WHEREAS, Laws inconsistent with the Letter or Spirit of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution for the United States may be hastily and unadvisedly passed: Be it
ORDAINED, that {here shall be listed the members of the Joint Committee for Constitutional Governance} shall be constituted a Committee, to be called Committee for Constitutional Governance, which shall review all bills about to be passed into law by the State Legislature. And for that purpose the Committee shall assemble themselves, from time to time, when the Legislature shall be convened. The size and funding of the Committee shall be sufficient to allow the effective and efficient operation of the Committee, based on an annual review by and including the recommendations of the Comptroller’s Office. All bills that have passed by each Chamber of the Legislature shall, before they become Laws, be presented to the Committee, which will identify and record in its minutes the provision(s), if any, of the State Constitution that authorize the parts of the bill and any prohibitions or restrictions that would be violated. If upon such consideration it should appear improper to said Committee or a majority of them, that the bill should become a law of the State, then the Committee shall return the bill, together with their objections thereto in writing, to the Chamber in whichsoever the bill shall have originated, who shall enter the objections set down by the Committee at large, in their Minutes and proceed to reconsider the bill. If a provision in any bill is found to be repugnant to the Letter or Spirit of our Declaration of Independence, and/or the State Constitution, the bill shall be returned to the Chamber where it originated, together with its objections. That Chamber shall publish the objections in its Minutes and proceed to an up or down roll call vote, accepting or rejecting the Committee’s report, prior to any future action on the bill. If the bill passes the roll call vote, accepting the Committee’s report the bill, itself, would then be voted on. If a majority of the members agree to pass the bill despite of the Committee’s objections, the bill together with the objections shall then be sent to the other Chamber, where the process would then be repeated by an up or down roll call vote on the Committee’s Report followed by the vote on the bill itself.
And in order to prevent any unnecessary delays,
BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, each bill shall be returned by the Committee within ten days:
(i) unless the Committee notifies each Chamber that it requires more time to complete its review, specifying the time required, but in no event shall the Committee take more than thirty days to return the bill, or
(ii) unless the Legislature, by its adjournment, renders a return of the bill within ten days impractical, in which case the bill will be returned on the first day of the meeting of the Legislature, after the expiration of ten days.