ment No. 20 to Committee Recommendation
LB-1. Just simply destroy the amendment
that had been offered by Delegate Storm.
It is withdrawn. It was not seconded, and
is therefore not before us. It has no num-
ber.
The Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 20
to Committee Recommendation LB-I, by
Delegate Gleason: On page 3 Section 3.12,
Legislative Sessions, of Committee Recom-
mendation LB-I, following the period in
line 14 strike out the last sentence.
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
moved by Delegate Gleason. Is it seconded?
(Whereupon, the amendment was duly
seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Gleason to speak to the
amendment.
Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: Mr. Chairman
and fellow delegates: Let me say at the
outset that I do not intend to speak longer
than two minutes in connection with this
amendment.
On its face it would appear to put me in
a contradictory position for having sup-
ported the minority report, which asks for
increased flexibility in the legislative body
to set the time of its own schedule, to be
asking the delegates at this time to strike
from the section the power that rests in
two men to call into the special session the
General Assembly.
This is a power that I personally am not
willing to give to any two men who are,
after all, just members of the General As-
sembly. We have been dealing here with
a legislative power, and that power is the
voice of the majority of the delegates of
each house. Here for the first time in any
state constitution we are giving to two men,
men who are sitting in office and who may
be changed at any time, the power to em-
barrass the governor, the power to call a
group of all of the delegates back into ses-
sion at any time after an election, before
an election, and this is not a power that I
think that we should give to any Assembly.
I would hope that the delegates in this
Convention would not permit this to go
into the Constitution of Maryland.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate—
Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair- |
man, ladies and gentlemen: I should like
to speak briefly against the amendment. We
felt that although Maryland joined a num-
ber of other states in providing a legis-
lature that could call itself back into spe-
cial session if it so desired, that there was
a certain cumbersome aspect to circulating
petitions or uniform letters among three-
fifths of the members. We felt further that
there ought to be a third way of calling a
special session, and that was to confer
upon the presiding officers of each house,
acting concurrently, that particular power.
We believed that there was sufficient
sense of responsibility in these offices and in
the men who held them to guarantee that
they would not act frivolously in calling
back the General Assembly, because of the
expense that does go into getting the Gen-
eral Assembly ready for its special ses-
sion, the gathering of the staff and all the
other many imponderable but difficult tasks
that are involved in the calling of a special
session.
Further, it is my understanding that the
Committee on the Executive Branch did not
specifically include or will not specifically
include a recommendation that there be a
veto session of the General Assembly to
consider bills vetoed by the governor, be-
cause it was aware of the fact that they
were recommending that the Speaker of
the House, and the President of the Sen-
ate, be allowed to convene a special session.
Certainly if the leadership of these
bodies of the legislative branch of govern-
ment believes that it is the will of the
House and Senate that certain bills be over-
ridden or that vetoes be overridden, they
will call them back.
Consequently, in line with making the
General Assembly and its leadership as
fluid and flexible a body as possible, to pro-
vide it with the opportunity to continue to
exercise strength in the legislative branch
of government, we felt that this indeed was
a significant and worthy power to invest
upon both the presiding officers, and we
feel that if we could get the concurrence
of such two sensitive positions and hold-
ers of those positions, that the power
would not be frivolously exercised.
Consequently, we believe that the addi-
tion is an important one. We believe it is
one that will not only work for the benefit
of the General Assembly, but for the people
of Maryland generally, and I would urge
you, therefore, not to strike from the ma-
jority recommendation this power invested
in the presiding officers of both houses to |
