When it comes to voting on amendments to the state Constitution, I usually cringe and become nervous. The Constitution is supposed to be a guide or set of rules to run the state government. Changes to it should be few and infrequent. The federal Constitution has 27 amendments, and the first 10, the Bill of Rights, were voted on immediately. Only 17 amendments were added to the federal Constitution since 1789 in 233 years.
Our state legislators are now proposing six new amendments to our state Constitution. Why is that? The simplest answer is partisan politics. Republican legislatures can’t pass some bills because a Democratic governor vetos them. Most policy changes are done by the legislatures through the law-making process. But because of the vetos, the legislatures are trying to circumvent that process. To permanently affix simple policies to the state’s Constitution is bewildering.
Be mindful that previous proposed amendments had tricky and questionable language in them. Recall that there was an amendment that reduced the size of our state House from 203 to 151 members. The legislators dropped the ball as it never made it through to the people to vote on.
Nervous? You bet.
Richard Patton
Franklin Township, Beaver County