# Agriculture (GAG)

## Title 8. Soil Conservation

### Subtitle 4. Division, Combination, and Termination of Districts

#### Section 8-401

(a) Any district or districts continued in accordance with the provisions of this title may be divided or combined, or divided and combined with any other district or districts. At least 25 land occupiers of any district affected by a proposed division or combination, or both, shall sign and file with the Committee a petition requesting that any district and its operations be divided or combined, or both, in the manner requested. The Committee shall prescribe the form of the petition.

(b) The Committee may conduct public meetings and public hearings on the petition as necessary to assist it in the consideration of the petition. The Committee may define in more detail the boundaries outlined in the petition for any district proposed to result from the division or combination, or both.

(c) Within 60 days after the petition has been filed with the Committee, the Committee shall give due notice of the holding of a referendum, supervise and conduct the referendum, and issue appropriate rules and regulations governing its conduct. Only land occupiers within any district to be affected may vote. The Committee shall make provision on the referendum for each land occupier to vote (1) on whether he approves of any proposed division of the district in which his land is located, and (2) on whether he approves of the proposed new district in which his land will be located under any proposed combination.

(d) No informality in the conduct of the referendum or in any matter relating to it invalidates the referendum or its results, if notice has been given substantially in accordance with this section and the referendum has been fairly conducted.

(e) The Committee shall publish the results of the referendum and then shall determine whether the requested division or combination, or both, is administratively feasible. In making this determination the Committee shall give due regard and weight to the following factors:

  (1) The attitudes of land occupiers within the defined boundaries of the districts to be affected;

  (2) The number of land occupiers who voted in the referendum;

  (3) The proportion of the votes cast in the referendum in favor of the division or combination, or both, of any district to the total number of votes cast;

  (4) The approximate wealth and income of the land occupiers of the proposed new district;

  (5) The probable expense of carrying on erosion control operations within any district; and

  (6) Other economic and social factors relevant to the determination, having due regard to the legislative determinations set forth in Sec. 8-102 of this title. However, no district or districts may be divided or combined, or both, if a majority of land occupiers vote against either the particular division or combination which is submitted to their vote.

(f) If the Committee determines that the division or combination, or both, is not administratively feasible, it shall record the determination and deny the petition. If the Committee determines that the division or combination, or both, is administratively feasible, it shall record the determination and proceed with the division or combination, or both.

#### Section 8-402

(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 Sec. 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.

#### Section 8-403

(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.

#### Section 8-404

(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 Sec. 8-301 of this title and its supervisors.

#### Section 8-405

(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 23 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.

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Md. Code Ann., Agric. (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)