that the draft language or even the lan-
guage which exists in the present Consti-
tution did not give the governor sufficient
power to act and to enforce the law. Was
it the intent of the Committee to require
the governor to anticipate actions and to
give the militia an order to move against
a group of citizens before an overt act
occurred?
DELEGATE BOYER: Delegate White,
it was our intention to add the words "may
occur" to cover the possibility of a hurri-
cane that might be forecast or a forest
fire, or some other catastrophe. We felt,
the Governor should have the proper au-
thority to act in advance rather than to
have to wait until the house was on fire.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions? Delegate Bothe. Before
you start, may 1 remind all delegates that
it is imperative that you keep the micro-
phone two to three inches from your mouth
because otherwise we get the hum from
the feed-back. Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: Might I ask the
Chairman to enlighten us as to the Com-
mittee's thinking on the reasons why it
was necessary to have a militia article in
the new Constitution.
DELEGATE BOYER: There was very
little discussion on this, Delegate Bothe.
It seemed to be self-evident; it is in the
present one, which does not necessarily
make it good or proper, but militias are
recognized, as 1 recall it, in forty-eight
out of fifty constitutions of other states.
There has to be some military law enforce-
ment force, not necessarily in a military
sense, but perhaps to assist in times of
trouble of forest fires and things like that,
and this was a readily available force for
the governor to have at his command, as
a civilian, in order to expedite proper state
procedures and functions. It seemed so
self-evident to us that we did not go into
too much detail on it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Henderson.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Mr. Chair-
man, I find great difficulty with the phrase
which has been referred to before in line
14 "at such times." "Such" I take it, is a
reference back like "said." It would refer
back to the situations, that is, "invasions,"
"insurrections," and "the execution of the
laws." Then the last phrase "when great
destruction of life or property may occur"
would seem to me to limit the power to
call the militia out only in those instances
which previously are named and only when
great destruction might occur. |
I can hardly believe from what has been
said that that was the intention of the
Committee, but merely was the result of
draftsmanship. It occurs to me that that
should be clarified somewhere along the
line.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you asking a
question of the Chairman of the Commit-
tee, Delegate Henderson?
DELEGATE HENDERSON: I would
ask him if that is his intention.
DELEGATE BOYER: The intention,
Judge, as 1 indicated, was to make the
words "at such times" all-inclusive, and
relate back to the specific instances where
the governor might act to "repel inva-
sions," "suppress insurrections," et cetera,
"at such times" as they might occur.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Wheatley.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: Mr. Chair-
man, if the Chairman will yield just one
moment on the question asked by Delegate
Bamberger, perhaps I might elaborate on
his inquiry as to the question relating to
the phrase, "in the person of the Governor."
THE CHAIRMAN: Does the Chairman
of the Committee yield to the Vice-Chair-
man of the Committee for the purpose of
answering the question?
DELEGATE BOYER: Very gladly.
THE CHAIRMAN: You may proceed.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: The ques-
tion here does relate back to the original
reference to the governor. Testimony indi-
cated that there might be problems if the
words "civil control" were interpreted to
mean civilian officials who might be in-
volved in a joint operation with the na-
tional guard or militia. The Committee
wanted to make it clear that civilian con-
trol should be exclusively with the gover-
nor and not in various other civilian offi-
cials. The reference to "in the person of
the governor" refers back to the chain of
command rather than leaving open the
possibility that "civil control" might be in-
terpreted to mean in some other civilian
official. That was the thinking behind the
specific reference at that point.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions? Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Mr. Chairman,
I would like to ask one or two questions
of the Chairman of the General Provisions
Committee with respect to appointment of
officers in line 10. Am 1 correct that under |
