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local legislation, or at least a great part of it in this

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State, was with regard to municipalities, and it was a

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great evil. As a result, in 1948, the Legislature took

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steps trying by the Express Powers Act with regard to

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municipalities to end this, but the Sobeloff Commission in

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its third report recommended that a constitutional amend-

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ment go even further and grant home rule to municipalities,

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and that constitutional amendment was then passed in 1954.

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This section is at the heart of the Sobeloff Commission

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recommendations and at the heart of home rule in munici-

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palities. What it did at that time is require the General

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Assembly to act only by general law with regard to

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municipalities. At the same time it permitted municipalities

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to obtain powers by changing their charter as long as the

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General Assembly general law did not preclude that, and

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municipalities have used that since that time and since

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that time there has been no local legislation with regard

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to municipalities.

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This is an important section, but we are putting!

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it in the statutory provisions and not in the transitory

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provisions so that the Legislature could change it at any