The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-03-14
About Extra Sessions.

for staying in Washington three months
on, Of twelve in one year as for staying
there nine months out Of twelve in an
other. Ia word, he Is paid q salary not
per diem. lie Is paid by the year-not
by the day. This had been the law Of the
United States long time before the Con-
stitution Of Virginia was so amended as
TO provide tina; the members Of the Legis-
nature should be paid a salary and not a
per diem. That law was in the minds OF
the men who proposed that amendment, OF
the Legislature that adopted il. and OF the
voters who ratified IL. The amendment.
therefore, was proposed, passed, and rati-
fed for the purpose OF prohibiting and
preventing members Of the Legislature
from receiving more pay for long session
than short one.
We do not believe that the existing law
fixing the pay Of members OF the General
Assembly is constitutional II is directly
in conflict with the object Of the amend
ment Just referred to. Ii undertakes to
pay two salaries " in one year--a contra
dic:ion in terms. law would be consti-
tu.ional which should fix the pay at $3.50
year when there was but one session a
wear. and $3.50 year when there were two
sessions wear. But this the existing law
does not do. II provides one salary J"
for regular session. and a second "sal-
airy" for an extra session even II held the
same year as the regular session. In
word, 70 renders the constitutional proyi-
sion Of no effect whatever. That provl-
sion reads as follows
''The members OF the General Assem-
bly, shall receive for their services a salary.
to he ascertaned 10y law
The constitutional provision before it
Was amended read as follows:
"The members OF 'he General Assem-
blv shall receive for their services a COM
peaSation. TO be aScertained by law"
II is too plain for argument that as the
law now stands that change in the Consti-
t,tlon has effected no object whatever. 1t
is dead letter. That is one reason why
me nbers should not for services rendered
1T an extended session draw money out OF
The treasury under the existing law.
But let us assume that the law is consti-
tutional. II will not help the matter, see
Ing that the well-known objects Of the
amendment were to prevent the members
from receiving pay by the day and to CON-
pensate them by the year. But il it is a
constitutional law, and II il is allowable
for members TO be PAID more for four
months services than for three, then surely
the pay per diem at the extra session ought
not 10 exceed the pay per diem ut the regu-
lar session. And there is no room for a
doubt as to the power Of the Legislature to
reduce the pay Of its members.
Again: When can the Governor call an
extra session? Surely not when the Legis
lature is in session, for the presumption is
that that body can better Judge than the
Governor as TO how long it ought to sit.
He is not empowered to shorten or curtail
its sessions. He can only lengthen them.
But when? After and not before adjourn
ment. Governor HOLIDAY desired the
1879: but although ii sat till ~
O'Clock on the night of the Sd of
March, he waited until that hour and
until after il had adjourned. before he no.
tiled the members to meet in extra session.
We take it, therefore. that so long as the
General Assembly Is in actual session, and |
has twenty, ten, or five days Of its cOnsti-
tutional term at its disposal, the members
are not in a condition to ask the Governor |
10 convene an extra session. II they are
in such condition, and since they can |
name a day for the extra session TO begin, |
they may name a day which under the |
Constitution occurs during the term al. |
lowed them and over which they have re- |
fused to extend the session. That would |
be for them 90 compel the Governor to do |
what they themselves had refused to do.
The Legislature itself cannot compel |
the Governor TO convene that body in
extra session. That would be contrary to
the spirit Of the Constitution. He shall !
" convene the General Assembly on appli- |
cation OF two thirds OF the members OF
both houses thereof" On application of |
4" two thirds Of the members mot by a
vote OF the General Assemblv-not even |
by unanimous vote.
Surprising, then. that two thirds of the
members OF the Legislature desire an extra
session. 1t is to he presumed that they de
sire Il 10 be held in March-not III May, |
June, July, or even in April; and If they |
desire il in March, all they have got TO do |
Is to stay here and go on with their work. |
A bare majority will keep the body in ses-
sion. Would it not be thought strange |
thing if n majority should vote to adjourn |
and then two-thirds sign a call TO the Gov
ernor compelling him TO keep them here!
But have even two thirds OF the men,
bers power to compel the Governor to call
the Legislature in extra session during q
month which under the action of the
Legislature Itself, based upon an express
provision Of the Constitution itself, forms
n part OF the regular session? Perhaps.
But IL would he better not to raise such
questions. A member Of the Legislature
writes TO us as follows:
"The Legislature having decided to con-
tinue the session for period not exceed
ing thirty days, for which the members
have certainly received their pay in adj
vance, no adjournment is in order so long
rs business requires the Legislature to re-
main in session. until the expiration of the
thirty days OF the present regular session,
and as the law requires an adjournment
sine die before application for an extra seS-
sion can be made, the logical sequence is
that an application for that purpose cannot
be entertained by the Governor until the
expiration Of the thirty days; otherwise
they would be receiving the salary OF $3.50