Hide Article Text (OCR)
Utah Voters Face Constitutional Amendment Decision November 5When Utah voters go to the polls ori November 5, they will find themselves again facing decisions on significant amendments to the Utah Constitution.Three of the amendments involve only short sections, while the first, Proposition No. 1, contains several changes to the entire article dealing with the State exec -utive branch.Proposition No. I will be on the ballot through recommendations made by the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission. The amendment proposes six significant types of change in the executive article of the Utah Constitution.They are:(1) developing the office of Lieutenant Governor in place of the present office of Secretary of State.(2) relieving the Board of Examiners of the extreme detail of examining all proposed or actual finance claims against the state and modifying its membership.(3) establishing an orderly procedure for the Lieutenant Governor to assume the duties of the Governor if the Governor becomes disabled.(4) Permitting the Legislature to consider bills vetoed by the Governor after legislative adjournment.(5) allowing the State Auditor and State Treasurer to run for re-election, and(6) removing deadwood.Lieutenant GovernorThe first major change proposed by the amendment establishes the office of Lieutenant Governor.The office of Secretary of State is deleted from the Constitution.The Lieutenant Governor is elected to his office in tandem with the Governor.The duties of the office are designed to allow the Lieutenant Governor to share the administrative responsibility with the Governor andthus share the burden of the chief executive.it is argued that these administrative duties will better prepare a Lieutenant Governor to assume the governorship if necessary.It is also felt that the executive nature of the position would attract candidates qualified to assume the highest state office.This change corresponds to a nationwide trend in recent years in which Lieutenant Governors have become directly involved in the administration of state government.There are 42 states who have Lieutenant Governors, 18 of whom run for the office in tandem with the Governor and share executive responsibilities.Board of ExaminersWith the addition of a Lieutenant Governor in the state executive branch in place of the Secretary of State, a vacancy is left on the Board of Examiners.This vacancy is filled in Proposition No. I by theState Auditor.The Auditor was selected in order to maintain the present Board make-up of three independently elected officers.The Board of Examiners is also required by the amendment to examine only unliquidated claims against the state.These are claims for which there is no provision for payment or no appropriation made in the law.Limiting the Board of Examiners to unliquidated claims clarifies existing conflicts and confusions on the Board’s role in management of fiscal affairs, according to one Senator, Karl N. Snow, Jr., R-Provo.GubernatorialThe third major change proposed by Proposition No. 1 establishes an orderly procedure for the Lieutenant Governor to assume the duties of the Governor if the Governor becomes disabled.The Utah Constitution presently allows the Secretary of State to assume the duties of the Governor tn this event but it makes no provision to determine when the Governor is disabled. Proposition No. 1 sets up a procedure requiring the two presiding officers of the Legislature to request a hearing on the matter by the State Supreme Court.If a majority of the court finds the Governor disabled, the Lieutenant Governor assumes his duties until the next general election, or until the disability ceases.Supporters feel that the lack of this badly needed machinery is a defect which should be corrected now, not in a time of crisis.DisabilityProposition No. I corrects a significant defect in the Utah system of checks and balances between the Legislature and the Governor. Utah limits its legislative session to sixty' calendar days.The Governor is allowed from the time he receives a bill to either approve or veto it.Because of the limited legislative time, in the 1973 general session 110 bills (over one-half of the total passed) were passed during the final five-day period given to the Governor to consider a veto.The veto of any one of these bills could have been delayed until the Legislature adjourned.Under present constitutional provisions if a Governor vetoes a bill after adjournment, the veto is absolute because the Legislature is not in session to override it.Proposition No. I repairs this defect by allowing the Legislature to reconvene sol el v to rornnsider vetoedlegislative houses favor re-bills if two-thirds of both convening.Vetoed BillsThe amendment eliminates the restriction against the State Auditor and State Treasurer from succeeding themselves. Traditionally this restriction lias been frustrated by incumbents running for the opposite office.Modern audit controls and the scrutiny of the Legislative Auditor, recently added to the Constitution, make this restriction unnecessary in the view of the Constitutional Revision Com mission.Treasurer and AuditorProposition No. 1 also removes provisions which are no longer applicable or needed. For example, three obsolete boards are removed arid the requirement that state officers live at the seat of government is deleted.The provisions in Proposition No. 1 have been endorsed by the Utah State Womens* Legislative Council and the Utah Association of Counties.With 100 million automobile and truck tires abandoned yearly, scientists are studying experiments that have produced 140 gallons of oil and 1,500 cubic feet of gas from one ton of tires, the National Geographic Society says.Utah’sDADirriTV
Newspaper Details
Park City Record
Park City, Utah, US
Thu, Oct 31, 1974
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Familysearch
Utah, USA 04 Apr 2025
Other Publications Near Park City, Utah
Park City Call
The Newspaper
The Mountain Flower
Park City Summit County Bee and Park Record
Park City Record
