COMMITTEE ON THE EXECUTIVE, MILITIA AND CIVIL OFFICERS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
STATE OF NEW JERSEY CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1947
COMMITTEE ON THE EXECUTIVE, MILITIA AND CIVIL OFFICERS
Wednesday, June 25, 1947
(Morning session)
mensurate with the public pronouncement of his unfitness represented by a senatorial rejection.
My final recommendation has to do with strengthening the veto power of the Governor. The theory of the executive veto is not in conflict with the fundamental traditions of our governmental separation of powers between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. It is, on the other hand, an indispensable part of that system, as one of the checks and balances of the three departments upon each other. Just as the Senate is to check an improper appointment by the Governor, so the Governor should have some effective means of checking unsound legislation. Our Federal Constitution provided for a two-thirds vote to override an executive veto, and it has always thus remained and never, so far as I am aware, been seriously criticized or attacked. The Governor, as the sole state official elected by all of the people of the State, should be armed, on their behalf, with an effective instrument to impede the enactment of unwise, hastily prepared, ill-considered or, indeed, unconstitutional legislation maneuvered through an unsuspecting Legislature by special groups or interests.
New Jersey is one of only eight states wherein a bare majority of the legislature can override an executive veto. In 34 of the states it takes a two-thirds vote to do so, and in five states it can be done by a three-fifths vote. Why should New Jersey continue to adhere to the early colonial fear of a strong Executive which gave rise to our present provision for overriding a veto by a simple majority vote?
You will be interested, I am sure, to note that the committee report in the 1844 Constitutional Convention, recommending the majority vote, was carried against a motion from the floor to amend it so as to provide a three-fifths overriding vote, by a single vote, and that was the vote of the Chairman of the Convention, breaking a 27 to 27 tie vote on the floor. Thus, by the narrow margin of one vote, 103 years ago, we have ever since tied the Governor’s hands against the exercise of an effective veto. This should unquestionably now be changed, and New Jersey should join the other 34 states and our National Government in providing for a two-thirds vote to override a veto.
In this connection, moreover, I also believe that instead of having only five days in which to consider bills which have been presented for his approval, the Governor should have ten days, the same as the President of the United States. Frequently, the Legislature will allow bills to accumulate and then throw them on the Governor’s desk in such large numbers that it is physically impossible properly to consider them in five days.
Of course, I realize that I have been asked to speak to this Committee only on matters which concern the functions of the Gover-
Previous Page in Book | Table of Contents | Next Page in Book
