Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1957-02-28

Majority Floor Leader and chair
The first of my little chores
was the subcommittee on House
Bill No. /, which is better known
as the assessors salary bill. After
a month of interviewing asses
sing officials and cogitating
amongst ourselves, the subcom-
mittee was scheduled to come out
this week with what amounts to
a complete revision of the original
bill, which had been drafted by
the assessors themselves.
Without going into the compli-
Gated details, suffice it to say
that the revised bill gives the as
SCISSORS a reasonable salary in
crease at almost no cost to the
various counties. AS a matter of
fact, Mr.. Reese should be able to
reduce his Montgomery County
budget by at least $4,000 if our
bill passes.
Under present law the State
and the counties split the cost of
the assessors salaries. Under the
bill the State will assume so per
cent of the cost. The counties will
still be permitted to supplement
the statutory salaries, but there
will be a reduced need for such
experimentation in most cases.
Interstate Trucks
My second subcommittee is
charged with the task of working
the Kriels out of what is usually
referred to as the Virginia Gas
oline Tax" bill.
Actually, it is a bill modelled on
a very successful Virginia law,
which requires interstate trucks
from other States to pay to Mary
land a gasoline tax equivalent to
the mileage they cover in Mary
land. OF course, they get a tax
credit for gasoline actually
bought in Maryland.
The net effect, as I have pointed
out before in this space, is to
break up their system of buying
cheap gasoline in New Jersey and
sailing through Maryland without
giving us anything but their ex.
haust fumes
The subcommittee met last
Monday afternoon with the Chief
of the Gasoline Tax Division of
the Comptroller's Office and with
representatives of the trucking
industry. / hope that byOthe time
you read this the bill will have
passed second reading in the
House.
Teachers Salaries
The third subcommittee is the
one that is most likely to end me
up in a mental institution. Its
job is to work on House Bill 253
which isr the famous teachers
salary bill. 1t has a price tag OF
$22,0O0,000 on it.
Our assignment is to figure
out how large Statewide salary
increase can be justified and how
to pay for it, with due attention
to the pending deficit in the Gov
ernor's budget for next year and
the even larger deficit that is
looming for the following year.
The subcommittee consists OF
Delegates Smelser ID, Fred
erick), Staten 3D., Baltimore
County,, Meyers ID, Baltic, 6th)
Nowakowski 3D., BALTIC. 1st)
Larrnore (R., Wicomico) and my
self.
Incidentally, the full Ways and
Means Committee will hold a
public hearing on the teachers
salary bill on the morning OF
Wednesday, March 6.
Odds and Ends
After listening to DR.. Elkins
presentation, I hope the legisla
ture will deal gently with the
University of Maryland's substan
tial budget increase. The bulk OF
the extra money will go for fac
ulty salaries-an area that has
been too long neglected.
We got one good conservation
bill through the House of Dele
gates. If the Senate goes along
it will prohibit the taking of rock
fish in the Susquehanna Flats
at the north end of the Chesa
peake Bay-one of the spawning
areas most favored by the rock
fish.
1t is family possible that some
kind of roadside control bill
may get through this year, and
there is quite variety to choose
from. Roadside control, as you
know, is the polite term for bill
board control. I will report fur
Their on this matter following
this weeks public hearing.
Traffic Safety Bills
The greatest disappointment ir
the 1857 session has been the con
fusion and discomfort generated
by the program of traffic safety
bills dumped into the legislature
hv the sn-callad Silver Commit