OCR Text |
Show Four Constitution! Amendment Proposals Pacing Utahns in C oming November Election Fcur propositions for am-ending am-ending the Utah Constitution which will he placed on the ballot at the general election in November are outlined and discussed in a research brief released this week by Utah Foundation. Three amenarreni p-i-als were on the last previous general election ballot, in 1970, and five such proposals were voted on by Utahns in 1968. All eight of the most recent prosopals have been approved, it is noted by the Foundation, the private, nonprofit non-profit public service agency. In 1966, there were seven specific amendments proposed, propos-ed, plus a proposal for a constitutional convention to re-write the entire document. All eight propositions were defeated that year. The Utah Foundation brief presents the amendment propositions pro-positions in the precise language lan-guage in which they will appear ap-pear on the ballot, offers a brief analysis of their intended in-tended effect, and presents a summary of major arguments Doth pro and con. This is done as a public service, to help voters understand the issues before them. The Foundation does not take a stand for or against the proposed amendments. One 1972 proposition is- .un'que, in that it proposes to amend the entire article of the constitution at one time (Art. VI, dealing with the Legislature). This is done under the terms of an amendment approved two years ago, the so-called "gateway" "gate-way" amendment providing for deal ng with an entire constitutional article (and related material if necessary) in a single amendment. Prior to passage of the "gateway" amendment it was necessary to present each proposed substantive sub-stantive change in a separate amendment. Proposed changes in Article Arti-cle VI include changes in four separate areas: (1) New sections would be added to provide for an auditor aud-itor responsible directly and solely to the Legislature and functioning in addition to the existing elected auditor; authorization au-thorization for the Legislature to retain legal counsel separate sep-arate from the office of the Attorney General; and authorization au-thorization for compensating legislators for attendance at ' interim committee meetings authorized by law at rates not to exceed the per diem and mileage allowed during regular regu-lar sessions. A Time Saver (2) Procedural changes in the interest of saving time during crowded sessions. Bills could be read three times by title instead of in full although al-though they would be read in full if requested by two-thirds two-thirds of the members of the house considering the bill. At present bills theoretically must be read in full, but in practice they are more often read by title only under suspension sus-pension of the rules. Also, under present constitutional requirement, all bills must be signed by the President of the Senate and by the Speaker of the House in open session and in the presence of the respective houses. Under the proposed amendment, the presiding officers would have up to five days following adjournment ad-journment to sign bills, cer-tfying cer-tfying their accuracy and authenticity. (3) Certain sections would be clarified. Included in this category are the age and residency res-idency qualifications for mem bership in the Legislature, which are prescribed in the present Constitution, but not given an effective date. Under Un-der the proposed amendment a candidate would have to meet all standards as of the final legal date for filing for the office he seeks. (4) Elimination of obsolete material and material considered con-sidered of no practical value. Included in this category wou'd be the specific language lang-uage (or the enacting clause of all bills, a long list of specific private laws which the Legislature is prohibited from enacting (to be replaced replac-ed by a simple prohibition of any private law where a general gen-eral law can he effective), and the elimination of two minor sectons felt to serve no practical purpose. Other Proposals Other amendment proposals which will be voted on in the 1972 election would: (1) Enlarge the list of non-bailable non-bailable offenses to include those where a person is accused ac-cused of committing a felony while on probation or parole, or where the accused is out on bail from a previous felony fel-ony charge and when "proof (of the second felony) is evident evi-dent or presumption strong." Under present Utah constitutional constitu-tional law, persons accused of crime may be released on bail except when the charge is a capital offense. A capital capi-tal offense is one which is (or was, before the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision) punishable pun-ishable by death. School Consolidation (2) Discontinuance of the requirement that all cities of the first and second class maintain school districts separate se-parate from those of adjacent adja-cent counties. At present, Salt Lake City (city of the fst'c class) and Ogden, Pro-vo, Pro-vo, Logan, and Murray (cities of the second class) maintain main-tain separate school districts. There would be no requirement require-ment that any or all of these districts be discontinued discontin-ued if the amendment is approved, ap-proved, although there would be no longer a legal prohibition prohi-bition against doing so if it were decided to consolidate districts. If the amendment is approved, it would be possible pos-sible to advance growing third class cities to second class status without the necessity ne-cessity of establishing additional addi-tional separate school districts. dis-tricts. In recerat years, the minimum standard for first and second class cities has repeatedly been increased, largely to avoid the necessity neces-sity of creating new school districts if additional cities were placed in the second class category. New Forms of Gov. (3) Authority for counties to select one of a number of alternative forms of government. govern-ment. Existing Utah constitutional consti-tutional law requires that the Legislature provide a system of county government .which shall be "uniform throughout through-out the state." This requirement require-ment would be removed by approval of the proposed amendment. am-endment. The Legislature has already enacted a law which will take effect on January 1, 1973 to implement the proposed pro-posed amendment. The implementing im-plementing statute will take effect only if the amendme 1 is approved. If the amend merit fails, the statute J.j automatically become invaJ' Under terms of the law ai : ready conditionally passw) . it the amendment is appr(J ed there will be no change hi the form of government 0 any county unless such chan ' is specilicatlly requested bv J citizens of the county, ai ' unless it is approved bv county-wide referendum. Coii nties could contniue indefin itely with their existing-' form of government it thev so desire, or could choose ; one of the alternative im : provided in the conditional!,, : approved legislation. r Voter organizaions, s(l)dv-: groups, and interested ind.v i duals may obtain a copy 0I '' the Utah Foundation discus ': sion of proposed constitution V al amendments, without any charge, from the Foundation offices at 32 East First South in Salt Lake City ' , |