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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: I would
like to point out in regard to the wording
of it, that it seems rather odd, because a
special session can be called by the gov-
ernor. However, if the governor has vetoed
the bills and does not consider them of
merit certainly he would not reconvene the
special session, and then the only recourse
that the members of the General Assembly
would have is the leadership of the two
houses and if the leadership of the two
houses took it upon themselves not to con-
vene a special session, the leadership of the
two houses then could defeat the will of
the majority of the General Assembly and
thereby defeat the bill. It would seem to
me that our old procedure ought to be in
effect whereby the bill could be recon-
sidered on a special session called by the
governor or by the leadership and the gov-
ernor, or returned to the General Assembly
at the next sitting.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: There is one
other reason why we adopted this special
session device. We wanted to do away with
the pocket veto in the fourth year of the
General Assembly.
In other words, we wanted to have the
legislature have the power to call itself
back into session and override the vetoed
bills.
Now, they have not any such authority at
the present time, and the governor just
puts a bill in his pocket and that is the
end of it. The General Assembly has no
authority to do anything about it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: They
could, could they not, at the next general
session?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer, the constitution says at the next
general session, provided it is not a new
General Assembly.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: It would
seem to me that in order to be fair to all
people of the State and all the members
of the General Assembly that we should
not confine it to the special session alone,
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which is left to the whim of governor who
has vetoed the bill, or to the leadership of
the legislature.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer, I have sent for a copy of LB-1. My
recollection is that there is a provision
there also for convening a special session
by three-fifths of the members; is that
correct?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: In section
3. 12 as approved by the Committee of the
Whole the governor may convene a special
session, of the General Assembly at any
time, and must convene the special session
upon written request of three-fifths of all
members of each house.
Assumedly, you have self-convening with
three-fifths of the members; you would
have three-fifths necessary to override.
They fit in very nicely in that respect.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Will Delegate
Gallagher yield for a question, please?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher,
do you yield to a question?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Delegate Gal-
lagher, is it not true that it would be costly
for special sessions, even though the legis-
lators are on an annual salary. Might not
this be one of the reasons why members of
the General Assembly do not want to call
special sessions or have one called and pre-
fer to wait until the next regular session?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes. It is
always costly to set up the mechanics of a
special session of the General Assembly,
and I would think that you would not want
to bring the General Assembly together
unless it was pretty well understood that
you had the votes to override the governor's
veto. I think that that would certainly be
up to the leaders of both houses though, to
determine that they were exercising their
power to convene a special session, and
certainly it would be up to the senators
and delegates themselves if they were self-
convening so to speak.
I think it is a matter of judgment as to
which of the two you would use.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Is it not true
that even when they are called in special
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