Evening star., 1943-03-26
Maryland House
May Act Tonight
0nCourt Bill
II
Merit Rotin9 Plan
For Employers
Passed by House
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
ANNAPOLIS, March 26.-British
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden's
scheduled speech before the Gen.
eral Assembly tonight threw the
national spotlight on the Maryland
State House, but State political
observers were equally interested in
disposition Of the Court of Appeals
reorganization bill.
Apparently administration forces
were out to have the much-dis-
puted court bill-which would re-
duce the size of the appellate court
and remove members trial court
duties-given final legislative ap-
proval before the Assembly ad-
journed for the night.
The measure, which provides for
submission of constitutional
amendment to the voters, passed in
the Senate after sharp fight ear
lier this week. If approved by a
three-fifths majority of the House
of Delegates and signed by the Gov
ernor, it would be voted on by the
ClcCGOI ave IleAO ycdI.
Political Maneuvering.
Much behind -the-scene maneu-
vering among House leaders took
place yesterday and continued to-
day, all apparently aimed at bring
ing the court bill UP for final pass
age.
When yesterdays House of Dele
gates session came to an end, Ma
jority Leader John S. White empha-
sized that the House would recess,
not adjourn" until today. This
continued the House legislative day
as of March Is, and permitted the
Judiciary Committees report on the
bill to be brought to the floor today.
As result, the House may ad-
journ, then reconvene as of the
March rs legislative day, allowing
the court bill to come up for final
vote without suspension of rules of
procedure.
Over the opposition of a large
part of the Baltimore City delega-
ton, the House passed the merit
rating bill permitting certain re-
duced rates on monies paid into the
State unemployment compensation
fund for firms having good employ
ment records.
Compensation Charge.
The bill passed, 1922, after Mr..
White declared its provisions would
protect the tae State unemployment
insurance fund.
1T the bilD keeps the unemploy-
ment compensation minimum at
$5O,000,000, and provides that if it
falls below this mark, we can raise
the rates and collect more money
from employers" Mr.. White said.
At present, firms pay 2.7 per cent
Of their total payroll into the fund
Under the act, the lowest rate, for
exceptional employment records, was
set at 09 per cent.
Mr.. White said it had been neces-
sary to exclude certain large war
industries, such as the Glenn l..
Martin Co., from the bills benefits
because they would break the fund"
with the deadline for introduction
of bills set for today, a stack of 80
new measures were dropped into the
House hopper yesterday and many
others were introduced in the lower
chamber today.
Yesterday, the House adopted the
same number of bills as were intro
duced.
Last Day for Filing Bills.
Legislative rules require that all
bills must be introduced 10 days be-
fore the end of the session, and after
adjournment today no measures may
be accepted except through sus-
pension of the rules.
One of the new bills was an ad-
mlnlstratlon measure which would
permit further deductions on pay
ment of State income taxes next
year.
Under its provisions, medical eX-
penses not compensated for by in
surance Or other means, payment
Of the Federal Victory tax, Federal
pensions and other allowances re-
sulting from service with the armed
forces were made deductible items.
The Senate session was devoted
largely to routine reports. Twenty
one new bills were introduced, and
the chamber acted finally on 33
bills. all of which originated in the
House and now to the Governor.
On Hours of Women.
The Senate received a bill which
would render imperative for the
duration of the war the statute re-
stricting the length of time
woman may work in any factory in
the State.
The bill. sponsored by Senate
President Arthur H. Brice, would
relax the restrictions now making
1t unlawful for any woman to work
more than 10 hours day or 60
hours a week in any plant.
The upper chamber also cleared
the way for the beginning of debate
on compromise version of the pro-
posal to open the Potomac River to
hand-scraping of oysters during
certain seasons of the year.
The Committee on Chesapeake
Bay and Tributaries reported the
bill favorably with amendments and
on the motion of Senator Joseph
A. Wilmer, Republican, of Charles,
an opponent of the proposal in pre-
vious sessions, it was made a special