reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-302 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-302 - District Supervisors Constituted Governing Body; Number, Qualifications, Appointment and Removal; Tenure; Vacancies

    (a)    The governing body of each district consists of five supervisors.    (b)    Each supervisor shall be interested and knowledgeable in conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources. By training and experience, each supervisor shall be qualified to perform the specialized skilled services which are required in performing the duties under this subtitle.    (c)    The supervisors shall be appointed in the following manner, and consideration shall be given to representation from farming, forestry, wildlife, and urban interests where appropriate:        (1)    One district resident by the county governing body and serving at the pleasure of the county governing body. In those counties with both an executive and a legislative branch of government, the appointment shall be made by the executive and approved by the legislative branch;        (2)    One by the Committee from a list of three district residents submitted by the county farm bureau;        (3)    One by the Committee from a list of three district residents submitted by the county extension service; and        (4)    Two by the Committee from among residents of the district.    (d)    The term of office of each Committee appointed member is 5 years. Each supervisor shall hold office until his successor is appointed and qualifies. Vacancies shall be filled for any unexpired term by appointments made in the same manner as for the full term.    (e)    The Committee, upon notice and hearing, may remove any supervisor from office for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. In addition, any supervisor who, during any period of 12 consecutive months, shall fail to attend at least 50 percent of all regular meetings of the board of supervisors of the district of which he is an appointed member, shall be considered to have resigned and the chairman of the board of supervisors shall notify the appropriate appointing body of the resultant vacancy. However, if the reasons for the supervisor’s inability to attend meetings as required in this subtitle are found by the appointing body to be satisfactory, the appointing body may reinstate the supervisor to office.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-303 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-303 - Meetings of Supervisors; Bonds; Audit; Representatives of Localities; Services of Attorney General

    (a)    The supervisors shall designate annually a chairman and such other officers as may be necessary, and shall have authority to change these designations. A majority of the supervisors constitutes a quorum and the concurrence of a majority in any matter is required for its determination. A supervisor may receive his travel expenses and per diem allowance, as set by the Committee and provided in the annual State budget, for each day spent in the performance of his duties. A supervisor may receive an additional per diem allowance provided by sources other than the State, not to exceed the allowance set by the Committee.    (b)    The supervisors may employ a secretary, technical experts, and other permanent and temporary officers and employees as they require, and shall determine their qualifications, duties, and compensation. The supervisors may delegate to the chairman, to any supervisor, or any employee powers and duties as they deem proper.    (c)    The supervisors shall provide for the execution of surety bonds for every employee and officer who is entrusted with funds or property. They shall provide for the keeping of a full and accurate record of all proceedings and of all resolutions, rules and regulations, and orders issued or adopted. They shall provide for an annual audit of the accounts of receipts and disbursements.    (d)    The supervisors may invite the legislative body of any municipality or county, located near or within the district, to designate a representative to advise and consult with the supervisors of the district on all questions of program and policy which may affect the property, water supply, or other interests of the municipality or county.    (e)    The Office of the Attorney General may provide services to the supervisors as needed.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-303.1 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-303.1 - Immunity From Liability

    A member or employee of a board of supervisors for a soil conservation district shall have the immunity from liability described under § 5-517 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-304 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-304 - Committee to Be Furnished Information by Supervisors

    The supervisors, upon request, shall furnish the Committee with copies of each ordinance, rule or regulation, order, contract, form, or other document they adopt or employ, and other information concerning their activities as the Committee requires in the performance of its duties under this subtitle.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-305 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-305 - State Agencies to Cooperate With Supervisors; Right of Entry on Public Land

    (a)    Any State agency, or any agency of any county, or other political subdivision of the State having jurisdiction over or charged with the administration of any State, county, or other publicly owned lands lying within the boundaries of any district, shall cooperate to the fullest extent with the supervisors of the district to effectuate the programs and operations undertaken by the supervisors under this subtitle.    (b)    The supervisors shall be given free access to enter and perform work on publicly owned lands.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-307 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-307 - Land-Use Rules and Regulations -- Generally

