Do blind vendors have priority to run vending machines in Maryland state and local government buildings?

Plain-English summary

The State Superintendent of Schools asked the Attorney General in 1990 to sort out how Maryland's blind vendor licensing statute, ED §21-303(c), worked. That law let the State Department of Education's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) license blind people to run vending facilities in state, county, municipal, and certain private buildings. The four questions were whether the state law gave blind vendors a priority to operate in government buildings the way the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act does on federal property, whether DVR's licensing reached all vending facility managers or only blind ones, whether it covered leased as well as owned buildings, and whether "vending facilities" included plain automatic vending machines.

The Attorney General's answers: (1) No priority. Unlike the federal act, the Maryland statute never gave blind vendors first claim to operate in state, county, or municipal buildings, so a government agency could choose a sighted operator instead. The opinion traced the state and federal history and found the state law had never contained a preference, and the one arguably close provision from 1941 was removed in 1980. (2) DVR's licensing authority reached only blind persons seeking to manage these facilities, not every operator. (3) The law applied to every building a state, county, or municipal entity occupies or controls, whether it owns or leases it, because the statute used the inclusive word "all." (4) "Vending facilities" did include standalone automatic vending machines, so a blind person managing an unmanned machine bank in a government building also needed a DVR license, though that did not force every vending-machine operator to be licensed, only blind persons choosing to seek a license.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1990. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The Education Article, the State Finance and Procurement Article, and the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act have all been amended since 1990, and the section numbers here may no longer be current. In particular, the opinion notes that Maryland, unlike some other states, had not enacted a "Mini Randolph-Sheppard" priority as of 1990; whether that has changed is exactly the kind of thing to check against current law. Read the analysis and the citations here as the law as it stood in 1990.

Common questions

Did Maryland give blind vendors first priority for vending in government buildings?
No, under this 1990 opinion. The federal Randolph-Sheppard Act gives blind vendors a priority on federal property, but the Maryland statute never created a comparable priority for state, county, or municipal buildings. A government agency could pick a sighted operator instead.

Could a state or local agency hire a sighted person to run a vending stand?
Yes. Because there was no priority in the state law, and DVR's licensing authority reached only blind persons, a state, county, or municipal agency could engage a non-blind operator for a vending stand on its property without any DVR license.

Did the law cover buildings the government only leased, not owned?
Yes. The opinion read the statute's word "all" broadly to cover any building a state, county, or municipal entity occupies or controls, whether owned or leased.

Did "vending facilities" include ordinary vending machines?
Yes. The opinion concluded the term covered standalone automatic vending machines, so a blind person managing an unmanned machine bank in a government building also needed a DVR license. It did not, by itself, require every vending-machine operator to be licensed.

Background and statutory framework

Maryland's blind vendor program grew out of the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act of 1936, which authorized licensed blind persons to run vending stands in federal buildings to expand economic opportunities for the blind and designated a state agency to license them. Maryland's then-agency for the blind, the Maryland Workshop for the Blind (later Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, or BISM), was designated for federal property. In 1939 the General Assembly separately authorized the Workshop to license blind persons for stands in all state, county, and municipal buildings, and in 1955 extended that to privately owned buildings by agreement. When the Randolph-Sheppard Act was amended in 1954 to require the state vocational rehabilitation agency to handle federal licensing and to add a preference for blind vendors on federal property, Maryland in 1958 authorized the State Board of Education to carry out the federal program, splitting federal licensing (DVR) from non-federal licensing (the Workshop). The 1974 federal amendments added a priority and an income-accrual rule for blind vendors on federal property, widening the gap between federal and non-federal treatment. To unify the program, the General Assembly in 1980 transferred non-federal licensing to the State Department of Education, and ED §21-303(c) now placed all of it with DVR.

