which is due to another Constitutional pro-
vision, rather than to the nature of bi-
cameralism itself.
If there be, as Mr. Hanson has suggested,
a lack of visibility with respect to mem-
bers of a bicameral General Assembly, I
would further suggest that this lack of
visibility is due to the multi-member dis-
tricts and the spreading of responsibility,
rather than to bicameralism itself.
I would say in addition, Mr. Chairman,
that the other branches of the government
have checks and balances. Certainly judges
check judges on the appellate level. As a
matter of fact, some people even keep score
with respect to how judges make out in the
lower courts when confronted with the
opinion of the appellate courts.
A governor to some extent is checked
by the bureaucracy within the executive
branch of the government, so there are
checks, it seems to me, within the other
two branches as well.
I think an examination of the bills which
fail and the bills which are introduced will
show that approximately 50 per cent of
the bills which are introduced into the
Maryland General Assembly are local in
nature, so it seems to me that one proves
nothing when one says that bills are killed
in a bicameral system; whether they be
state or local shows that bicameralism
works.
I would also suggest to the members of
the Committee of the Whole that when the
legislative agents sometimes unkindly re-
ferred to as lobbyists appeared before the
Committee on the Legislative Branch, they
were not well-disposed toward suggesting
that the people before whom they appear
regularly should have their jobs eliminated.
I suspect that any bow they gave in the
direction of a bicameral General Assembly
was really due more to diplomacy and the
thought that they would have to appear on
another day before a bicameral General
Assembly and that promoted them to glor-
ify the attributes of the bicameral General
Assembly.
The Nebraska legislature, it seems to
me, proves nothing qualitatively. One is
unable to say that Nebraska passes a better
type of law because of a unicameral Gen-
eral Assembly. One merely can point out
what the statistical experience is, but you
cannot give to that experience a judgment
with respect to wisdom, prudence or judg-
ment with respect to the laws themselves.
I would suggest, ladies and gentlemen of |
the Committee of the Whole, that the short-
comings to which Mr. Hanson has made
reference, many of them quite valid, are
not wrapped up in bicameralism but the
particular kind of bicameralism which we
have been laboring under for some time, a
bicameralism which will be eliminated and
reformed if the other conditions of the re-
port of the Legislative Branch are adopted.
At this time, Mr. Chairman, I should
like to yield five minutes to—
THE CHAIRMAN: I will recognize you
for that purpose in a few minutes.
Delegate Hanson?
DELEGATE HANSON: Mr. Chairman,
I yield five minutes to Delegate Sollins.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sollins?
DELEGATE SOLLINS: Mr. Chairman
and ladies and gentlemen of the Committee
of the Whole, this Convention appears de-
termined to strengthen the executive and
judicial branches of government, as well
as the powers of local government.
However, a much more—
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sollins, it
will help if you hold the microphone much
closer to your mouth, please.
DELEGATE SOLLINS: However, a
much more cautious attitude is evidenced
as far as the state legislature is concerned.
While I wholeheartedly support the
strengthening of the executive branch, and
local branches of government, in making
local government much more self-sufficient,
I believe that to keep the legislature bi-
cameral is to relegate the chief policy-
making body of this State to the role of
weak sister.
We have heard from state senators and
delegates from all over the State, from
every section, from every county, I believe,
and the pattern of their testimony is to
stand pat on bicameralism.
1 remind you that court clerks and sher-
iffs have also demanded that the status
quo be maintained for their positions.
How much this attitude reflects the de-
sire to do what is best for the people is
subject to some interpretation.
As one delegate, I have come to this
conclusion: that this Convention must
strengthen the legislature in spite of its
members' expressed desire to remain less
than equal. |
