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THE CHAIRMAN: Following the next
speaker for the proponents.
Delegate Gilchrist.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: I yield three
minutes to a man who has probably had
more experience with the machinery of
legislation than any other man in the
room, Delegate Della.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Mr. Chairman,
delegates of the Convention, I think we
are on the right path of trying to create
a legislative body that is going to have a
good image with the public. In a 40-mem-
ber Senate it would take 11 of those mem-
bers to pass a bill because 21 is a quorum
and a majority of 21 is 11. Now ordinarily
under our present procedure and under
our present Constitution, it would take 21
members to pass a bill to make it consti-
tutional.
In the House, we have 120, a quorum is
61, and under the proposal by the ma-
jority of the Committee it would only re-
quire 31 members out of a body of 120.
My good friend, the Chairman of the
Committee, mentions one bill. It so happens
I happened to be up in the country over
the weekend and I have, I suppose, a fairly
decent house, but I had a squirrel in it.
Now am I supposed to burn my house down
to get the squirrel out? We have a good
procedure under the present Constitution
and it has been working for the last hun-
dred years, that a majority of the elected
members of the body shall be the necessary
constitutional majority.
We in the Convention are operating
under a 72-vote majority of the body.
We also passed in the executive branch
just yesterday, that on the return of vetoed
bills from the governor's office the bill to
pass must be done by the affirmative vote
of three-fifths of all the members of each
house.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have one-half
minute, Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: I think we have
to be consistent. If we are going to permit
three-fifths vote on vetoed bills of all the
members then I think it ought to be three-
fifths vote of all the members of both
bodies to pass a bill that required three-
fifths vote, or a majority.
I would like to see, for good government,
to adopt all three amendments that have
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been offered by the Minority Report. I do
not think the majority recommendation is
workable. It will create a lot of scul-
duggery, I am sure of that, and if you
want responsible leaders in the General
Assembly, give them the tools to work
with, and make it a fixed number that is
required to pass a bill, so that he knows
and the members know what is required.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gleason.
Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man, if this amendment passes I want to
make it clear that I withdraw my opposi-
tion to the other two amendments.
THE CHAIRMAN: Very well.
Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: Mr. Chairman,
I would hope that the mover of this amend-
ment will say the same thing if his amend-
ment is defeated.
It seems to me, fellow delegates, that at
any time and on any occasion when there
is a minority, which there always is, which
resists a majority recommendation of the
Committee there is a constant reference
and allusion to the historic traditions and
requirements embodied in the present and
past constitutions of Maryland. I know at
least the primary mover of this amend-
ment has often voted to remove things
that have been embraced in the ivy halls
of tradition of past constitutions. I would
suggest to him that this is not a case
where he should change his past voting
record.
The majority of the Committee did not
consider this as any great significant
change in the protection of the rights of
the people. We considered this simply as a
method for simplifying the procedures
when the legislative halls of the state gov-
ernment, and here in Annapolis.
The Chairman of the Committee has
already referred to the record around the
states and I think that record has been a
little bit distorted by the Minority Report.
It is true that twenty-six states require a
majority of the members elected to each
house, but there are eleven states that do
not even have a requirement in the con-
stitution at all, majority or just a ma-
jority of those present; five require ap-
proval as we are suggesting it here.
The United States Congress has op-
erated for decades and decades without
any problem whatsoever about a minority
of its members passing major legislation.
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