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governor's veto by a 3/5ths veto of all the
members of each house is the same as that
in Article II, section 17 of the present Con-
stitution.
This section also provides that when the
General Assembly overrides a gubernatorial
veto the bill shall take effect on July 1 fol-
lowing or on such other date as the General
Assembly so deems appropriate.
This enables the General Assembly to as-
sure that all laws that they are interested
in will take effect as soon as practical.
Section 4.18 deals with organization of
the executive branch. According to the
Curlett Commission today there are more
than 240 departments, boards, agencies and
other units within the executive branch of
the state government. The Committee feels
that the number of units within this branch
must be reduced if the governor is to ef-
fectively coordinate the activities of the ex-
ecutive branch and effectively communicate
with the chief administrator.
The section therefore provides that all
administrative units of the executive branch
and their respective functions and powers
and duties shall be allocated by law among
and within not more than 20 principal de-
partments. What these 20 principal depart-
ments will be it left to theJaw-making
process. The Committee feels that at the
present time 20 principal departments will
be sufficient. It also recognizes, however,
that at some future point in time this num-
ber may be too restrictive. The section
therefore provides a safety valve, so to
speak, and authorizes the General Assembly
to increase the number of principal depart-
ments beyond 20 by a %ths vote of the
General Assembly.
The Constitutions of Alaska, Hawaii,
Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey
presently establish limits on the number of
principal departments within the executive
branch. The scope of application of this
section should also be noted.
First, regulatory, quasi-judicial and tem-
porary agencies are expressly exempt from
the application of this requirement. For ex-
ample, the public service commission, a
regulatory agency and the workmen's com-
pensation commission, the quasi-judicial
agency may or need not be assigned to one
of the 20 principal departments.
Second, this section only applies to the
administrative units within the executive
branch. For example, the bureau of fiscal
research, the department of legislative
reference and the office of the post auditor
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to be established in this constitution are all
part of the legislative branch and there-
fore need not be assigned to a principal de-
partment of the executive branch.
Likewise, the administrative officer of
the courts and likewise the board of post
mortem examiners which has succeeded to
duties of the coroners are both part of the
judicial branch and therefore need not be
assigned to a principal department of the
executive branch.
The Committee recognizes that this pro-
vision will require a complete revamping of
the state's executive branch. Fortunately
the Governor's Task Force on Modern Man-
agement is already at work on this very
problem. To ease the transition, however,
the Committee recommends a temporary
provision dealing with the initial organiza-
tion of the executive branch pursuant to
the terms of section 4.18. This temporary
constitutional provision gives the General
Assembly two years within which to re-
structure the executive branch so that the
mandate of section 4.18 is met.
If the General Assembly fails to act, the
governor is then given one year within
which to make the initial allocation by ex-
ecutive order. It is the intent of the Com-
mittee that the transitional schedule to be
attached to the constitution should make
clear that existing units within the execu-
tive branch shall be able to continue to
function up until such time as this initial
organization is accomplished.
Section 4.19 deals with the reorganiza-
tion of the executivejjranch and gives the
governor power to initiate reorganization
plans for the executive branch. Perhaps the
most important recommendation of the
Curlett Commission was that the governor
be given a clearly defined role and responsi-
bility in the initiation of reorganization
plans for the executive branch. This sec-
tion accomplishes that goal.
The first sentence of Section 4.19 re-
states the General Assembly's plenary
power both to prescribe the functions,
powers and duties of the principal depart-
ments and the various administrative units
of the executive branch, and to create, re-
organize, abolish or reallocate functions,
powers and duties among the principal de-
partments and the various administrative
units of the executive branch.
The second sentence juxtaposes against
the first the more limited role of the gov-
ernor. He is merely given power to initiate
plans which reorganize or reallocate func-
tions, powers and duties among, or which
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