time of their commencement, unless the same
shall be closed at an earlier day by the agree-
ment of the two houses. And when the Gen-
eral Assembly shall be convened by procla-
mation of the Governor, the session shall not
continue longer than thirty days."
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE submitted the following
amendment, to strike out all before the word
''when" in the seventh line, and to insert :
"The General Assembly may continue its
sessions as long as in the opinion of the two
houses the public interests may require it;
but no new business shall be received after
the 20th day of February succeeding the com-
mencement of the session."
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE said: This section as re-
ported by the committee limits the sessions
of the General Assembly to the last Thurs-
day of March next ensuing the time of com-
mencement. The experience of every gentle-
man who has been a member of the General
Assembly is, that the latter part of the time
in every session is very much crowded, and
that measures are passed in the haste and
crowd of the end of the session which coould
never be got through, and which would never
meet the approval of the Legislature if they
had time to investigate and examine them
It has seemed to me better that the duration
of the General Assembly should be unlimited,
and that the time during which they should
receive business should be limited. I there-
fore propose to leave the time of final ad-
journment indefinite, and that no business
shall be received after the 20th of February
I should have no objection to making that
the 1st of February, if the Convention prefer
I give the General Assembly time to mature
the business before them, to deliberate upon,
investigate and perfect it, and to pass in each
House the bills from the other House. It has
occurred year after year, I believe without
exception, that from twenty to one hundred
and fifty bills passed by one branch have been
laid over in the other for want of time. I
prefer to limit the time for commencing busi-
ness, and allowing ample time to mature the
business.
Mr. PETER moved to amend the amendment
by striking out ''as long as in the opinion
of the two houses the public interest may
require it," and inserting "until the first day
of May next ensuing," and by striking on
" 20th day of February " and inserting " Is
day of March," so that the section should
allow the session to continue until May 1st
but prohibit the introduction of new business
after March 1st.
Mr. MILLER. I think the section as it
stands is the best provision that can be made
We have determined by the vote of the House
as I understand it, upon biennial sessions of
the Legislature. Either of the amendment
that are offered would prevent any new bill
being introduced between the 1st of March
and the 1st of May, or between February 20 |
and the last Thursday of March. In the old
Constitution therein a provision that no new
bill shall originate in either House during the
last three days of the session; and the 16th
section of this report incorporates that pro-
vision. I should be willing to see that ex-
tended to five, six, eight or ten days of the
termination of the session; but to allow the
Legislature to continue its session from the
20th of February up to the last Thursday of
March or longer without having the privi-
lege of introducing into the body any new
matter of legislation, is a provision I cannot
vote for.
Mr. SCHLEY. I wish to ask if the adoption
of the amendment or the amendment to the
amendment, will exclude the provision about
subsequent regular sessions after the first.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. My amendment covers
all sessions; the first and all others.
Mr. SCHLEY. In that view of it I shall cer-
tainly oppose it. I am in favor of the sec-
tion as it stands, except that it has been sug-
gested, and I thought the suggestion a good
one, that the words ''as long as" were en-
tirely too indefinite, and too apt to produce
procrastination in legislation, and therefore
it ought to be amended by inserting a rea-
sonable time of sufficient duration such as
may berequired. But if the amendment is
to extend subsequent sessions beyond the day
specified in the report, the last Thursday of
March next ensuing the date of assembling, I
dissent from it. I adhere to the section as it
stands. If it should be thought proper to
introduce the provision to limit the first ses-
sion to the 1st day of May next ensuing the
date of assembling, I would accede to that, or
any other specific time that the Convention
may select. But as to extending all sessions
to the first day of May I am opposed to it. I
think it an unnecessary length of time, and a
waste of the public money. Hence I shall be
compelled to oppose the amendment and the
amendment to it.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have had some experi-
ence as to the operation of rules of that cha-
racter. I have served some sixteen years in
the Legislature of the State and of Congress.
It is perhaps impossible to effect the very de-
sirable object aimed at by the gentleman from
Baltimore, to prevent the hasty passage of
improper bills, and the hasty rejection of
bills perhaps the most proper to be passed of
any presented. The nearest approach to the
accomplishment of that will be to limit the
time, as proposed, within which new busi-
ness may be offered But if there be no
limitation of the time of the session, I
think the result will be a total failure to
accomplish the purpose. Ingenious members
can always find room in the shape of amend-
ments to introduce new matter. A bill comes
from the other House of which they can take
advantage, to incorporate upon it their fa- |