Working through the four questions, the opinion started with the statute's text and its history. ED §21-303(c) simply grants DVR authority to "license blind persons to manage vending facilities," and neither its language nor the predecessor provisions (former Article 30, §§9 and 10) created a priority. State law had never expressly granted a preference on non-federal property; the closest was 1941 language permitting stands "wherever physically practicable," which the opinion did not treat as a priority and which was removed in 1980. It also gave weight to longstanding agency practice: neither BISM nor DVR had asserted a priority, and BISM had instead relied on the procurement preference in §§14-102 and 14-103 of the State Finance and Procurement Article. Because a longstanding administrative construction gets deference and legislative reenactment without change signals acceptance, the opinion found no priority. On the second question, the statute licenses only "blind persons," so a government agency could use a non-blind operator without a DVR license. On the third, the inclusive word "all," and the extension to private property, meant the licensing authority covered every building a government entity occupies or controls, owned or leased, paralleling the federal definition of "federal property." On the fourth, because the 1974 federal amendments defined "vending facility" to include automatic vending machines, and ED §21-303(c) used the term for both federal and non-federal buildings in one sentence, the opinion read the state term to include automatic vending machines too. The bottom line: DVR could license blind persons to manage manned or unmanned vending facilities in any government building, but the statute created no priority, and only the General Assembly could add one.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• §21-303(c) of the Education Article, the blind vendor licensing statute at issue, and its predecessor, former Article 30, §§9 and 10
• Chapter 513, Laws of Maryland 1939; Chapter 368, Laws of Maryland 1941; Chapter 743, Laws of Maryland 1980; and Chapter 709, Laws of Maryland 1985, tracing the program's history
• §§14-102 and 14-103 of the State Finance and Procurement Article, the procurement preference BISM relied on
• The federal Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. §§107 through 107f (including §107(b) and the definition of "federal property" at §107e(3)), and the 1936 and 1954 enacting laws (Ch. 638, 49 Stat. 1559; Pub. L. No. 83-565, 68 Stat. 663)

Cases:

• Brodsky v. Brodsky, 319 Md. 92, 98, 570 A.2d 1235 (1990), on giving statutory words their ordinary meaning
• Morris v. Prince George's County, 319 Md. 597, 603-04, 573 A.2d 1346 (1990), on consulting context and legislative history, and on deference to longstanding agency construction

Source

• Landing page: https://oag.maryland.gov/resources-info/Pages/attorney-general%E2%80%99s-opinions.aspx
• Original PDF: https://oag.maryland.gov/resources-info/Documents/pdfs/Opinions/1990/Volume75_1990.pdf (this opinion appears at printed pages 189-196 of the bound annual volume; Maryland's site does not publish a standalone PDF of this opinion)

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.

Education — Vocational Education and Rehabilitation — Public Contracts — Licensing of Blind Persons to Manage Vending Facilities in Publicly Owned or Leased Building

December 21, 1990

Dr. Joseph L. Shilling
State Superintendent of Schools

 You have requested our opinion concerning §21-303(c) of the Education Article ("ED" Article), which authorizes the State Department of Education, and in particular the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation ("DVR"), to license blind persons to manage vending facilities in State, county, municipal, and certain privately owned buildings. Specifically, you ask:

    1. Does ED §21-303(c) create a priority for licensed blind vendors to operate vending facilities in State, county, and municipal buildings comparable to the priority for blind licensees to operate vending facilities on federal property that was created by the Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. §107(b)?

    2. Does ED §21-303(c) require that all vending facility managers in State, county, and municipal buildings be licensed by DVR?

    3. Does this requirement apply to buildings owned or leased by State, county, and municipal entities?

4. Does the term "vending facilities" in ED §21-303(c) apply to "unmanned" vending facilities consisting solely of automatic vending machines? That is, must the managers of vending machines in State, county, and municipal buildings also be licensed by DVR?

For the reasons stated below, we conclude as follows:

    1. ED §21-303(c) does not create a priority for licensed blind vendors to operate vending facilities in State, county, and municipal buildings.

2. DVR's licensing authority applies only to blind persons managing vending facilities in State, county, and municipal buildings.

