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GP-8, GP-9, GP-12, R&P-1, and LB-3 as
amended by Style Committee Report S&D-
17 by Delegates Gallagher and Sollins:
On page 3, section , Continuity of
Government During Emergencies, strike
out all of lines 17 through 31, inclusive,
and insert in lieu thereof the following:
"The provisions of this Constitution shall
not be suspended, except that the General
Assembly by law shall prescribe for the
temporary suspension of specific provisions
during an emergency caused by disasters
or enemy attack. Any suspension shall be
for the period of the emergency only, and
only provisions of this Constitution con-
cerning continuity of state and local public
offices and governmental operations may be
suspended."
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Dele-
gate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Presi-
dent, ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion. In actuality the proposed Amendment
No. 11 which you have before you could
well be classified as a style amendment.
In looking at the unnumbered section on
page 3 of S&D-17, I would feel that the
Style Committee did some violence to the
original meaning of this "Continuity of
Government During Emergencies" section
after it left the Committee of the Whole.
You may remember that there was col-
loquy when this particular provision was
before you, 'which was originally part of
LB-3. At that particular time Delegate
Willoner made specific reference to the
question of whether or not we would al-
low the other provisions of the bill of
rights to be suspended during an emer-
gency. I told him that was not the inten-
tion of the Committee, that the only pro-
visions which could be suspended by prior
act of the General Assembly for an emer-
gency would be those provisions relating
to continuity of state and local public of-
fices and governmental operations, and
that furthermore, the suspension would
only be during the period of the emergency,
so as to strictly delimit the area in time
during which suspension of the constitu-
tional provisions could take place.
We have therefore drafted Amendment
No. 11, which we think more closely paral-
lels the original language of the Committee
on the Legislative Branch, and which hope-
fully at the same time will also take care
of any of the possible objections which
those who are quite anxious to preserve
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all the privileges in the bill of rights indi-
cated during the floor debate.
Consequently, we have prepared this
language with the expression of the hope
that it better satisfies both the desires of
the Committee on the Legislative Branch
and the Committee on Personal Rights.
Consequently, we would request that this
amendment would receive your favorable
consideration.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Is
there any other discussion?
Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: I have a
question to ask Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Does
Delegate Gallagher yield?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes, sir.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Inas-
much as we so rashly and quickly struck
out a guarantee provision, a provision we
have had time honored in our Declaration
of Rights, prohibition against suspension
of laws, do you feel that this amendment
saying there shall be no suspension of the
constitution also would encompass the
same thing in regard to suspension of
laws during emergency?
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Dele-
gate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: This par-
ticular section addresses itself only to the
question of suspension of constitutional
provisions and not merely statutory pro-
visions pertaining to continuity of govern-
ment so far as the officers are concerned
and so far as operations are concerned. It
does not seek to reach the question of
suspension of statutes.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Do you
feel that question should be reached in our
Constitution?
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I do not
think it is necessary. I think the General
Assembly can address itself to what statu-
tory provisions it would like to suspend
during time of emergency, and you would
not have to confer a constitutional right
to do so upon the General Assembly, be-
cause what the General Assembly may or-
dain it may also disordain.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER : The ques-
tion of suspension of laws, as I understand
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