Arizona republican., 1912-07-17
It Is Said That Present One May Hold Over in Spite of Two Provisions of Con stitution With Reference to That Body
ONE RELATING TO
 BIENNIAL MEETINGS
But It Appears Nothing Is Impossible, Even Twist ing of the Constitution to Make It Conform to Po- litical Purposes

| The decision of the supreme court | in the election case is said to have removed one difficulty from the path of Governor Hunt-it relieves him from what seemed the absolute neces- sity of calling an extra session of the 1 legislature the coming fall. That such an extra session, without this ] clarifying and convenient decision would have been a necessity, there seems little doubt. The question of appropriations and the correction of number of laws that have failed to work out as was anticipated would seem to have been imperative.
 But now. it is said, there will be no other extra session this year. At all events that is the program just now And there seems reason to be- lieve the program will go through. ! This program contemplates the meeting of the legislature January 19 next which is the constitutional date. At least that is what it is called, even though the court has held that the officers now serving are serving under the constitution and though the constitution provides for biennial sessions of the lawmaking body. But it is pointed out a little thing like that need cause no worry.
 However, there are some curious people taking a deep interest in the Legislative question. And they point to the fact that even those who most loudly proclaimed that under the con- lstitution there could be no election the coming November always admit ted that the legislature could not hold over In fact. they had gone so far as to insist there should be special session the coming fall to provide ap- propriations to keep the wheels of government moving until 1915.
 The sections of the constitution upon which these persons based their belief that the legislature now in ex- istenee should last only until 1913 are as follows:
 Section 3, of Article f, which pro- vides:
 "The sessions of the legislature shall be held biennially at the capi- tol of the state and. except as to the first session thereof, shall convene on the second Monday of January next after the election of the mem bers.
 Then Section 21 of the same article says:
 The members of the first legisla- ture shall hold office until the first Monday in January, 1913 The terms of office of succeeding legislatures shall be two years"
 The comments on these sections are about as follows:
 Section three applies to the legis- lature now in being. In the case of this legislature it is provided it shall hold it's first session not less than sixty days after the admission of the state As a matter of fact it began its session March IS last. The meet ing of the legislature next January will destroy the provision that the . legislature is to meet biennially But the most stress was placed on the section last quoted. It is said this section means what it says or it does not. It is to be presumed the
 constitutional convention meant the life of this legislature should end the
 first Monday in January. 1913, or it
 would not have said otherwise There is also a provision which says. The term of office of every
 officer to be elected or appointed un-
 der this constitution or the laws of
 Arizona shall extend until his suc- ceSSor shall be elected and shall lqualify." However as the first elec- tion was held December 12 and Ari-
 zona did not become a state until : more than a month afterwards it is a pointed out that it is a little diff cult to say the legislature was elected 3 under the constitution. The con- ,. stitution, of course, became operative
 only from the date of admission : It is an interesting sort of question l articularly for those affected by its }. lsolution.
 l But. as already said, it is most un- likely that considerations such as : lthese will affect the program. : And if this program be carried out V some time next winter the state will if have a full set of codified statutes q and the session laws will then be oi | much less moment than they are now n AS is generally known Attorney
 S. L. Pattee is at work on a codifi- d cation of the statutes. It is exected c that this work will have been com O pleted prior to the meeting of the f Legislature next January. Then. i, n is said, when the lawmaking body . Imeets MT. Pattee will be on hand {. land each act as it is passed and i, lapproved by the governor. will be in- Icluded in the work of qualification. Sc J (Continued. on Page 4).