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noon quite late in the afternoon when this
amendment was originally voted on, I asked
for reconsideration at that time because it
seemed to me that the attention of the dele-
gates was elsewhere with the coming holi-
days, and that far fewer delegates voted
than would have been interested in the
question.
I think that much of the debate would
not have to be redone at this time. I would
like to remind the delegates that this came
as a committee report after full discussion
within the Committee on the Legislative
Branch, and because the committee majori-
ty felt that such a suggestion was in line
with part of its package for a reformed
and revitalized legislature, that among the
many reforms was this one.
We heard, and some of us knew from
personal experience, how difficult it was
to find out what was going on in the legis-
lature. We knew that the journal was not
always available. We recognized the fact
that this is a different kind of state govern-
ment that we are embarking on and that
a certain amount of expenditure will be
necessary.
We were appalled when we found out
how a billion dollar budget was checked
over. We realized it was never really
thoroughly scrutinized. We learned that
many programs in the State were not ex-
amined by the legislature. We learned that
interested people did not know what was
happening nor who had said what, nor
if anything had been said on certain
programs.
All of this led us to the growing reali-
zation that if in some way this State were
to accept its responsibilities and no longer
claim that the federal government was en-
croaching, that the State would have to act
in a manner that showed it had grown to
those responsibilities, and that this in some
measure would cost money. For this reason
we recommended every reform that we
knew that was consonant with good
government.
I have in hand here from a delegate who
was a member of that Committee a little
booklet published by the United States
Savings and Loan Association called the
Director's Digest and in it there is an
article:
"Harried legislators are bent on re-
forms." I would like to read you just one
sentence, a long one, but just one sen-
tence: "State legislatures, determined to
survive as a vital force in government,
are beginning to fight back. Ill-staffed
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for the most part, long handicapped by
archaic rules, poorly paid, caught be-
tween rising demands for services and
shrinking sources of revenue, the law-
making bodies of the fifty states have
seen their authority slowly eroded by
federal government and a growing power
of the state executive branch."
I can think of no more appropriate place
to mention all this than right here. We
have built a strong executive branch. We
have emboldened the authority of the Gen-
eral Assembly first by one provision, then
another. We talk about the rights of the
people as if the people are separate from
the legislative branch. I submit to you that
the rights of the people are founded in the
legislative branch. I can see no more impor-
tant way of strengthening those rights
than by strengthening the legislative
branch. I know nothing more important
in terms of information to the people, so
that they can tell what is going on, than
to furnish a transcript of debate. No matter
what it should cost, I submit to you that
in no other measure or means could it cost
anything like the expenses that should go
to examine a billion dollar budget.
I would urge that we reconsider this
amendment, that we redesign our thinking
in terms of the mounting problems, and
that we support this reconsideration.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Rybczynski.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: Mr. Presi-
dent, we worked on this matter on Decem-
ber 29. I walked over to my desk in the
committee room to find out the date of the
last transcript and learned that just the
minute before there was distributed the
transcript for December 9 on the 29th. This
placed the entire matter exactly twenty
days in arrears, not working days, I admit,
but twenty calendar days in arrears.
How this thing would possibly strengthen
the legislature, I am not clear. I would be
happy to listen to this type of argument
but I have not heard it before, I did
not hear it just now except the bald
statement.
I think cost is a very important item. I
think as this thing draws to a close more
and more of us are becoming conscious of
the word cost.
The President was very kind in that he
made a personal investigation as to how
this thing is clone in Congress. How is it
that in Congress they are able to tran-
scribe one day and deliver the manuscript
the next day? It goes something like this.
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