Show And If Voters Approve Overhaul Of Constitution r Utah citizens by approval of f Proposal 2 on the November l ballot may indicate that they I desire a complete overhaul of their state constitution What I action may we then expect THE LEGISLA LEGISLATURE TURE would then provide at their next session session ses- ses sion for the time and place of ofa a constitutional convention Most states that have recently called such a convention have held It on a university campus or in the legislative halls at a time when the Legislature was not in session Some recent conventions have finished their work in two or three months while others have taken two years The Utah Legislature Legislature Leg Leg- would have to set seta a time I table OUR PRESENT constitution requires that the new constitution tion be submitted to the voters at the first general election held r after the convention delegates finish their work The earliest POSsible date 1968 and it Would probably not be before 1970 1 c The e method or of choosing the delegates to convention would be determined by the Legisla- Legisla j lue In some states they are nominated by the political party through rough the regular procedure D IN OTHER STATES they are aret t nominated b partisan non I pe tiff ens They could be elected at either a regular election or a Special election It has been rumored that the a Utah Legislature expects to tode- tode declare de- de clare dae themselves to tobe be the dele dele- gates IN OTHER STATES the legal i interpretation of the words constitutional convention convention- has I been a body composed of delegates delegates dele dele- gates specially elected for that purpose Under such an interpretation interpretation inter inter- the Legislature does not have the power to declare itself the convention There have been a few instances instances in- in stances where the Legislature has served but only after per per- mission Was granted by a vote of the people A court decision could be made to issue an injunction In- In junction against such action in utah if an attempt were made DELEGATES TO the conven- conven See CONSTITUTION page 2 Constitution Continued from front pane page lion tion would review the Whole document doe doc with an eye to our present and future needs A careful study by sub committees and a research staff would enable the delegates to change what needs to be changed and delete what is unnecessary and produce a simple flexible constitution It Is difficult t to make a close estimate of the cost of convention convention conven- conven tion at this time Some states pay their delegates Others do not We can judge from the experience experience ex- ex of other states MISSOURI'S convention in 1945 cost However reform in just one department revenue has saved one million dollars annually Michigan's Michi g ans an's convention cost over a million dollars but they paid the delegates delegates dele dele- gates 1000 per month Resultant Resultant Result Result- ant changes in the court organization paid the cost of the New Jersey convention almost im- im mediately Some experts have figured that a convention with the same number of delegates as there are in the Legislature would cost about the same as a Legislative Legislative Legis- Legis session IF WE DO NOT vote for a convention the only other ap- ap open to us is the amendment amendment amend amend- ment process This would not necessarily be cheaper In 1984 1964 there we were r e two amendments on the ballot This represented slightly more than 9 of the printing cost and came to about 1200 per amendment amend amend- ment Source of information is the Carr Printing Company who printed ballots for the entire en- en tire Ure state In 1964 THIS YEAR we have eight questions on the ballot so even it if the cost has not gone up it will wUi come to about We must pay about to advertise advertise ad- ad vertise the questions as required required re- re by law Total cost this about year ear It If you consider the number of amendments it would take to bring the constitution up to date you can see that this also Is an expensive process TEXAS HAS chosen the amending process to update her constitution and she will have 27 questions on the 1966 ballot alone At one time Georgia had questions on the ballot Now there has been some concern that the utah voters would not be able to decide intelligently in- in on a complete revision revision sion of their constitution Voting piecemeal on from 20 to amendments at a time would certainly be as cOnfusing ACTUALLY THE voters would have a great deal of information mation on which to make a judgment judgment judg- judg ment on the revision submitted by a convention The attention of the whole state will be focused focused fo- fo on the convention it if It meets There will be extensive newspaper tv and radio cover cover- age In other states where there have been conventions the delegates delegates dele dele- gates after adjournment participated participated par par- in public meetings Civic groups will also be eager to furnish information to voters |