district a multi-member district, the slot
system could be adopted to simplify voter
problems.
I would like to make some general com-
ments. The problem of numbers can be re-
duced to a simple sentence. Excessive size
hurts in many ways; visibility of your
member, dignity of the position, the ability
to attract top people, and the compensa-
tion that you can pay. One of the problems
about fixing compensation of the legisla-
ture today is simply that in order to pay
a key man what he is really entitled to,
you have to pay the same thing to the
member of the House of Delegates who has
really very little political power, who may
spend a small part of his time in legislative
work.
By bringing the numbers within a degree
of reason you certainly would be able to
organize the compensation picture a little
more logically.
The organization would be simplified,
the staffing would be simplified, and the
scope of the facilities would be minimized.
Let me illustrate what 1 mean. There are
two types of facilities that are needed. One,
you need facilities in Annapolis which are
for the legislature when in session. Over
the past several years we have been at-
tempting to organize plans for the con-
struction of a legislative workshop or office
building. Our ideal is to convert the Court
of Appeals block, together with the church
next door into a legislative workshop
wherein you have the hearing rooms, re-
search facilities, and. offices for the mem-
bers, a legislative adjunct to the State
House, which is becoming crowded for
many reasons, one of which is the execu-
tive branch.
The governor's office is expanding, and
he really needs most of the State House
for his office staff.
Providing for an 80-40 membership from
that standpoint is much simpler than pro-
viding for a large legislature which con-
ceivably could then be increased in size.
I have before me a check list of some of
the things needed in a legislative office
building. You need senators' offices, offices
for the house members, the President of
the Senate, the Speaker of the House, such
things as the minority rooms, majority
rooms for caucuses, press and TV rooms,
telephone switchboard, legislative refer-
ence, legislative staff, State police, canteen
or luncheon room, committee or hearing
rooms; you need parking facilities, Post |
Office, an office for the Chief Clerk, the
Secretary of the Senate, a legislative ac-
counting office, an attorney general, and
duplicating rooms.
Speaking of duplicating, now we do our
printing in Baltimore. With proper facili-
ties it would enormously improve the situa-
tion if we were able to do our printing
right here in Annapolis.
You need lounges and places for recep-
tionists, and this is probably an incom-
plete list. It will require a great deal of
attention and study, but certainly, and I am
making this basic point, providing these
facilities in anorderly and logical way for
an 80 man House and 40 member Senate
is certainly much more easily accomplished
if your House and Senate are of reason-
able size.
Now, let me say too that your districting
and redistricting would be simplified. The
main problem would be first to lay out the
40 senatorial districts, and then simply
divide the senatorial district in half. You
have in a sense a composite district with
one senator and two delegates.
For two years 1 went through the prob-
lem of trying to draw district lines. Let me
tell you, it is one of the most difficult ques-
tions in public life.
Now, let me read several things to you,
as 1 draw toward a conclusion. I am read-
ing from the State Legislature's Progress
Reporter, published by the National Mu-
nicipal League in May of 1966. It says, in
the first two paragraphs:
"Sweeping reforms to strengthen state
legislatures were recommended by the
29th American Assembly on State Legis-
latures in American Politics held April
28 to May 1 at Arden House as part of
the National Municipal League's five-
year State Legislatures Project.
"The Assembly will be followed by a
series of regional assemblies. It was at-
tended by former governors, legislators,
local government officials, journalists,
educators, and civic leaders."
One of the nine points they adopted,
point number 8, reads as follows:
"The legislature should be of the size
to make the position of the legislator
more important and visible. To permit
individual participation, effective delib-
eration, full staffing and adequate com-
pensation, legislatures should be no
larger than fair representation requires. |
