I believe the one man-one vote principle
was ruled. Do you have any knowledge as
to how the State of Tennessee treats this
problem, for the size of the legislature?
DELEGATE GLEASON: No. The only
knowledge that I have that is relevant to
the question, at least to my mind, is that
since those decisions, fory-five states have
apportioned themselves, and three more are
in the process, which is a pretty good de-
gree of legislative activity on that kind of
a basis, in a period of five years; but I
do not know what the current situation is
in the State of Tennessee.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions of the minority spokesman?
Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: Delegate
Gleason, I was wondering if you had any
statistics on any of the legislatures that
have reapportioned themselves and have
reduced their size?
DELEGATE GLEASON: Yes. Well,
when you say statistics on reduction in
size, statistics in reference to what?
DELEGATE WILLONER: Have any
legislatures reduced their size?
DELEGATE GLEASON: Yes. There is
some reference to the answer to that ques-
tion in my remarks; nine states during
this period of time have reduced the size
of their lower house; 75 per cent of that
reduction has occurred in two states, which
had sizes in the lower house of over two
hundred. In the same period of time, six
states have increased the size of the lower
house. When you go to the senate, the
situation is that three states have decreased
the size of their senate to atotal of eleven,
and fifteen states have increased the size
to approximately a seventy-one total figure.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions? Delegate Wheatley?
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: Delegate
Gleason, could you tell us, if this amend-
ment carries, would the question that was
raised during the reapportionment debate
be subject to veto and/or referendum?
DELEGATE GLEASON: Certainly it
would be subject to a veto. I think we will
have to wait on the referendum until we
get a report from the Committee handling
that. I do not. It would certainly be sub-
ject to a gubernatorial veto, and it should
be.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there further
questions of the minority spokesman? Dele-
gate Harry Taylor. |
DELEGATE H. TAYLOR: Delegate
Gleason, would this not be a little bit like
letting the fox decide how many chickens
should be in the hen coop?
DELEGATE GLEASON: Your humor
is pleasant, but I do not think it is rele-
vant. We have been attempting in the
Legislative Branch Committee, and in the
other proposals that will come before this
group, to do what we can in the Constitu-
tion to make the legislative branch a co-
equal part of the government. Time and
again, we are faced with people in the
Committee coming before us and saying,
"Yes, but you do not want them to do
that, you see. You do not want them to
meet longer than seventy days. You do not
want them to meet in an annual session,
or you don't want them to be able to in-
crease the budget, and you do not want
them to increase the size of their legisla-
ture or reduce it."
The matter has to be faced, you know,
when you are going to establish alegisla-
ture with powers to legislate, it carries
with it the risk that they will do some-
thing bad as well as good; but I do not
know any other was around that delega-
tion of responsibility.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Does the
delegate or the Committee have the figures
on how many state legislatures have passed
or called for a constitutional amendment
so that the federal constitution could be
amended to allow one body of a bicameral
legislature to be seated on factors other
than population?
DELEGATE GLEASON: As you know,
there is a great deal of discussion about
the validity of some of those proceedings
of state legislatures, but I think the figure
that is generally used is thirty-two,'and
they need thirty-four to call such a con-
stitutional convention.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Is it
quite possible, then, that whatever we do
here may somewhat depend on further
federal constitutional action?
DELEGATE GLEASON: I think every-
thing is possible except the impossible, and
that would certainly be one of the possible
ones.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions? Delegate Byrnes. |