3. ED §21-303(c) applies to all buildings controlled or occupied by State, county, and municipal entities, whether owned or leased.

    4. The term "vending facilities" does include automatic vending machines; therefore, blind persons managing "unmanned" vending facilities must also be licensed by DVR.

I

History of the Vending Facility Program in Maryland

 DVR's authority to license vending facility managers in federal buildings in this State derives from the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which was enacted in 1936 for the purpose of "providing blind persons with remunerative employment, enlarging the economic opportunities of the blind, and stimulating the blind to greater efforts in striving to make themselves self-supporting" by authorizing licensed blind persons to operate vending stands in federal buildings. Ch. 638, §1, 49 Stat. 1559 (1936) (codified as amended at 20 U.S.C. §§107 through 107f). This act provided that the state agency for the blind be designated as the agency for licensing blind persons to operate vending stands on federal property. At that time, the Maryland Workshop for the Blind, the predecessor to Blind Industries and Services of Maryland ("BISM"), was the State agency for the blind in Maryland.1 The Maryland Workshop, therefore, was designated as the State agency to issue licenses to blind persons for vending stands on federal property.

In 1939, the General Assembly passed a bill authorizing the Maryland Workshop for the Blind to license blind persons to operate vending stands in all State, county, and municipal buildings "in order to enlarge the economic opportunities of the blind." Chapter 513, Laws of Maryland 1939.2 The General Assembly made the Maryland Workshop for the Blind the licensing authority for virtually all vending stands in Maryland buildings in 1955 by authorizing it to enter into agreements with the owners of privately owned buildings for the operation of vending stands by licensed blind persons. Chapter 5, Laws of Maryland 1955.

 In 1954, amendments to the Randolph-Sheppard Act required that the State vocational rehabilitation agency be designated as the State licensing agency for licensing blind persons to operate vending stands on federal property within four years. The amended act also required that, "In authorizing the operation of vending stands on Federal property, preference shall be given, so far as feasible, to blind persons licensed by a State agency as provided in this Act; and the head of each department or agency in control of the maintenance, operation, and protection of federal property shall ... prescribe regulations designed to assure such preference ...." Pub. L. No. 83-565, §4, 68 Stat. 663 (1954).

 In 1958, to comply with the 1954 amendments, the General Assembly authorized the State Board of Education to carry out the provisions of the Randolph-Sheppard Vending Stand Act. Chapter 3, Laws of Maryland 1958 (Special Session). Thus, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation was designated as the State licensing agency for federal vending facility managers, but BISM's predecessor, the Maryland Workshop for the Blind, remained the State licensing agency for non-federal vending facility managers.

 The Randolph-Sheppard Act was again amended in 1974, in pertinent part by granting licensed blind vendors a priority to operate vending facilities on federal property and by requiring the establishment of vending facilities on federal property wherever feasible. The 1974 amendments also provided that income from vending machines on federal property would accrue to blind licensees or, if there were no licensee on the property, to the State licensing agency, for restricted program uses. These and other 1974 amendments lead to significant differences in the treatment of federal and non-federal vending facility managers in Maryland.

 To unify the program, the General Assembly in 1980 transferred the authority to license blind persons to manage vending facilities in State, county, municipal, and privately owned buildings to the State Department of Education. Chapter 743, Laws of Maryland 1980.3 Presently, ED §21-303(c) states:

            The State Department of Education shall, in addition to licensing vending facility managers in federal buildings in this State under §21-302(c) pursuant to the federal acts, license blind persons to manage vending facilities in all State, county, and municipal buildings and in all privately owned buildings and premises in this State in the event of contract with such person. The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in the State Department of Education shall be the licensing agency for all vending facilities within this State licensed under this subtitle.

