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acting governor, he continues to be presi-
dent of the Senate, and hence does not lose
his place in the line of succession.
Section 4.11: Court of Appeals Jurisdic-
tion to Determine Disputes:
This section gives the Court of Appeals
exclusive jurisdiction concerning all legal
questions involving sections 4.06 through
4.10 of the constitution. It is thought desir-
able that all of these questions should be
resolved by the Court of Appeals in the
first instance to avoid delay.
It should be noted that the role of the
Court of Appeals under this section is
markedly different from the role it plays
under section 4.08. Under section 4.08 the
Court serves as a finder of fact, determin-
ing whether in its judgment the governor
is disabled and therefore, unable to carry
out the duties of the office. Under this
section, the Court serves its more typical
role deciding what sections 4.06 through
4.10 mean and how they affect the rights
of the parties before the court.
Section 4.12 : Message to General
Assembly :
This section recognizes the governor's
responsibility to report to the people of
the State through their elected representa-
tives. It also recognizes the desirability of
the governor's direct involvement in the
legislative process. The language of the
section is similar to the language of Ar-
ticle II, section 19 of the present Consti-
tution.
Section 4.13: Convening the General
Assembly :
This section gives the governor power to
convene the General Assembly or the Sen-
ate alone. It is similar to Article II, section
16 of the present Constitution. Although
this draft section requires that the gov-
ernor issue a proclamation stating the pur-
pose for which he has convened the Gen-
eral Assembly into special session, the Gen-
eral Assembly is not restricted to the con-
sideration of those matters contained in the
proclamation. The Committee feels that on
occasion a special session may be efficiently
used to debate and act upon other matters
of urgency before the State.
The governor is given power to convene
the Senate alone so that the Senate can
meet to confirm or reject gubernatorial
appointments made while the General As-
sembly is not in session. Even though a
technique is provided under section 4.24
through which the governor can make re-
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cess appointments in such cases, it is felt
that some appointees may understandably
want to get the question of confirmation
cleared up before assuming the office.
Therefore, a method is provided through
which this may be accomplished.
Sections 4.14 through 4.17 deal with the
governor's veto power. Section 4.14 states
the scope of the governor's veto. Budget
bills are excepted because they originate
with the governor and the General As-
sembly is restricted in its power to modify
them.
If the Convention were to decide that the
General Assembly should have additional
power to increase items in the governor's
budget, the Committee feels that this ex-
ception would have to be reconsidered.
Bills proposing amendments to the con-
stitution are excepted from the governor's
veto because under the present Constitu-
tion they can only be passed by the affirma-
tive vote of three-fifths of all members of
each house of the General Assembly. This
is the same extraordinary vote prescribed
for legislative override by section 4.17. Un-
der the present Constitution the Court of
Appeals has decided that proposed amend-
ments to the constitution are not subject
to gubernatorial veto.
Section 4.15: Item Veto:
This section empowers the governor to
strike out or reduce any item in a supple-
mentary appropriation bill. "Supplemen-
tary appropriation bill" is used as a term
of art intended to have the same meaning
as the term has under Article III, section
52(8) of the present Constitution. This
section clarifies the language of Article
II, section 17 of the present Constitution
which does not make clear that the gov-
ernor can reduce items in supplementary
appropriation bills.
Section 4.16: Presentation of Bills to
Governor :
This section assures that a governor will
have to take affirmative action if he wishes
to veto a bill; if he does not act within
the stated time period, a bill will take
effect as law without his signature.
The time periods established in this sec-
tion only begin to run when a bill is pre-
sented to the governor. The term "presen-
tation" is found in the veto section of the
present Constitution. The Committee makes
no change in what under existing practice
is treated as the time of "presentation."
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