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Proceedings and Debates of the 1967 Constitutional Convention
Volume 104, Volume 1, Debates 1454   View pdf image (33K)
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1454 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF MARYLAND [Nov. 30]

have power to do that, and I think even if
we strike out these words, the General As-
sembly would have the power to do that. It
seems to me that as a result of this discus-
sion, I would be perfectly willing to agree
to Delegate Chabot's amendment if we can
also either strike out these words, "as may
be prescribed by law and such other
duties", or insert after, "as may be pre-
scribed by law", the words, "approved by
the governor", so that the General Assem-
bly could not vest functions in the lieuten-
ant governor over the governor's veto.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.

DELEGATE CLAGETT: I do not be-
lieve I am suggesting that, Delegate Mor-
gan, because I believe the courts would do
just that. I believe that if there came a
time when the General Assembly attempted
to delegate to the lieutenant governor some-
thing which it did not have the constitu-
tional authority to delegate that the courts
would then intervene and declare such an
act by the General Assembly unconstitu-
tional. I would prefer to have the language
remain as is, with the clear intent being
made a matter of record, as we are doing
now, and therefore, then move to my next
question. In the light of our interpretation
of the first part of this section, that by
the delegation to the lieutenant governor
of duties by the governor, we are there in-
tending that within the exercise of the ex-
ecutive powers provided for in this article
4, the governor may give to the lieutenant
governor those powers of his branch of the
government that he may see fit and may
be necessary under the circumstances.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.

DELEGATE MORGAN: That is correct,
but it seems to me that since the governor
can delegate the veto power under the sec-
tion that authorizes the governor to deliver
the lieutenant governor a notification, the
governor will be temporarily unable to per-
form his duties. It seems to me it would be
perfectly all right under this section to
prevent the governor from just delegating
this one power to the lieutenant governor,
if everyone feels so strongly that that
should not be done.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Stern.

DELEGATE STERN: Mr. Chairman, I
wish to bring to your attention and the at-
tention of this Committee that yesterday
we voted on Amendment No. 5, and the
attention of Mr. Sickles, who voted against
it, that after the word, "Governor, " add
the words, "but the General Assembly may

limit the powers and duties which the Gov-
ernor may delegate to the Lieutenant Gov-
ernor. "

It failed 15 to 111. This was one of
those small amendments brought up by my
good friend, Senator Storm.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gilchrist.

DELEGATE GILCHRIST: Would the
Chairman yield for a question?

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan, do
you yield for a question?

DELEGATE MORGAN: I yield.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gilchrist.

DELEGATE GILCHRIST: At the risk
of being involved in semantics with Dele-
gate Marion's suggestion a little while ago,
I sent back for Delegate Stern's WEBSTER'S
DICTIONARY and I found that it says, with
respect to duty, that this is the action re-
quired by one's position or occupation, and
when you turn to power, you find it to be
a totally different thing, and power is pos-
session of control, authority or influence
over others.

I suggest that the Committee's language
in the recommendation is a very different
thing from the Committee's language in its
commentary; that if you intend to produce
a result which is contained in a commen-
tary, you not only need to have duties in
the recommendation, you need to have
powers, and I do not know of any place
where powers are delegated to lieutenant
governors. They are generally duties.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.

DELEGATE MORGAN: Mr. President,
I think this can probably all be ended by
agreeing, as I said I would, to the Chabot
amendment, since the governor can accom-
plish this under another section of the
executive article. In any event, by giving
the lieutenant governor notification in writ-
ing that he will be temporarily unable to
perform the duties, whereupon the lieu-
tenant governor becomes acting governor.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Penniman.

DELEGATE PENNIMAN: It seems to
me that more questions are raised than
simply the ones which surround the imme-
diate problem of the veto, because there
are provisions in other articles which are
subject to the same kind of problems as
the ones that Delegate Chabot is now
talking about. For example, in article 3,
section 12, there is a provision that the



 

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Proceedings and Debates of the 1967 Constitutional Convention
Volume 104, Volume 1, Debates 1454   View pdf image (33K)
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