§ 87-1. Declaration of legislative policy.
§ 87-2. Definitions.
§ 87-3. Washington Suburban Transit District created.
§ 87-4. Washington Suburban Transit Commission--Created.
§ 87-5. Same-Membership; appointment, qualifications, term of office, bond and oath of office of commissioners.
§ 87-6. Same-Officers.
§ 87-7. Compensation and expenses of commissioners.
§ 87-8. Same-Quorum; majority vote required to transact business.
§ 87-9. Same-Meetings; public hearings.
§ 87-10. Same-Conflicts of interests.
§ 87-11. Same-Functions.
§ 87-12. Authorization to enter into contracts with transportation authority.
§ 87-13. Guarantee by counties of obligations of district.
§ 87-14. Levy of taxes by counties for district.
§ 87-15. Budgetary procedures.
§ 87-16. Revenue anticipation certificates of indebtedness.
§ 87-17. Additional powers and duties of district.
§ 87-18. Planning process and procedure.
§ 87-18A. Six-year programs.
§ 87-19. Records and reports.
§ 87-20. Property, income, etc., of district exempt from taxation.
§ 87-21. Enlargement of and withdrawal from district.
§ 87-22. Commission and district not municipal corporations.
§ 87-23. Chapter to be liberally construed.
Notes
| 1 | *Cross reference-Transit facilities, ch. 54A. |
(a) The development of a transportation system, composed of transit facilities, public highways, and other modes of transport, is necessary for the orderly growth and development of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, for the safety, comfort, and convenience of their citizens and for the economical utilization of public funds. The provision of the necessary facilities and services cannot be achieved by the unilateral action of the counties and the attainment thereof requires planning and action on a regional basis, conducted cooperatively and on a continuing basis, between representatives of the counties and the state roads commission. Montgomery and Prince George's Counties are contiguous to the District of Columbia and to portions of Northern Virginia, and together with these areas form a single metropolitan area. The development of a transportation system adequate for the needs of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties requires cooperative planning and action with such adjoining areas. Such planning and action should be conducted in a manner which preserves, to the extent the necessity for joint action permits, local autonomy over patterns of growth and development. The requisite joint action may best be achieved through the device of a transit district having the powers, functions and duties hereinafter set forth in this chapter. In the provision of improved or expanded transit facilities, it is the policy of this chapter to make use of private enterprise to the extent reasonably practicable.
(b) The General Assembly finds that, due to the interest of the State in transportation facilities in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and due to the substantial level of State financial support for transportation facilities and operations provided to the Commission under §§ 10-205 and 10-207 of the Transportation Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, and the substantial level of support through the Commission to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, it is in the State’s interest to alter the composition of the Washington Suburban Transit Commission to require that the Governor make certain appointments to the Commission and that the Secretary of Transportation, or the Secretary’s designee, and one of the Governor’s appointees serve as the Commission’s principal representatives on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors and that the State’s interests are appropriately represented in Commission decisions. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 72-1; 1965, ch. 870, § 1; E. S. 1992, ch. 3, § 1; 2012, ch. 433, § 1; 2018, ch. 353, §1.)
As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(a) Authority means an agency created by interstate compact between Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia to provide transit facilities and service for the metropolitan area of Washington, D. C.;
(b) Commission means the Washington Suburban Transit Commission;
(c) District means the Washington Suburban Transit District;
(d) Governing bodies means the county councils of Montgomery County and Prince George's County;
(e) Metropolitan area means the metropolitan area of Washington, D. C., as defined in the pamphlet "Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas," issued by Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget, 1964;
(f) State includes the District of Columbia; and
(g) Transit facilities means all those matters and things utilized in rendering mass transit service by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel, including without limitation, tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine and air transportation, stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking and all equipment, fixtures, buildings and structures and services incidental to or required in connection with the performance of mass transit service. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 72-2; 1965, ch. 870, § 1; 1992, ch. 22, § 1.)
There is hereby created, as a body corporate and politic, the Washington Suburban Transit District which shall embrace the counties of Montgomery and Prince George's and the municipal corporations located in such counties. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 72-3; 1965, ch. 870, § 1.)
There is hereby created the Washington Suburban Transit Commission, which shall have the powers and duties granted herein and such additional powers as may hereafter lawfully be conferred upon it pursuant to law, to manage and control the functions, affairs and property of the corporation. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 72-4; 1965, ch. 870, § 1.)
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