The "Emergency" Clause
Summary
During the past several years,
the
Legislature has severely abused what is known as the "emergency
clause." Normally, you or any other citizen could challenge a law
via referendum. But by abusing the emergency clause, the
Legislature has stripped away your rights to do so. This is disingenuous, dishonest, and
corrupt.
Proposal
Although
"2008 Senate Joint Resolution 8225 (Changing voting requirements for
emergency clauses)" was introduced during the last
legislative session, it has not been voted on
yet. In summary, this bill requires a 60% majority vote to
designate a bill as an emergency. But because a true emergency
should be patently obvious to anyone, it should be amended to 75%.
This would make the emergency clause less subject to abuse and preserve
your right to challenge via referendum any true non-emergency
bill.
