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AN ACT concerning

Amendment of Section 311, Charter of Prince George's County

For the purpose of proposing an amendment to Section 311 of the Charter of Prince George's County concerning the selection of a Chairman and Vice Chairman of the County Council, and further providing that if there are conflicting Charter amendments adopted by the qualified voters of the County at the general election in November, 2004, the amendments proposed in Council Bill-56-2004, as ratified by the voters, shall prevail.

BY proposing an amendment to:

Section 311,

Charter of Prince George's County, Maryland.

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED by the County Council of Prince George's County, Maryland, that the following amendment to Section 311 of the Charter of Prince George's County, Maryland, is hereby proposed:

Section 311. Officers of the Council.

The Council shall elect from among its members a Chairman and a Vice Chairman. The Chairman, or in his absence the Vice Chairman, shall preside at all meetings. On all questions before the Council the Chairman and Vice Chairman shall have and may exercise the vote to which each is entitled as a Council member. If, at the general election in November, 2004, an amendment concerning the at-large election of the Chairman of the Council shall be adopted by a majority of the qualified voters of the County, then notwithstanding such amendment to this Section or Section 307A concerning at-large members of the Council, the current manner of election of the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Council shall remain unchanged. If, at the general election held in November, 2004, the qualified voters of the County shall not adopt an amendment to this Charter providing for the at-large election of the Chairman of the Council, then this amendment to the Charter shall be automatically abrogated and of no effect and shall be deleted from the text of the Charter.

SECTION 2. BE IT FURTHER ENACTED that a copy of this Act be transmitted to the County Executive for publication and that a copy also be transmitted to the Board of Supervisors of Elections for submission of the proposed amendment to the voters of this County at the 2004 General Election pursuant to Section 1105 of the Charter.

SECTION 3. BE IT FURTHER ENACTED that the question of adoption of this proposed Charter Amendment shall be submitted to the voters of the County at the General Election occurring on November 2, 2004, and shall be placed on the ballot in the following form:

PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT

To reaffirm the manner of election of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council, and provide a precedence clause in the event of conflicting charter amendments ratified by the voters at the November 2004 general election.

SECTION 4. BE IT FURTHER ENACTED that in the event that no petition for Charter Amendment or for referendum hereafter meets all requirements of law and, therefore, is not placed on the November 2004 ballot, then this Charter Amendment shall not appear on the local ballot.

Adopted this 30th day of July, 2004, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the full County Council.

COUNTY COUNCIL OF PRINCE

GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND

BY: _________________________________

Tony Knotts

Chairman

ATTEST:

______________________________

Redis C. Floyd

Clerk of the Council

KEY:

Underscoring indicates language added to existing law.

[Brackets] indicate language deleted from existing law.

Asterisks *** indicate intervening existing Code provisions that remain unchanged.

SUBJECT TO REFERENDUM ON 11/2/2004

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