II

Choice of Vendors

 The beginning point of statutory construction is always the language of the statute itself. The words of the statute are assumed to have their natural, ordinary, and generally understood meaning in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Brodsky v. Brodsky, 319 Md. 92, 98, 570 A.2d 1235 (1990). Even where the meaning of the words appears plain, however, we may look to the context within which the statutory language appears and may consult the legislative history of the statute in order to understand the legislative intent. Morris v. Prince George's County, 319 Md. 597, 603-04, 573 A.2d 1346 (1990).

 By its language, ED §21-303(c) simply grants DVR the authority to "license blind persons to manage vending facilities in all State, county, and municipal buildings and in all privately owned buildings and premises in this State in the event of contract with such person." Before the authority was transferred to DVR, BISM was granted the "authority to issue licenses to blind persons ... for the operation of stands in all State, county and municipal buildings ..." and "to make agreements and contracts with the owner or lessee of any privately owned buildings or premises in this State whereby Blind Industries would have authority to issue licenses to blind persons ... for the operation of vending stands in a private building or on private premises ...." Former Article 30, §§9 and 10 (repealed by Chapter 743, Laws of Maryland 1980). On its face, then, the statute does not create a priority for the vending facility program to install vending stands on State, county, or municipal property.

 Upon examination of the legislative history and historical context of the statute, we find no support for a priority in favor of licensed blind vendors. State licensing authority for blind vendors on non-federal property was first granted to BISM's predecessor three years after the Randolph-Sheppard Act was enacted and was roughly patterned after the federal act. At that time, the federal act did not create a priority for blind persons to operate vending facilities on federal property. By the time that licensing authority for non-federal property was transferred to DVR, the Randolph-Sheppard Act had been expressly amended to create such a priority.

 In contrast, the State legislation has never expressly granted a priority or preference to blind persons to operate vending facilities on non-federal property. The closest the General Assembly may have come to establishing a priority was in the 1941 amendments, which required that "vending stands shall be permitted to be installed in all of the public buildings hereinbefore mentioned wherever physically practicable." Chapter 368, Laws of Maryland 1941. We do not believe that this grant of "permission" rises to the level of a priority. In any event, the language was removed when licensing authority was transferred to DVR in 1980.

 Legislation granting blind persons a priority to operate, and accrue the income from, vending stands or vending machines on State, county, or municipal property would constitute a significant departure from past practice. Historically, neither BISM nor DVR in administering the program has asserted a priority right to operate vending stands on State, county, or municipal property. In addition, in recent years BISM has relied on its procurement preference under §§14-102 and 14-103 of the State Finance and Procurement Article, rather than a priority inherent in ED §21-303(c), to assert a preferential right to operate vending stands or provide vending machine services on State property. The longstanding administrative construction of a statute by an agency charged with administering the statute is entitled to deference. Morris v. Prince George's County, 319 Md. at 613. Legislative acquiescence to the agency's interpretation gives rise to a strong presumption that the interpretation is correct. Id. The General Assembly's reenactment of the licensing authority without substantive change confirms its acceptance of the construction that no such priority exists.4

Thus, in answer to your first question, we conclude that ED §21-303(c) does not create a priority for licensed blind vendors to operate vending facilities in State, county, or municipal buildings.

III

Scope of Licensing Authority

 Your second question is whether the statute requires all vending facility managers in government buildings to be licensed by DVR. ED §21-303(c) states, however, that DVR shall "license blind persons" to manage vending facilities in governmental buildings. Furthermore, since its inception, the vending facility program has been for the purpose of "enlarg[ing] the economic opportunities of the blind" by authorizing blind persons to operate vending stands. See Chapter 513, Laws of Maryland 1939. Thus, we conclude that the licensing authority granted by ED §21-303(c) applies only to blind persons seeking to manage such vending facilities. Because there is no priority under the State law, a State, county, or municipal agency could elect to engage a person who is not blind to operate a vending stand on its property without a license from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

