special law for any case for which provision
has been made by an existing general law."
The question being taken, the amendment
was adopted.
On motion of Mr. HEBB,
Section nineteen was further amended by
adding to the section as amended the follow -
ing;
"The general assembly, at its first session
after the adoption of this Constitution, shall
pass general laws providing for the cases enu-
merated in this section, and for all other cases
where general law can be made applicable,"
No further amendment was offered to sec-
tion nineteen.
The next section which had not been con-
sidered by the Convention was section thirty-
one, which was read as follows :
" Every bill, when passed by the general
assembly and sealed with the great seal,
shall be presented to the Governor, who shall
sign the same in the presence of the presiding
officers and chief clerks of the senate and
house of delegates; every law shall be re-
corded in the office of the court of appeals,
and in due time be printed, published and
certified under the great seal to the several
courts, in the same manner as has been here-
tofore usual in this State."
Mr. MILLER. I move to postpone infor-
mally the further consideration of this sec-
tion, until the committee on the executive
department shall have reported.
VETO POWER.
Mr. CUSHING. If the gentleman from Anne
Arundel (Mr. Miller) will not press his no-
tion to postpone, I desire to offer the follow-
ing amendment: insert after the words " who
shall sign the same," the words "if approved
by him" also, insert after the words "house
of delegates" the following words:
" But if not approved and signed by him,
he shall return it, with his objections, within
five days, to that house in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at
large on their journal, and proceed to recon-
sider it. If after such reconsideration two-
thirds of the members present shall agree to
pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the
objections, to the other house, by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if ap-
proved by two-thirds of all the members pre-
sent, it shall become a law, notwithstanding
the objections of the Governor."
I do this simply for the purpose of testing
the sense of the house on the question of con-
ferring the veto power upon the Governor of
this State. If the house shall decide that it
is not their desire that that power shall be
given to the executive, then the executive
committee will be disembarrassed from any
necessity to bestow any further attention upon
that subject.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I would suggest to my
colleague (Mr. Cushing) that in his amend |
ment he has made no provision for the case
of an adjournment of the general assembly
before the bill shall be returned with the ob-
jections of the Governor; that is, within five
days. It might be well to make some pro-
vision of that sort.
Mr. CUSHING. I merely submit the amend-
ment for the purpose of testing the sense of
the house upon the subject.
Mr. BELT. I would suggest to the gentle-
man from Baltimore (Mr. Cushing) that this
would seem to be an inappropriate time to
test the sense of the house on an important
question like this. I believe there is barely
a quorum present now.
Mr. CUSHING. I would say that the ex-
pression of opinion on the part of the mem-
bers present may be a sufficient indication of
the desire of the convention upon the subject.
If we wait for a larger attendance we may
have to wait until the middle of next week ;
by which time I presume the executive com-
mittee will want lo report. And I would say
to my colleague (Mr. Stockbridge) that while
I do not wish to confine the convention to the
precise words of the amendment I have sub-
mitted, I desire to have an expression of the
sense of the convention on the general sub-
ject. After the amendment is adopted for
the purpose of expressing that sense, it can be
reconsidered and changed to suit the wishes
of the convention.
Mr. BELT. While we are taking the sense
of the convention upon the general subject of
the veto power, we may as well decide whe-
ther that power shall be gratified. I therefore
move to amend the amendment by adding the
following thereto;
"But the aforesaid veto power of the Gov-
ernor shall not extend to any acts for the
raising of revenue, levying of taxes, or the
appropriation or disbursement of any money
in the treasury."
There may be those who will vote for the
proposition of the gentleman from Baltimore
city (Mr. Cushing) if so modified, who will
not otherwise vote for it.
Mr. NEGLEY. I wish the mover of the
amendment would withdraw it. I have not
made up my mind how to vote upon this
question. If you adopt this amendment, yon
make it a part of the constitution.
Mr. Cushing. You can reconsider it.
Mr. NEGLEY, Why not defer the matter
until the report of the committee on the ex-
ecutive department is received? You can
then bring the question up in its proper
place. Let us adopt the suggestion of the
gentleman from Anne Arundel (Mr. Miller,)
and pass this subject over for the present.
The PRESIDENT. The chair would suggest
that the bills passed by the general assembly
are not signed until after the final adjourn-
ment takes place.
Mr. CUSHING. I am willing to do this. I
would like an informal expression of opinion |
