and responsibility to establish its size, and
on the basis of such, should have the ability
to do good a well as bad—yet these indi-
viduals are the same ones that are urging,
or some of the same ones that are urging
support of the present amendment. First
they say we should free the legislature,
now they say, oh, no, we have to tie the
hands of the legislature.
It seems to me that the Committee in
this instance has marked a reasonable bal-
ance. They have increased the number of
signatures that have to be acquired for a
suspension of the laws, but they have not
put such a suspension out of reach of the
people. Any good constitution, I take it,
not only gives the delegation of powers so
that a body of government can act respon-
sibly, but also has restrictions on that
power so that if that body does act irre-
sponsibly it can be checked.
I would hope that this amendment would
be defeated.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does anyone wish
to speak against?
DELEGATE SCHLOEDER: Mr. Chair-
man, I respectfully submit that that was
against.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair would
like to recognize Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, members of the house: while we
have been considering this amendment, I
have worked out a few figures. With the
Committee proposal of five percent of the
registered voters with 60 days to obtain
them, it would be about 45,988 signatures,
and that would mean that we have to come
up with 776 signatures per day.
Now, if we took five percent of the regis-
tered voters, for a total of 45,988 and with
90 days to acquire the signatures, it equals
510 signatures per day.
If we took three percent of the regis-
tered voters, we come up with approxi-
mately 42,000, and with 90 days for the
signatures we would have to average 455
signatures per day.
If we came up with four percent of the
voters for governor we come up with 36,790
signatures, and with 90 days to acquire
them, come up with approximately 408
signatures per day.
If we came up with five percent of the
registered voters, at 70,000, and with 90
days, we come up with 777 signatures per
day. |
Under our present law we have three
percent of the voters, which is 27,593, and
with only 60 days to acquire them, they
have to average 459 signatures a day.
So it seems as though all of these other
plans are far more restrictive than our
present constitutional provisions of three
percent of the total number of votes cast
for governor. It seems as though most all
of the states follow the number of votes
cast for governor, because it is conceded
generally and most obviously that the
votes cast for governor are the largest
number of votes.
If we leave in our constitution that the
people have a right to the referendum and
then make the figure so high that we make
it restrictive and prohibitive, we are not
leaving our people this right. We are just
giving them false hope.
I have been through these referendum
campaigns, Mr. President. I assure you that
to obtain 27,000 signatures on a petition
in 60 days is no small job.
I want to remind the members, too, that
in our state law is a statute passed only
a few years ago which even restricts it
more, to the extent that you cannot pay
for obtaining signatures. You have to get
them on an entirely voluntary basis.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer has used up his time.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, in closing I want to say this: I
hope we defeat this amendment. I hope we
revert back to the old provisions where a
constitution really gives the people a right.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does anyone want
to speak for? Does anyone wish to speak
for the amendment?
DELEGATE D. MURRAY: We speak
of involving the people, and I believe this
report seeks to involve the people. If we
use the figure of five percent of the regis-
tered voters, the people who did not vote in
the gubernatorial election would have a
chance then to become involved.
Secondly, our report also seeks to make
suspension more difficult. If the intentions
of the people are really sincere and well
thought out, then this report seeks to make
them prove this.
May I digress one minute and say to
Delegate Gleason, I do not know whether
you know how I voted or not. My inten-
tion is not now or never has been to tie the
hands of our legislators, nor in this report |