    (a)    The supervisors of any district may formulate rules and regulations governing the use of land within the district in order to conserve soil and soil resources and prevent and control soil erosion. The supervisors may conduct public meetings and public hearings upon tentative rules and regulations as necessary.    (b)    The district supervisors, by rules and regulations, may:        (1)    Require necessary engineering operations, including the construction of terraces, terrace outlets, check dams, dikes, ponds, ditches, and other necessary structures;        (2)    Require observance of particular methods of cultivation including (i) contour cultivating, contour furrowing, lister furrowing, sowing, planting, strip cropping, and seeding; (ii) planting of lands with water conserving and erosion preventing plants, trees, and grasses; and (iii) forestation and reforestation;        (3)    Specify cropping programs and tillage practices to be observed;        (4)    Require retirement from cultivation of any highly erosive area on which erosion may not be adequately controlled if cultivation is carried on; and        (5)    Provide for other means, measures, operations, and programs that may assist conservation of soil resources and prevent or control soil erosion in the district, having due regard to the legislative findings set forth in § 8–102 of this title.    (c)    The regulations shall be uniform throughout the district, except the supervisors may classify district lands with reference to factors such as soil type, degree of slope, degree of erosion threatened or existing, cropping and tillage practices in use, and other relevant factors, and may provide rules and regulations varying with the type or class of land affected, but uniform as to all lands within each class or type.    (d)    Copies of land–use regulations adopted under the provisions of this section shall be printed and made available to all land occupiers within the district.    (e)    Any agency administering any publicly owned lands shall observe the land–use rules and regulations in every respect.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-308 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-308 - Land-Use Rules and Regulations -- Procedure for Adopting; Effect; Amendment or Repeal

    (a)    Before any land-use rule or regulation is enacted into law the supervisors shall give due notice of their intention to submit the rules and regulations to a referendum among the land occupiers within the boundaries of the district for their approval or disapproval.    (b)    The proposed rules and regulations shall be embodied in a proposed ordinance. Copies of the proposed ordinance shall be available for the inspection of all eligible voters during the period between publication of the notice and the date of the referendum. The notices of the referendum shall contain a fair summary of the contents, or state where copies of the proposed ordinance may be examined.    (c)    The supervisors shall supervise the referendum, prescribe appropriate rules and regulations governing its conduct, and publish the results. Only land occupiers within the district are eligible to vote in the referendum.    (d)    No informality in the conduct of the referendum or in any matter relating to it may invalidate the referendum or its results if notice is given substantially in accordance with the provisions of this title and the referendum is fairly conducted.    (e)    The supervisors may not enact the proposed ordinance into law unless at least a majority of the votes cast have been cast for its approval, but the approval of the proposed ordinance by a majority of the votes cast in the referendum does not require the supervisors to enact the proposed ordinance into law.    (f)    Land-use rules and regulations prescribed in an ordinance adopted by the supervisors of any district have the force and effect of law in the district and shall be binding and obligatory upon all land occupiers within the district.    (g)    Any land occupier within the district may file a petition at any time with the supervisors requesting amendment, supplement, or repeal of any land-use rule or regulation prescribed in any ordinance adopted by the supervisors. Land-use regulations prescribed in any ordinance may not be amended, supplemented, or repealed except in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this section for adoption of land-use regulations. Referenda on adoption, amendment, supplementation, or repeal of land-use rules and regulations may not be held more than once in six months.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-309 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-309 - Land-Use Rules and Regulations -- Enforcement

    The supervisors may go upon any lands within the district to determine whether land-use rules and regulations are being observed. The supervisors may provide, by ordinance, that any land occupier who sustains damages from any violation of the rules and regulations by any other land occupier may recover damages at law from the other land occupier for the violation.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-310 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-310 - Land-Use Rules and Regulations -- Enforcement -- Judicial Proceedings

