PLENARY SESSION
SEPTEMBER 19, 1967—2:00 P.M.
PRESIDENT H. VERNON ENEY,
PRESIDING
THE PRESIDENT: The Convention will
please come to order.
The invocation today will be offered by
the Reverend Charles McDermott, St,
Mary's Catholic Church, Annapolis. Father
McDermott.
REVEREND McDERMOTT: Let us bow
our heads in prayer:
Oh, Lord, God, Father Almighty, source
of wisdom, from whom all good things pro-
ceed, and through whom laws are enacted,
send down Your light on the minds of these
your servants; direct their deliberations so
that their decisions may contribute to the
well-being and progress of our children,
the citizens of this state. This blessing we
beg through Jesus Christ your Son, Our
Lord, Who lives and reigns with you for-
ever and ever.
Amen.
THE PRESIDENT: Roll call.
(Whereupon the roll call was taken.)
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Boyce,
Delegate Bushong, Delegate Darby, Dele-
gate Gleason, Delegate Grant, Delegate
Hardwicke, Delegate O'Conor, Delegate Ro-
senstock, Delegate Webster are apparently
absent.
The Clerk will record the roll call.
A quorum being present, the Convention
is in session.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Powers,
Chairman of the Committee on Calendar
and Agenda.
DELEGATE POWERS: Mr. President,
it may be desirable to explain the proce-
dure which is hoped will be followed by
the delegates having an item placed on the
daily calendar and agenda. Under Rule 38
[40]*, order of business, there are two cate-
gories in which individual delegates rather
than committee chairmen are primarily
involved.
No. 8: Introduction of First Reading and
Reference Proposals. Of course there is no
necessity that each proposal be itemized on
the agenda.
*The number in brackets refers to the
final number assigned to the rule in the
Rules of the Constitutional Convention of
Maryland. |
No. 10: Motions and Resolutions. It is
preferred that motions be in writing and
handed to the Chief Clerk. In fact, Rule 4I
[43] requires this, if requested by any
delegate. If the delegate knows in advance
that a motion is to be made, and wants
time on the floor for discussion, the best
practice would be to take this up with the
Chairman of the Committee on Calendar
and Agenda; or, if the motion is not of
the nature where that would be feasible, he
should ask when the motion is made for
adoption of the daily calendar and agenda,
that the agenda be amended to permit this.
The reason for this is not to impede any
delegate, but so that insofar as possible,
all delegates may know in advance what is
to be considered at each session.
Later on we will undoubtedly reach a
point when the allocation of time is ex-
tremely important and it will be helpful
for us all to know when that time comes
and be familiar with the procedure so that
it may be followed when it becomes very
important.
I move the adoption of the report of the
Committee on Calendar and Agenda which
is on the desks of all of us.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there a second?
It is moved that the calendar and, agenda
on the desks of all delegates be adopted
as the calendar for today. All those in
favor, signify by saying Aye; contrary, No.
The Ayes have it. It is so ordered.
The next item on the calendar is intro-
duction and first reading of proposals.
I might say before reading the proposals
that I understand that all proposals up
until those to be introduced today, with the
exception of No. 55, introduced yesterday,
are either in your books or on -your desks.
There are four proposals introduced today
which have not yet been duplicated and
are not on your desk. All others are.
Let me further say at this point, that
the officers are very reluctant to change the
hopper rule which presently stands, that
the hopper closes two hours before the ses-
sion commences. This is causing some prob-
lems because at the moment at least, there
has not been sufficient time to enable us to
reproduce all proposals which come in at
the last moment. If we find that we cannot
help it, we will advance the hopper time
by another hour.
I suggest to you, however, that we can
avoid doing this if each delegate will make
it his business to get his proposals to the |
