Evening star., 1962-05-28
Burbee ReVives
Apportionment
Killed by Senate
BY q star Staff Writer

- = Ss@A Sta%A "AAhNA
ANNAPOLIS, May 28.-The
House Judiciary Committee to-
day approved an amendment to
Gov. Tawes' reapportionment
bill which would cut down the
number of delegates proposed
for the three big suburban
counties.
Under the amendment, Mont
gomery and Prince Georges
each would get three additional
House members and Baltimore
County would get five. Under
Gov. Tawes' proposal, Mont
gomery and Prince Georges
would get four more and Bal
timore County seven.
All three now have SIX dele
gates.
Royce Hanson, president Of
the Maryland Committee for !
Fair Representation, said the
amendment is unsatisfactory to
the committee. He said if the
bill is enacted in the amended
form, the committee will go
back to the courts to seek more
House members for the subur-
ban counties.
The committee still is in the
courts seeking reapportionment
of the Senate. Revision Of
House seats to give the subur-
ban areas more representation
was ordered last week by Cir
cult Court Judge o. Bowie
Duckett.
Bill Died In Senate
The amended version Of Gov.
Tawes' bill is, in effect, the
same reapportionment measure
that was passed by the House
at the recent session Of the
General Assembly. 1t died in
the Senate.
1t would take 16 Delegates
away from the small counties {
and give them to five larger
ones.
One of the major reasons
for amending the Tawes bill
was to get the support of Bal
timore City. Under the amended
bill, Baltimore would not lose
any Delegates, while under the
Tawes bill the city stands to
lose three in 1866.
The motion to amend the
Tawes bill came from Delegate
Alger Y. Barbee, Democrat OF
Montgomery. He was q CO.
author of the bill which passed
the House at the last session.
Districts Plan Beaten
The Judiciary Committee
beat down an attempt to re-
quire the bigger counties to ,
divide themselves into legisla-
tive districts If they get more
members. This proposal was
promoted by the small counties.
which contended that election |
of Delegates from districts \
would prevent the heavily
populated section of the sub |
urban counties from electing
all the Delegates from those
counties. \
Any bill adding seats must
be passed by midnight Thurs
day to be effective for the Mo-
vember elections.
Judge Duckett will file for
mally today the opinion he an
nounced last Thursday that
three Baltimore and Washing
ton suburban counties are NAL
apportioned.
Committee Pushes Appeal
The Maryland Committee on
Fair Representation, which
filed the suit challenging the
apportionment, will ask the
Court Of Appeals to accelerate
hearing its appeal. The COM
mittee objects to a part Of Judge
Duckett's opinion that Balti-
more City and Anne Arundel
County are not under-repre-
Sented.
The bill before the Maryland
House would give the city and
Anne Arundel more Delegates
during the next four years.
Delegates also would be added
in Baltimore, Montgomery and
Prince Georges Counties, in
creasing House membership
from 1913 to 142 until 1866.
At that time, a strict popula-
ton formula would be applied
to a membership Of 1913. This
would mean that the increase
in seats for the most populous
counties would be siphoned off
the smaller and medium-sized
counties as we'll as from Balti-
more.