    (a)    If the supervisors of any district find that any provision of the land-use rules and regulations is not being complied with on any parcel of land and that noncompliance tends to increase erosion on the land, and is interfering with prevention or control of erosion on other land in the district, the supervisors may seek relief in the circuit court of the county where the district is located.    (b)    In any case where the person in possession of the land is not the owner, the owner of the land shall be joined as a party defendant.    (c)    The court may provide that upon failure of the defendant to initiate performance of the work within the time specified by the court and complete it with reasonable diligence, the supervisors may enter on the land to perform the work and bring the conditions of the land into compliance with the land-use rules and regulations.    (d)    The court shall retain jurisdiction of the case until the work is completed. Upon completion of the work pursuant to the order of the court, the supervisors may file a petition with the court stating the costs and expenses sustained by them in performing work and praying judgment with interest. The court may enter a judgment for the amount of the supervisor’s costs and expenses, with interest at the rate of 5 percent per year, together with the costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee fixed by the court.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-311 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-311 - Costs of Review of Grading and Sediment Control Plans -- Fee System

    (a)    In order to develop a fee system to be implemented under § 8-306(a)(18) of this subtitle and § 4-103(c) of the Environment Article, a soil conservation district shall each year determine the reasonable costs of review of grading and sediment control plans for the succeeding year.    (b)    The soil conservation district shall develop the fee system based on the costs determined under subsection (a) of this section, and shall submit the fee system to the local governing body.    (c)    Within 90 days after the soil conservation district submits the final fee system, the local governing body may:        (1)    Enact the fee system of the soil conservation district, to take effect within 90 days after the soil conservation district submits the final fee system to the local governing body; or        (2)    Enact a different fee system or otherwise provide funding.    (d)    If the local governing body fails to accept or modify the fee system submitted by the soil conservation district, the final fee system submitted by the soil conservation district shall take effect on the 91st day after the district submits the fee system to the local governing body, without requiring enactment by the local governing body.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-312 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 3 - State Soil Conservation Districts|Section 8-312 - Supplementation of Employee's Income

    A soil conservation district or a county in which a soil conservation district is located may supplement the salary of an employee of the Department who is assigned to work for a district by providing a grant to the employee.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-402 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 4 - Division, Combination, and Termination of Districts|Section 8-402 - Appointment of Supervisors to Governing Body; Disposal of District Property

    (a)    If the Committee determines that the division or combination, or both, is feasible in its entirety, it shall appoint as the governing body for each district resulting from the proposed division or combination, or both, four supervisors and the county governing body shall appoint one supervisor. The appointments shall be made in accordance with the provisions of § 8–302 of this title. Any existing supervisor is eligible to be appointed as a new supervisor.    (b)    The Committee shall certify to the new supervisors, and to the supervisors of each existing district to be divided or combined, or both, (1) the determination of the Committee concerning the administrative feasibility of the division or combination, or both; (2) the boundaries of the proposed districts; (3) the names, addresses, and positions of the supervisors appointed for each new district; and (4) other data it deems appropriate.    (c)    The supervisors of any existing district to be divided shall decide the proportion and manner of dividing its property, assets, and rights, except executory contracts, among the new districts into which the old district is to be divided, taking into consideration the nature and source of the property, assets, and rights, the comparative sizes of the new divisions, the number of land occupiers of each division, and general considerations of fairness in making the allocation. The supervisors shall notify the Committee and the new supervisors who are to receive any property, rights, or assets of their decision. The property, assets, or rights shall be divided and transferred accordingly.    (d)    If the supervisors of a district to be divided are unable to agree on the division of the property, assets, and rights within 60 days after the certification of determination from the Committee, they shall notify the Committee. After a hearing of the supervisors and any other person within the district whom the Committee judges to be reasonably entitled to be heard, the Committee shall determine finally the proportions and manner of the division and shall certify its decision to the supervisors, who immediately shall proceed to divide the property, assets, and rights, accordingly.    (e)    If the district is to be combined and not divided, the supervisor shall transfer the assets, property, and rights of the district to the new supervisors of the combined district of which it will comprise a part.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-403 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 4 - Division, Combination, and Termination of Districts|Section 8-403 - Application and Statement of Supervisors and Committee

