DELEGATE GILCHRIST: — where a
group of people tried to write a constitu-
tion on a part-time basis.
We believe that the Committee proposal
is more than adequate for the business of
this legislature, and we believe that every
experienced member of the legislature who
appeared before us agrees.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bard.
DELEGATE BARD: I would like to give
two and a half minutes to Delegate Miller.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Miller,
Beatrice Miller.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: Mr. Chair-
man, I believe it is time to reveal that in
the Legislative Committee, in our most de-
liberative and serious moments, we con-
sidered a bifurcated dichotomous tricameral
legislature, bifurcated because we had the
idea of permitting the legislature to meet,
receive and budget bill and then recess,
while the committees of the legislature ex-
amined that budget bill and then come back
into session and take action. I will not at-
tempt here further to explain the other
term..
I will only say that we found that under
the restrictions of what we have presented
in the Report, such a bifurcated session
was not possible. The reason that we ex-
amined that possibility was that without
exception the legislators' testimony testi-
fying before our Committee was that they
had not had enough time for proper budget
consideration.
Now, let us look at the record. In the
seventh and eighth weeks of the 66th ses-
sion of the legislature, 9I bills were passed,
and in the ninth and tenth weeks, 65I bills
were passed. In the 67th Legislature, in
the seventh and eighth weeks, 10I bills
were considered and passed, and in the
ninth and tenth week, 624 bills were passed.
I would say that judging from our ex-
perience in the few weeks that we have
been here, that not much serious and full
consideration was given to the 624 bills
that were passed.
If I have more time—
THE CHAIRMAN: You have a little
less than half a minute.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: I would like
to read now in refutation of one fact, the
written testimony of Congressman Mathias.
On the limit of sessions, he said, "To per-
petuate a time limit on the length of |
legislative sessions seems to me to be
unwise. Such a deadline helps to define
the timetable for action, discouraging
indefinite delay, although these advan-
tages are somewhat undermined if ex-
tension of the session is permissible. In
either case, with or without extensions,
a time limit produces the last-minute
chaos which hardly permits deliberation
and does not promote the public image
of the legislature. While the absence of
any limit may foster tardiness, it does
provide more flexibility on the point."
Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man, I yield all the residue, rest and re-
mainder of my controlled time to Senator
James.
THE CHAIRMAN: Two and 3/8ths min-
utes.
DELEGATE JAMES: I would like to
reiterate some of the arguments in favor
of the delimits of the session.
I think it enables the legislature to con-
centrate on the work over a limited period
of time, knowing that they must accomplish
their work, and they must buckle down to
a five-day week basis to accomplish their
task. This has a salutary effect by not di-
viding the legislators' time between his
personal business and official business, what
he must concentrate on. Overlooked most
frequently is the benefit of the legislature
being out of session. A legislator's life is
a somewhat abnormal life, I am sure you
will agree. The rest period gives the legis-
lator a chance to re-evaluate public prob-
lems, to organize his planning committees
and to get ready for the next session. This
study period which the interim provides is
of enormous value. I will disagree with
most people here. The legislature of Mary-
land is a vital force in programming and
presenting to the governor constructive
programs for future enactment. This dif-
fers from the Congress because the Con-
gress has abandoned the function of cre-
ativity to the president so that I think this
interim period of rest and programming is
something that is of value, is something
that we should keep. If not, there is a
grave danger of the loss of this, and there
will be passed to the governor the initiative
in the formulation of the program.
THE CHAIRMAN: We now enter in
the period of uncontrolled limited debate.
Does any delegate desire to speak in favor
of the amendment? Delegate Sollins. |
