Now, therefore, be it further enacted by the General 1 Section 1. This, the Regular Session of the General in the year 1976, does hereby concur in House Bill 138 enacted at the Regular Session of the Gen eral Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky held in the year 1974. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 present Section 2. That the sense of the people of the state as to the necessity and expediency of calling a convention for the purpose of revising or amending the Constitution, and such amendments as may have been made to the same, shall be taken as herein provided and as provided in Section 258 of the Constitution of Kentucky. Section 3. A poll shall be opened in each voting precinct in this state by the officers provided by law for holding general elections at the regular election to be held November 8, 1977, at which time and places the votes of the qualified voters shall be taken for and against calling the convention in the same manner provided by law for taking votes in other state elections. Section 4. The Secretary of State, not less than fifty days before the regular election to be held November 8, 1977, shall certify the question of calling a clerk of each county and the convention to the county 76 BR 355 laws. The question submitted to the voters shall be as follows: 1 county clerk shall have the question as So 2 certified placed on the ballot as provided in the general election 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Are you in favor of calling a convention for the purpose of revising or amending the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and such amendments as may have been made to same?" be Section 5. Before a vote is taken upon the question of calling a convention the Secretary of State shall cause notice of the election and the purpose therefore to published at least four times in two newspapers of general circulation published in this state, and shall also cause to be published at the same time and in the same manner the fact that the question set out in Section 4 of this Act will be submitted to the voters for their acceptance or rejection at the regular election to be held November 8, 1977. The publication shall be made SO that the last publication will be at least ninety days preceding the election at which said question is to be Section 6. The vote for and against said proposi tion shall be certified to the Secretary of State by the officers and in the same manner as in state elec tions. If it shall appear that a majority voting on the was in favor of calling a convention, and if 76 BR 355 1 2 tion is equal the total number of votes for the calling of the convento one-fourth of the number of qualified 3 voters who voted in the last preceding general election 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 in this state, the Secretary of State shall certify the same to the General Assembly at its next regular session, at which session a law shall be enacted calling a convention to revise or amend the present Constitution of this state, and such amendments as have been made thereto. Section 7. Before any Constitution agreed upon by a convention that may be called pursuant to this Act and to Section 258 of the present Constitution shall take effect and become operative, the same shall be submitted to the qualified voters of this Commonwealth, after at least ninety days' notice, and ratified by a majority of those voting. Section 8. When this Act is passed at the present session of the General Assembly by a majority of all members elected to each house of the present General Assembly, that is, when a majority of all the members of each house shall concur by a yea and nay vote, to be entered upon their respective journals, this Act shall be spread upon the respective journals of each house as a law. The constitutions in this table include those Civil War documents customarily listed by the individual States. (a) Actual word count. (b) Eight of the approved amendments have been superseded and are not printed in the current edition of the constitution. The total adopted does not include five amendments that were invalidated. (c) Colonial charters with some alterations, in Connecticut (1638, 1662) and Rhode Island (1663), served as the first constitutions in these States. (d) Proposed amendments are not submitted to the voters in Delaware. (e) Various sections of the constitution have been amended 97 times by 46 acts of the General Assembly. (f) Estimated length of the printed constitution which includes only provisions of general statewide applicability is 64,500 words. (g) Includes 196 general and 899 local amendments submitted to the voters, and 147 general and 685 local amendments adopted. (h) As a kingdom and a republic, Hawaii had 5 constitutions. (i) The figure given includes amendments approved by the voters and later nullified by the State Supreme Court: in Iowa, three: Kansas, one; Nevada, six; Wisconsin, two. (j) One approved amendment is inoperative until imple mented by legislation. (k) The printed constitution includes many provisions that have been annulled. Length of effective provisions are: in Massachusetts, estimated 20,768 words (12,324 annulled); in Rhode Island, 11,376 words (7,627 annulled). (1) The constitution of 1784 was extensively revised in 1792. Figures show proposals and adoptions since 1793, when it became effective. (m) The figures include one amendment submitted to and approved by the voters and subsequently ruled by the Supreme Court to have been illegally submitted. (n) Certain sections of the constitution were revised by the limited constitutional convention of 1967-68. Amendments proposed and adopted are since 1968. (0) Of the estimated length, 16,613 words are of general statewide effect; the remaining 19,740 are local amendments. (p) Of the 606 proposed amendments submitted to the voters, 120 were of general statewide effect and 486 local; the voters rejected 76 (12 statewide, 64 local); of the remaining 530, the General Assembly refused to approve 100 (22 statewide, 78 local), and 430 (86 statewide, 344 local) were finally added to the constitution. (a) Estimate by the State Archives and History Department. SOURCE: The Book of the States 1976-77, Council of State Governments, Lexington, Kentucky |