Evening star., 1962-05-31
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vising House seats in 1866 if
the voters approve. Both would
give urban areas slightly more
than so per cent of the Assem-
bly, membership.
The Senate voted 17-11 for
the bill which will increase
House membership from 1913 to
140 for the next four years and
1879 for the constitutional
amendment which would re-
shuttle House seats on a per-
manent basis in 1866.
Nearby Counties Gain
Under the stopgap plan,
Montgomery and Primo e
Georges each would get three
more Delegates this year, Bal
timore County would get five,
Anne Arundel one, st. Marys
one and Baltimore City four.
This would be accomplished by
increasing the size of the House
from 1913 members to 140.
The permanent arrangement
called for giving the four
suburban counties and st.
Marys the same additional
membership, but leaving Balti-
more City'S at its present fig
ure. 1t also would cut back the
size Of the House to 126 mem
bers. The additional seats for
the bigger counties would come
from a cutback of Delegates in
several rural counties.
A few rural Senators tried
to kill all reapportionment
legislation but failed on the
strength of a reported deal be-
tween a majority of small coun-
ty and urban area Senators.
The deal. spoken of openly
on the floor of the Senate, re-
portedly involved a promise
from some urban Senators to
support a further watering
down Of the reapportionment |
legislation. In return, several
rural county legislators are
supposed to support the legis-
lation and allow the Democratic
and Republican State Central
Committees to appoint nomi-
nees for new seats which would |
be created this year.
Change Must Come
Most Of the rural legislators |
would rather not have any re-
apportionment, but apparently |
a majority Of them feel that in |
view of recent court decisions |
they must accept some changes
to give the urban areas more
representation. They are hold
ing out for as few changes as
possible.
Involved in the deal is an
amendment requested by the
rural legislators to prohibit the
taking Of more than one House
member from a single county.
The amendment was offered by
Senator Frederick D. Malkus,
Democrat of Dorchester, a lead
ing spokesman for the rural
Eastern Shore.
Some Senators from the big
suburban counties apparently
have agreed to go along with the
amendment provided the party
committees, which their fac
lions control, get to name nomi-
nees for the new Delegates
which the legislation would
provide for the suburban areas.
Senate Plan Told
The Senate plan would in
crease the membership of the
House by three, to a total of
126, in 1866, and possibly to
1913 after the 1870 census, de-
pending on population figures.
This was done so that no
county would lose more than
one delegate. Under the House
bill three small counties which
stood to lose two delegates
Dorchester, Allegany and Fred
erick-would lose two.
The Senate version also pro-
vides for dividing the four
suburban counties into legisla-
tive districts from which each
delegate would be elected. The
House bill does not have this
provision. The Senate bill would
mean that Montgomery and
Prince Georges would have to
divide themselves into nine dis
tricts and the delegates would
run from their own district
rather than countrywide.
Small county legislators
forced the .districting condition
Of the big counties despite pro-
tests from suburban Senators.
The latter said election by dis
tricts would mean their dele
cations would not have an over
all county viewpoint, but rather
would be looking out only for
their own small election dis
tricts.
The rural senators said they Il