Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-09
LEGISLATIVE
AFTER ATH

1t will be interesting for the people
OF the state to know just what sort of
initiative and referendum law the leg
lslature has dished up for them. One
Of the bills passed BY the house and
the senate provides for initiative and
referendum as applied to constitution
al amendments. The petition for a
change or an addition to the constitu.
ton requests the signatures Of rs per.
cent OF the voters in a majority of the
counties in the state. This looks as
tho it would make the law imperative
as that is a requirement that it is al
most impossible to meet. Then when
the matter comes to an election it re-
CURES that there be a ajority of the
votes cast at the election before the
measure a carry, 1t appears than
an amendment to the constitution
would be more difficult under that law
than at the present time, when it is
necessary to pass two sessions of the
legislature and then will carry if a
majority OF the votes cast on the pro-
posed amendment are for the meas
ures. The bill providing for initiative
and referendum as applied to the stat
utos requires that there shall be at
least ten per cent of the voters at a
previous election OF the petition. This
leaves open to subsequent legislatures
what the maximum number shall be
and gives another legislature a chance
to put such a maximum on the petit
ton clause as to make the law inoper-
alive Then too, the addition of the
emergency clause on any law will take |
the matter out Of the hands of the
people. There was no bill providing
for the recall passed at all.
Governor Hanna has stated that one
of the first bills he will sign will be
the new game bill. This bill provides
for the prohibition Of spring shooting
OF geese, protects deer until 1918, pro.
vides for the removal Of beaver from
places where they are doing damage
to other places where they will thrive
as well but will not Dc a menace to the
streams in which they live. The bill
also provides that there shall be a
deputy game warden in each judicial
district. but as they are to serve only
five months o each year, the expense
OF keeping up game Wardens will not
be as much as it was under the old
The effort that was made to put the
printing Of the Blue Book into d class
where the rate for printing it would be
higher than it has ver been before,
was defeated inHtne house at a late
hour Saturday morning and as the
matter now stands the commissioners
Of public printing will advertise for
bids for the printing OF the Blue Book.
This work has always been done by
the legislative printer in the past but
an effort was made this year to put 1t
in another class where a higher price
be secured for it and the effort
resulted in its being thrown in the
open market where al firms in the
state will be gwen a chance to bid.
There were 335 bills passed at this
about the same number as
put through the hopper two
years ago. Over two hundred of the
laws" Of this session were passed on
the siXtieth day of the session. 1t will
low be up to the governor to select the
good from the bad.
One of the few laws that had some
to it was the one which provides
hat where there is a constitutional
amendment appearing on the ballot
hat part which suggests a change
he printed in black face type,
with the old law in the ordinary type
Il parenthesis. This will give a per
son some idea Of what the change in
he law is. There are too many people
Who vote on constitutional amend
nents without knowing what they are
for. 1t has become a common
in the state that q constitu-
:ional amendment and a bonding prop
are the two easiest things to
carry IN the state,
p = IL = -----r-~-- v d A.