Article XVI

SEC. 8²¹¹ Vacant.
SEC. 9²¹² Vacant.
SEC. 10²¹³ Vacant.
SEC. II²¹⁴ Vacant.

ARTICLE XVI²¹⁵

THE REFERENDUM.

SECTION 1. (a) The people reserve to themselves
power known as The Referendum, by petition to have
submitted to the registered voters of the State, to ap-
prove or reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act
of the General Assembly, if approved by the Governor,
or, if passed by the General Assembly over the veto of
the Governor;

(b) The provisions of this Article shall be self-execut-
ing; provided that additional legislation in furtherance
thereof and not in conflict therewith may be enacted.

SEC. 2.²¹⁶ No law enacted by the General Assembly
shall take effect until the first day of June next after the
session at which it may be passed, unless it contains a
Section declaring such law an emergency law and neces-
sary for the immediate preservation of the public health
or safety and is passed upon a yea and nay vote sup-
ported by three-fifths of all the members elected to each
of the two Houses of the General Assembly. The effec-
tive date of a law other than an emergency law may be
extended as provided in Section 3 (b) hereof. If before
said first day of June there shall have been filed with
the Secretary of the State a petition to refer to a vote of
the people any law or part of a law capable of referen-
dum, as in this Article provided, the same shall be re-
ferred by the Secretary of State to such vote, and shall
not become a law or take effect until thirty days after
its approval by a majority of the electors voting thereon
at the next ensuing election held throughout the State
for Members of the House of Representatives of the
United States. An emergency law shall remain in force
notwithstanding such petition, but shall stand repealed
thirty days after having been rejected by a majority of
the qualified electors voting thereon. No measure creat-
ing or abolishing any office, or changing the salary,
term or duty of any officer, or granting any franchise or
special privilege, or creating any vested right or interest,
shall be enacted as an emergency law. No law making
any appropriation for maintaining the State Govern-
ment, or for maintaining or aiding any public institu-
tion, not exceeding the next previous appropriation for

Constitution of Maryland/83 3

the same purpose, shall be subject to rejection or repeal
under this Section. The increase in any such appropria-
tion for maintaining or aiding any public institution shall
only take effect as in the case of other laws, and such in-
crease or any part thereof specified in the petition, may
be referred to a vote of the people upon petition.

SEC. 3.²¹⁷ (a) The referendum petition against an
Act or part of an Act passed by the General Assembly,
shall be sufficient if signed by three percent of the qual-
ified voters of the State of Maryland, calculated upon
the whole number of votes cast for Governor at the last
preceding Gubernatorial election, of whom not more
than half are residents of Baltimore City, or of any one
County. However, any Public Local Law for any one
County or the City of Baltimore, shall be referred by
the Secretary of State only to the people of the County
or City of Baltimore, upon a referendum petition of ten
percent of the qualified voters of the County or City of
Baltimore, as the case may be, calculated upon the
whole number of votes cast respectively for Governor at
the last preceding Gubernatorial election.

(b) If more than one-third, but less than the full
number of signatures required to complete any referen-
dum petition against any law passed by the General As-
sembly, be filed with the Secretary of State before the
first day of June, the time for the law to take effect and
for filing the remainder of signatures to complete the
petition shall be extended to the thirtieth day of the
same month, with like effect.

If an Act is passed less than 45 days prior to June 1,
it may not become effective sooner than 31 days after
its passage. To bring this Act to referendum, the first
one-third of the required number of signatures to a peti-
tion shall be submitted within 30 days after its passage.
If the first one-third of the required number of signa-
tures is submitted to the Secretary of State within 30
days after its passage, the time for the Act to take effect
and for filing the remainder of the signatures to com-
plete the petition shall be extended for an additional 30
days.

(c) In this Article, "pass" or "passed" means any fi-
nal action upon any Act or part of an Act by both
Houses of the General Assembly; and "enact" or
"enacted" means approval of an Act or part of an Act
by the Governor.

(d) Signatures on a petition for referendum on an
Act or part of an Act may be signed at any time after
the Act or part of an Act is passed.

SEC. 4.²¹⁸ A petition may consist of several papers,
but each paper shall contain the full text, or an accurate
summary approved by the Attorney General, of the Act
or part of Act petitioned. There shall be attached to
each paper of signatures filed with a petition an affida-
vit of the person procuring those signatures that the sig-
natures were affixed in his presence and that, based