Let Legislature convene itself

On its face, a renewed effort by the Utah Legislature to change the state constitution to permit lawmakers to call themselves into special session might appear to be a power grab.

Gov. Olene Walker and former Gov. Mike Leavitt have both opposed such a change. Walker, herself a former legislator, says empowering the Legislature to call itself into special session creates the possibility of a full-time Legislature.

No one, let alone legislators who sacrifice 45 long days during the annual session, in addition to meetings on interim days and time spent on other legislative business, is clamoring for a Legislature that meets year round. In fact, the sponsor of the bill to permit lawmakers to call themselves into session has limited the additional meeting time to no more than 15 days in a calendar year. Another bill sponsored by Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, would allow legislators to call themselves into session to conduct an impeachment proceeding for a judge or statewide elected officials such as a governor or attorney general.

In reality, the Legislature seeks a power that the judicial and executive branches of government already possess, which is the ability to call itself into session and set its own agenda.

Although some people fear that the Legislature might call itself into session too often or abuse the privilege, the 15-day limit set down in Rep. Chad Bennion's bill would appear to address those concerns. If the Legislature, while meeting in special session, passed legislation that a governor deemed flawed, blatantly unconstitutional or otherwise wrong, he or she still would have the option to veto the bill.

Although it is difficult to conceive of circumstances under which a Legislature would conduct hearings to impeach the governor, it is unlikely that an embattled governor would ever rush to convene a special session to begin impeachment proceedings against himself or herself. In that case, the public would need assurances that the legislative branch could act as a check against potential harm caused by the executive.

Such occasions would be extremely rare. A more likely scenario would be that lawmakers would need to call a special session to open the state budget to make cuts or deal with a technical issue that may require two or three days of intense study and debate to address.

The bottom line is, constitutional amendments have to be approved by the voters. When legislators ask for that approval, they must do so with strong assurances that this new power will be used for the maximum public good. This proposal passes that test.