Lexington Park Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. v. Robidoux

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The 1957 Legislature, by Chap. 759 of the Acts of that year, authorized the levy of a special fire tax for the support of local fire companies in the Second, Eighth and Ninth Election Districts of St. Mary’s County (and in any of such other districts as the County Commissioners should thereafter select), provided a majority of the voters of a district approved the levy. The act specified that on a day in August of 1957 to be set by the Commissioners, the question of the levy should be submitted to the voters of the Second, Eighth and Ninth Districts. At the election held on August 20, a majority of the voters of the Second and Ninth Districts disapproved the tax.

In the Eighth District, three hundred seven voted for, and two hundred fifteen voted against, its imposition. Soon thereafter, six taxpayers of the Eighth District filed a bill praying that Chap. 759 of the Laws of 1957 be declared unconstitutional and that the Commissioners be enjoined from levying the tax in the Eighth District under ¹⁹⁸ the proposed law. The bill alleged that (a) the subjects covered in the act were not adequately described in its title, (b) the notices of the special election required by Code, 1957, Art. 33, Sec. 12, were not specific and definite enough to give proper notice, (c) the ballot used at the special election in the Eighth District did not have printed upon it the title of the act as specifically required by the provisions of the act (as recognized and permitted by Code, 1957, Art. 33, Sec. 94), and (d) the provisions of the act are vague and discriminatory and the levying of the tax would violate the P'ourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. A hearing was held at which it was shown that the holding of the election was advertised by three insertions in two local newspapers before the date of the election, that in both local newspapers there were editorials and articles on the subject, that there were letters to the editor pro and con, that there were paid advertisements for the tax and against it, that there were radio advertisements and discussions for and against the tax, and that five hundred fifty-two voters appeared at the polls in the Eighth District for the sole purpose of voting for or against the bill, as compared to an average of approximately six hundred sixty-five who voted in the district on constitutional amendments and referenda in the 1956 presidential election.

Judges Gray, Dorsey and Digges, who heard the case, concluded that the title of the act was adequate, that the notice of election was sufficient, and that the argument as to the vagueness and denial of due process was without substantial merit, but held the special election invalid because the ballots used did not have printed on them the title of the act. In this Court the grounds of objection to the validity of the act, which are pressed, are that the title was not sufficient and definite, that the notice of election was insufficient, and that the ballots were illegal. The title of the act is as follows: “AN ACT to add SIX new sections to Article 19 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Maryland (1930 Edition), title ‘St. Mary’s County’, said new sections to be known as 77B to 77G, inclusive, to follow immediately after Section 77A of said Article, said sections ¹⁹⁹ being added by Chapter 241 of the Acts of 1935 and amended by Chapter 466 of the Acts of 1937, and to be under the new sub-title ‘Fire Tax’, relating to the levy of a special fire tax in St. Mary’s County and providing for a referendum thereto.” It is urged that since the title refers to all of St. Mary’s County and only three districts are immediately affected, the title is both misleading and inadequate. We read all the provisions of the act as germane and having reference to the subject described in the title.

The act in terms applies to all of St. Mary’s County as the title says; if it applied to only three districts, the title would not mislead under the reasoning of Neuenschwander v. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, 187 Md. 67, 80 , and cases cited therein, since the title would be “broader than the body.” We think the title meets the test articulated in McGlaughlin v. Warfield, 180 Md. 75, 78 , in that it fairly advised “the General Assembly, and the public, of the real nature, and subject matter, of the legislation sought to be accomplished * * We see no substance to the argument that the notice of the election was insufficient. We have described the wide publicity that was given the act and the forthcoming referendum. The official notices required by Code, 1957, Art. 33, Sec. 167, were duly published in the newspapers more than the number of times specifically required. The advertisements gave notice to the qualified voters of the Second, Eighth and Ninth Districts that a special election would be held in those districts for the adoption or rejection of the fire tax provided for by the Act of the General Assembly of 1957, referred to in the notice as “St. Mary’s County House Bill No. 121—Subtitle Fire Tax Referendum”.

Although the reference to the act was inartificial, we think, for the reasons