Delegate Hanson has the floor. Delegate
Hanson.
DELEGATE HANSON: Mr. Chairman,
the issue posed by Amendment No. 18 is
whether or not the General Assembly in
its own discretion shall have the right to
determine the length of the session.
We who support this amendment believe
that it will greatly improve the legislative
process by making it possible for the lead-
ers and the members of the General As-
sembly, either prior to the convening of a
session or shortly thereafter, to make an
assessment of the amount of legislative
time necessary to consider adequately the
budget, the governor's program, and other
major legislative matters likely to come
before the General Assembly.
It will permit the General Assembly to
schedule its time so that the time of the
members can be most expeditiously em-
ployed.
This is very important because it avoids
freezing into the constitution a time which
may be adequate for the present, but most
inadequate for the future.
Leaders of the General Assembly tell us
now that they need at least 90 days in
which to consider the business and to act
upon it in good fashion. The leaders of the
General Assembly elected in 1970 may
need 100 days or 110 days. They should
have the right to set that time. We may
come to a point in twenty-five years when
the General Assembly will need half a year
in order to efficiently carry out its business,
and the constitution should not restrict the
General Assembly from having that kind of
time.
The constitution should make it possible
for the session to be flexible in terms of
its duration and in terms of its scheduling
so that, given the membership of any one
General Assembly, the members thereof
can make an effective determination of how
long it will take them to do the job for
which they were elected, and not to be put
in a constitutional straitjacket, or not to be
necessarily involved with a whole series of
cumbersome procedures of going to a par-
ticular time, extending the time by major-
ity, extending that time by 3/5ths, asking
the governor to call a special session, and
if he won't, getting 3/5ths to get a special
session or having the two leaders of the
houses convene as proposed in the Majority
Report.
We believe that this language simplifies
the Constitution, that it does what is neces- |
sary, setting a date for the legislature to
convene and leaving to the legislature itself
the job which ought to be the legislature's
job of deciding how long it needs to con-
duct its session and how long it needs to
consider the business of the state.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hanson,
you have one minute.
DELEGATE HANSON: This is the is-
sue before you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man, I yield three minutes to Delegate Ad-
kins.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Adkins.
DELEGATE ADKINS: Mr. Chairman,
in opposing this proposed amendment, I
should like to make two brief points:
If the amendment is adopted, it leads to
professional legislators. I suggest that
Maryland is not ready for professional
legislators. Many persons in this state will
run for public office if they are in a posi-
tion where they can devote part-time and
at the same time still preserve other private
activities in order that they may have ade-
quate income for the education of their
children and support of their families. If
we are prepared to have full-time legis-
lators, then I suggest we must be prepared
to pay them at least $20,000 to $25,000.
There is no middle ground in my judgment.
If we are asking men to serve on a 365-day
potential basis, we should be prepared to
pay them on a 365-day potential basis.
One of the strengths of this Assembly,
when it meets as a legislature, is the fact
that it brings men with varied backgrounds
together in a common meeting place. They
have, however, drawn their experience out-
side of these legislative halls. If we look
to the professional legislator, I suggest that
we will lose the benefit of the combinations
of those experiences.
May I make one further point?
It seems to me that the pressure of time
can be a benefit. The legislative process is
a process of compromise. It is a process of
arriving at a reconciliation of diverse views
to achieve the best that a majority of the
people can agree on.
This process is in many instances aided
by pressure. We have seen that it has been
aided by the pressure on this body, and I
dare say before we are finished, it will be
further aided by this body. If unlimited |
