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THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND

OFFICE OF COUNSEL TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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ASSISTI.NT ATTORNEY GENER,{L

March 19,2075
The Honorable Herb McMillan
164 House Ofhce Building
Annapolis, Maryland 21 401 -1991
Dear Delegate McMillan:
You have asked for proposed amendments to HouseBill727, Anne Arundel County Board
of Education - V/ireless Telecommunications Towers - Moratorium and Workgroup," as amended.
Specifically, you have asked whether the moratorium on the construction of wireless
telecommunications towers in the bill could be expanded to all property owned by Anne Arundel
County. It is my view that it could not.
House Bill727 ,as amended, would prohibit the construction of wireless telecommunications
public school property in Anne Arundel County between June 1 ,2015 and June 30,2016
on
towers
unless certain information was submitted to the County for a preliminary screening before June 1,
2015. A proposed amendment to the bill as amended would extend that moratorium to all property

owned by Anne Arundel County.

Maryland Constitution, Article XI-A, $$ I and 1A permit a county to become a charter

county by adopting a charter under the provisions of the section. Once such a charter is adopted the
county has the full power to enact local laws for the county upon all the matters covered by the
express powers granted by the General Assembly pursuant Article XI-A, $ 2, and the General
Assembly may not adopt a public local law for the charter county on any subject covered by the
express powers.r Article XI-A, $$ 3 and 4.
Under the Express Powers Act, Local Government Article, $ 10-312, a charter county has
broad powers over real property held by the county, It may acquire property by purchase, lease,
condemnation, or otherwise, it may dispose of real property that is no longer needed for public use,
it may provide for the protection of public property, it may lease property to fuither the public
purposes of the county on any terms and compensation that the county considers proper, and it may
grant a franchise or right to use a franchise and establish fees and rates rules and regulations for the
use of that franchise. Id. Thus, a chafter county clearly can permit the construction of a wireless

The General Assembly may, however, enact a law touching two or more ofthe geographical
sub-divisions of the State, because that is not deemed a "local law" undet Article XI-A, $ 4'
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The Honorable Herb McMillan

March 19,2075

Page2
telecommunications tower on real property owned by the county'
Under Article XI-4, $ 3, however, the powers of the counties under the Express Powers Act
are limited by the requirement that their actions are "subject to the Constitution and Public General
Laws of this State," Therefore actions taken in areas that the State has preempted are not a part of
of the express powers. Among the areas that have been preempted are education. McCarthy v.
Board of Education,280 Md. 634 (1977). It is my view that this preemption includes matters such
as the use of school property. Thus House Bill l2l can appropriately reach the construction of cell
towers on school property even though it cannot reach property owned by the county generally.

M. Rowe
Attorney General
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