The Big Picture – Our Constitution

by State Representative David W. Floyd

July 11, 2007

People can argue with one another about most anything.  Husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, friends – there are those times when our very existence seems to depend on winning the argument at hand. This can be damaging to relationships. When our competitive spirit rules us we usually will lose sight of the bigger picture.  In a marriage, heated arguments over nothing can make us forget the big picture called “family.”

It’s not much different in our arguments over the Special Session.  I should call it our “Extraordinary Session” because that’s what our Constitution calls it.  It’s not a “Special” session, or an “Emergency” session.  It’s a session outside of the ordinary ways of doing business. It’s not convened at the regular time of year, it’s extra-ordinary.

When I visit schools I usually give copies of our Constitution to students. Any one of them can pull out their copy and look at Section 80 and tell you that the Governor can call the General Assembly into session.  It doesn’t matter if the Governor is a Fletcher or a Patton or a Jones, he is directly empowered by the Constitution to convene an extraordinary session.  When that happens the General Assembly convenes and considers those items on the call.  We reject or accept them and then we go back home.  That’s the big picture; that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

This is a gubernatorial election year. Normally that means the campaigns of each candidate as well as the Republican and Democrat parties slug it out for votes. It’s a political campaign and that’s how it’s supposed to work. This year, though, the argument is heated and as a result we’ve lost our focus. Here’s what’s happening.

In the case of this Extraordinary Session there are formed two sides: the Governor and the majority leadership in the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House, Jody Richards, has complained that the Governor is calling the session for political purposes and he’s not about to go along. Says there’s no emergency and it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars. Last Thursday, he got up on the floor of the House and said just that.

I looked in my copy of our Constitution and found nothing that addressed the motivation of the Governor in calling an Extraordinary Session. There was no prerequisite for agreement on issues before such a call is made. I looked back over at the Speaker, angry and red in the face as he condemned the governor, and wondered why we were talking politics instead of considering the issues on the call. As I see it, that’s our job once we are called into session.

If the Speaker and his House majority think the Governor is being political they of course are free to say that until they’re, well, red in the face. But we still are legally called into session. Our job at that point is to do the people’s business and leave politics behind at the door of the Chamber. Give the matters an up or down vote. Then go home and complain afterward about the Governor being political. Maybe it’s just my military training but when the Chief calls, you salute smartly and go to work. Doesn’t matter if you like him or not.

Now the Speaker is a wonderful guy, but he got some bad advice from somewhere to try and get us out of session right away instead of voting on things like we’re supposed to do. What they wanted to do was convene as ordered and then just adjourn after putting on a show.

But there was a Constitutional problem. Section 41 says that “Neither House, during the session of the General Assembly…” can adjourn without the consent of the other. That means that even if the House quits the Senate is still in session. Everybody would still get paid and we’d still be spending $60,000 per day and nothing’s getting done because the House quit.

So somebody (no doubt a lawyer) said to the Speaker “the Constitution says ‘the’ session. Let’s just say that doesn’t include the General Assembly when we’re in an Extraordinary Session.” Using that logic, nothing in the Constitution covers these sessions, but it was sufficient for their purposes and that’s what they did. They used the meaning of the word “the” and adjourned by a voice vote – wouldn’t even let us record the vote so that the people could see who did what.

In the meantime over in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats were working. I went up and listened to their committee meetings. In two days they deliberated legislation and passed it all out of the Senate. Out of five major bills only seven “No” votes were cast. Bipartisan cooperation ruled in the Senate. Once the bills passed, they were sent over to the House… which wasn’t there to receive them because we’d already quit.

What happened last week in the House was a casual brushing aside of the Constitution. It’s as if the House majority said “The Constitution applies except when it’s inconvenient.” It was a bad day for Kentucky.

The Governor used his authority to declare an adjournment until July 30, when we will reconvene. Hopefully, this cooling off period will work for the House majority and they will return in a right spirit so that we can do the business we are constitutionally called to do. If we vote everything down, that’s fine; but we need to vote. That’s the big picture.

Hearing from you is the best part of my job, and I welcome your input on this and other matters. Call me at home, email, or leave a message at 800-372-7181.