    (a)    The supervisors of each resulting district shall file a verified application with the Secretary of State when the property, assets, and rights to which they are entitled under division or combination, or both, are received.    (b)    The application shall recite:        (1)    The petition for the division or combination, or both, of the district was filed with the Committee pursuant to the provisions of this subtitle;        (2)    The proceedings specified in this subtitle were taken pursuant to the petition;        (3)    The application is being filed in order to complete the division or combination, or both, of any old district;        (4)    The supervisors have been appointed;        (5)    The name and official residence of each supervisor, together with a certified copy of the appointments evidencing his rights to office;        (6)    The term of office of each supervisor;        (7)    The name of the district; and        (8)    The location of the principal office of the supervisors.    (c)    The application shall be executed and sworn to by each supervisor before an officer, authorized by law to take and certify oaths, who shall certify on the application that he personally knows each supervisor, knows him to be the officer as affirmed in the application, and that each has subscribed to the application in his presence.    (d)    The application shall be accompanied by a statement of the Committee, which shall recite the fact that:        (1)    A petition was filed;        (2)    Notice was given;        (3)    A referendum was held on the question of dividing or combining, or both, the named districts;        (4)    The Committee determined that division or combination, or both, was administratively feasible;        (5)    The division or combination, or both, of the property, assets, and rights was decided upon and carried out in accordance with this subtitle; and        (6)    The boundaries of the district are as described in the petition, or as further defined by the Committee.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-404 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 4 - Division, Combination, and Termination of Districts|Section 8-404 - Certificate of Constitution of District; Powers of New Districts and Supervisors

    (a)    When the Secretary of State has examined, received, filed, and recorded the application, in the book for the recording of applications for the organization of districts, the old districts shall cease to exist, and the resulting districts shall constitute political subdivisions of the State and public bodies corporate and politic. The Secretary of State shall issue to the supervisors of each resulting district, under the seal of the State, a certificate of constitution by division or combination, or both, of any district, and shall record the certificate with the application and statement.    (b)    Upon the issuance of the certificate of constitution, every ordinance and rule or regulation previously adopted and in force within the former districts has no further force and effect. Any contract, to which the former district or its supervisors are parties, is effective for the period provided in the contract. The Committee shall be substituted for the district or supervisors as a party to the contract. The Committee is entitled to every benefit and subject to every liability under the contract and has the same right and liability to perform, to require performance, to sue and be sued, and to modify or terminate any contract by mutual consent or otherwise, as the supervisors of the former district.    (c)    The Committee may designate and direct any new district to act as its agent to carry out any contract or duty, enforce any right, or perform any other work which accrues to it under this section on account of the division or combination, or both, of an old district.    (d)    Any district constituted by division or combination, or both, and its supervisors have the same powers and are subject to the same restrictions as any district continued in accordance with § 8–301 of this title and its supervisors.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-405 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 4 - Division, Combination, and Termination of Districts|Section 8-405 - Adequate Personnel and Resources for Soil Conservation Districts

    (a)    The General Assembly finds that, from fiscal year 1991 through fiscal year 1998, inadequate resources have been provided for the soil conservation districts to employ adequate field personnel to assist farmers in the preparation of soil conservation and water quality plans.    (b)    It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide sufficient technical assistance and resources through the soil conservation districts to assist farmers in pursuit of soil conservation and water quality plans and other activities authorized under this title.    (c)    (1)    The Governor shall include in the annual budget bill an amount sufficient to employ not less than 110 field personnel in the soil conservation districts under this title.        (2)    The appropriation for the 24 soil conservation districts shall be as follows:            (i)    For fiscal year 2008, $8,800,000;            (ii)    For fiscal year 2009, $9,200,000;            (iii)    For fiscal year 2010, $9,600,000; and            (iv)    For fiscal year 2011 and each fiscal year thereafter, $10,000,000.
MD. Agriculture Code Ann. §  8-501 (2021)
2021 Maryland Statutes|Agriculture|Title 8 - Soil Conservation|Subtitle 5 - Short Title|Section 8-501 - Short Title

    The first four subtitles of this title may be cited as the Maryland Soil Conservation Districts Law.