the field, thereby denying
counties the power to act in that field, or
that it is acting in this particular field but
that the counties may continue to enact
such further laws in that area which are
not inconsistent with the action of the pub-
lic general law of the General Assembly?
DELEGATE MOSER: I believe the an-
swer is no. "Denied" is intended to cover
the area, that is, both a specific denial and
a preemption. I cannot go further than
that. The intention of the Committee is not
to require the General Assembly each time
it preempts the field to say that no county
can enact a law on this subject matter.
Denial by preemption could be by implica-
tion. I think you have that right now, do
you not?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: At a hearing
which was held by your Committee and the
Committee on the Legislative Branch one
evening several weeks ago, I heard Dele-
gate Fox, a member of your Committee, use
the example of acting in the area of regu-
lation of sale of liquor. For example, sup-
pose the General Assembly were to enact
a law which said no liquor could be sold on
Sundays, no liquor could be sold to persons
under 21 years of age, and that was the
extent of .the law. Would that preempt the
field so the counties could not act further
than that and regulate beyond that point
not inconsistent with the law? A county
might want to say that new sales of liquor
could be made between 12:00 midnight and
8:00 A.M.?
DELEGATE MOSER: I would think
that would not preempt the field. That is
to say, because that action is not incon-
sistent, the county would be permitted to
operate in that narrow set of facts.
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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Then you are
saying, as I understand it, that the county
might act in a field in which the General
Assembly has acted so long as it is not in-
consistent with the act of the General As-
sembly?
DELEGATE MOSER: That would be
correct.
Delegate Mitchell.
DELEGATE MITCHELL: Mr. President
and Delegate Moser, I think there is the
fear of the violation of the political in-
tegrity of the already established counties
and municipal units, such as Baltimore
City.
I would like to ask you to give an illus-
tration, for example, using Baltimore City,
Baltimore County and Anne Arundel
County of what section 7.10, on multicounty
governments, contemplates, and the extent
of the alteration of boundaries this Article
provides.
DELEGATE MITCHELL: We all recog-
nize the needs of multicounty cooperation,
but sometimes we think that it is enough.
There is the fear of violating the political
powers in the already existing political
entities.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Moser.
DELEGATE MOSER: I am not sure I
fully understand the question but let me
answer it if I may by example, and show
you what could and could not be done.
Under the present Constitution, it is
fairly clear, for instance, that if the voters
in the areas surrounding Bethlehem Steel
Company wanted to be annexed to Balti-
more City, this could be done. That is to
say, it could not be presented by a refer-
endum in Baltimore County, the whole
county, making a determination that they
do not want these people to become annexed
to Baltimore City even though they wanted
to.
Section 7.02 would change this picture.
Under it, you cannot change boundary
lines; you cannot merge counties; you can-
not alter the boundaries in any other way;
you cannot dissolve a county and, specific-
ally, you cannot annex Bethlehem Steel
Company to Baltimore City even though
voters in the area to be annexed want that,
unless voters in Baltimore County, voting
as a county, agreed to it and voters in the
City also agreed. That is the only way that
could be done. That is one element.
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