By Elliot Minor
The Associated Press
11/06/02
MONTGOMERY - Amendment One, requiring voter approval
of any measure to replace Alabama’s constitution, won passage
by an overwhelming margin Tuesday night.
The amendment, prompted by efforts to rewrite the 101
year-old constitution, requires that any new constitution, whether
written by the Legislature or by a constitutional convention, must
be approved in a statewide vote before it can be enacted.
Rep. Jack Venable, D-Tallassee, who sponsored the amendment
in the House, said the change was needed to eliminate the possibility
of the Legislature setting up a constitutional convention and deciding
that a
statewide vote was not required.
“I seriously doubt any legislature would do that.
But to pass this safety valve makes sure it never happens,” Venable
said.
The change was supported by Secretary of State Jim Bennett,
a leader of efforts to replace the current constitution, and Kathryn
Bowden, executive director of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional
Reform. Bennett said there is nothing in the constitution, written
in 1901 and amended more than 700 times, that would require a statewide
vote to ratify a new plan.
In the 183 years since becoming a state, Alabama has
operated under six constitutions, and three of those documents were
not ratified by voters, Bennett said. Those included the 1819 constitution,
which was adopted as Alabama won statehood, and two Civil War-era
constitutions.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All
rights reserved.
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