 Your third question is whether the licensing requirement applies to vending facilities in buildings owned or leased by State, county, and municipal entities. ED §21-303(c) states that the licensing authority applies to "all State, county and municipal buildings." Because the General Assembly used the inclusive term "all" and also extended licensing authority to privately owned property, we conclude that it intended for this licensing authority to be construed as expansively as possible to apply to all buildings in the State in which a blind person might endeavor to manage a vending facility. Thus, we interpret "all" to mean buildings occupied or controlled by a State, county, or municipal entity, whether that entity owns or leases the building. This interpretation is supported by comparison to the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which has defined "federal property" since 1954 to mean "any building, land, or other real property owned, leased, or occupied by any department or agency of the United States —" Pub. L. No. 83-565, §4, 68 Stat. 664 (codified as amended at 20 U.S.C. §107e(3)) (emphasis added).

 Your fourth question is whether the term "vending facility" extends to automatic vending machines. The term "vending facility" was first used in the Maryland statute when the licensing authority for non-federal properties was transferred to DVR in 1980. The earlier versions had referred, instead, to "vending stands." See former Article 30, §§9 and 10. The 1974 amendments to the Randolph-Sheppard Act also replaced the term "vending stand" with "vending facility," which is defined as "automatic vending machines, cafeterias, snack bars, cart services, shelters, counters, and such other appropriate auxiliary equipment ...." Because ED §21-303(c) refers to vending facilities in both federal and non-federal buildings in the same sentence, we conclude that the General Assembly intended that the term would have the same meaning with respect to vending facilities on both federal and non-federal property. Therefore, we conclude that the term "vending facility" in ED §21-303(c) does include facilities consisting solely of automatic vending machines.5

IV

Conclusion

  In summary, it is our opinion that ED §21-303(c) authorizes the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to license blind persons to manage manned or unmanned vending facilities in any building occupied or controlled by a State, county, or municipal entity, but does not create a priority requiring such entities to give blind persons the first opportunity to operate vending facilities in their buildings. Such a priority would have to be created by the General Assembly.

                                         J. Joseph Curran, Jr.
                                         Attorney General

                                         Caroline E. Emerson
                                         Assistant Attorney General

                                         Jack Schwartz
                                         Chief Counsel
                                           Opinions & Advice

1
The Maryland Workshop for the Blind was renamed Blind Industries and Services of Maryland by Chapter 164 of the Laws of Maryland 1973.

2
The entire provision was repealed and reenacted with amendments in 1941, including the following:

           The construction of said vending stands and the location thereof shall be such as meets the approval of the custodian having charge of the building in which the vending stand is to be located, but such vending stands shall be permitted to be installed in all of the public buildings hereinbefore mentioned wherever physically practicable, but under no circumstances shall any such vending stands be permitted to be installed which would in any way be in competition with any stands or concessions already in operation and with the further provision that the burden of establishing the physical practicability with a reasonable public necessity and convenience of such stands shall rest upon the applicant for the desired privilege.

Chapter 368, Laws of Maryland 1941.

3
The only subsequent change in the statute was made by the General Assembly in 1985 for the purpose of providing that DVR "shall be the licensing agency for, rather than the employer of, all licensed vending facilities operators in the State" and to eliminate "the State responsibility for fringe benefits paid licensed vending facilities operators." Chapter 709, Laws of Maryland 1985.

4
It is notable that other states that have seen fit to grant a priority to blind persons to operate vending facilities on State or other governmental property have done so through express statutory enactment (often referred to as "Mini Randolph-Sheppard Acts"). See, e.g., Ark. Stat. Ann. §22-3-1303 et seq. (1987); Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code §§19625 and 19630 (West 1980); Fla. Stat. Ann. §413.051 (West 1986); Ill. Ann. Stat. ch. 23, §3331 et seq. (Smith-Hurd 1988).

5
However, we caution that this definition cannot, by itself, require that all managers of automatic vending machines be licensed by DVR. As with manned vending facilities, it only requires that blind persons seeking to manage a vending facility in a State, county, or municipal building be licensed by DVR.