Case Name: David PRYOR, Governor of the State of Arkansas, et al v. Lynn LOWE and Delia BISSETT
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Arkansas
Decision Date: 1975-05-27
Citations: 258 Ark. 188
Docket Number: 75-120
Parties: David PRYOR, Governor of the State of Arkansas, et al v. Lynn LOWE and Delia BISSETT
Judges: Lyle Brown, Fogleman and Jones, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Arkansas Reports
Volume: 258
Pages: 188–200

Head Matter:
David PRYOR, Governor of the State of Arkansas, et al v. Lynn LOWE and Delia BISSETT
75-120
523 S.W. 2d 199
Opinion delivered May 27, 1975
Jim Guy Tucker, Atty. Gen., by: Sam Bratton Jr. and Alston Jennings Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellants.
Ed Belhune and Cliff Jackson, for appellees Lowe and Bissett; Thweatt & Thweatt, for intervenors Glover and Hampton.
Robert A. Leflar, Sidney S. Me Math, Reginald A. Eilbotl Jr. and James Sharf>, amicus curiae.

Opinion:
Conley Byrd, Justice.
At issue here is the validity of a "limited constitutional convention" established by Act 16 of 1975 — not ratified by the electorate. The trial court agreed with appellees, Lynn Lowe, Delia Bissett, Wayne Hampton and Bobby L. Glover, as citizens and taxpaye/s, that Act 16 of 1975 was invalid and therefore enjoined the expenditure of any of the $800,000 in funds appropriated by Act 758 of 1975 to defray the expenses of the convention. This appeal is brought by appellants, David Pryor, Governor of the State of Arkansas; Jimmie "Red" Jones, Auditor of the State of Arkansas; Nancy J. Hall, Treasurer of the State of Arkansas; and Robert Harvey, President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas Senate. For reversal they contend, among other things, that the legislative limitations placed upon the convention delegates do not contravene any provision of the Constitution of Arkansas (1874).
Act 16, here in question, m&kes a finding "that the requirements of a modern and more effective state government demand the consideration by the people of a new Constitution at a special election." Section 2 creates a convention to be composed of 35 appointed members — 27 appointed by the Governor, five from the membership of the House of Representatives and three from the membership of the Senate. Section 3 provides for the officials of the convention. Section 4 provides as follows:
"SECTION 4. LIMITS OF AUTHORITY. The following provisions of the existing Arkansas Constitution of 1874, as amended, shall be contained within the proposed Constitution recommended by the Convention in the same form and language as they presently exist in the Arkansas Constitution of 1874, as amended; provided, however, that the following provisions may be arranged within the proposed Constitution in an appropriate and logical order but may not be transferred to the Schedule of the proposed Constitution:
(a) The 'Declaration of Rights' (Article 2, including existing amendments thereto), except that additional rights may be guaranteed;
(b) The 'Judicial Department,' (Article 7, and existing amendments thereto);
(c) Amendment No. 55, relating to county government, adopted in 1974;
(d) 'Education' (Article 14, and existing amendments thereto);
(e) Amendment No. 52 (community colleges);
(f) 'Franchise and Elections' (Article 3, and existing amendments thereto, including Amendment No. 50 (voting machines) and Amendment No. 51 (voter registration);
(g) 'Workmen's Compensation' (Amendment No. 26);
(h) 'Rights of Labor' (Amendment No. 34);
(i) 'Purchase of Printing, Stationery and Supplies' (Amendment No. 54, adopted in 1974);
(j) 'Industrial Development Bonds Authority' (Amendment No. 49);
(k) 'Usury-Legal Rate' (Article 19, Section 13).
The Convention shall not provide within the proposed Constitution any provision which affects the numbers of members of the Senate and/or House of Representatives of the General Assembly or the apportionment of the members of the Senate or House of Representatives of the General Assembly which provision would be applicable to members of the General Assembly elected prior to the General Election of 1982; and the Convention shall not provide within the proposed Constitution any provision which affects the number of members or the apportionment of the members of the Senate and/or House of Representatives of the General Assembly other than a provision based upon the federal decennial census of 1980 and federal census' thereafter."
Section 5 establishes the beginning date of the convention, the time limit within which the convention must act, recess and reconvene, and requires the advertising of the final draft of the convention one time before the special election. Section 7 requires that the proposals of the convention be submitted to a popular vote on the third Tuesday in September 1975. Section 11 provides:
"SECTION 11. EFFECT OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS OF CONSTITUTION OF 1874. If the proposed Constitution recommended by the Convention is approved and adopted by the people of the State of Arkansas as provided in this Act in which event it will supersede, replace and take precedence over the Arkansas Constitution of 1874, as amended, any amendments to the Constitution of 1874, as amended, proposed by the Seventieth Regular Session of the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas shall be considered null and void and shall not be voted upon by the people."
In addition to the limitations placed upon the General Assembly in Art. 19, § 22 and Amendment No. 7 limiting the submission of Amendments, the Bill of Rights in our Constitution contains the following provisions:
Art. 2, § 1 "Source of power. — All political power is inherent in the people and government is instituted for their protection, security and benefit; and they have the right to alter, reform or abolish the same in such manner as they may think proper."
Art. 2, § 29. 'Enumeration of rights of people not exclusive of other rights — Protection against encroachment — This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people and to guard against any encroachments on the rights herein retained, or any transgression of any of the higher powers herein delegated, we declare that everything m this article is excepted out of the general powers of the government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and that all laws contrary thereto, or to the other provisions herein contained, shall he void. " (Emphasis added)
In Harvey v. Ridgeway, 248 Ark. 35, 450 S.W. 2d 281 (1970), we had before us the issue of whether Senator Robert Harvey was barred by Art. 5, § 10 of our Constitution from sitting as a delegate in the 1970 convention. In holding that Senator Harvey was not prohibited by Ark. Const., Art. 5, § 10, from being seated as a delegate, we premised the holding upon the fact that the position of a delegate to a constitutional convention is derived from the power inherent in the people as set forth in Art. 2, § 1, supra. We there pointed out that a constitutional delegate is an agent of the people "for the purpose of acting in their stead in the exercise of their inherent power in working out the substance, form and content of a constitution to be submitted to all the people of Arkansas for their approval or rejection."
Since the delegates to a constitutional convention are exercising that ". . . power . . . inherent in the people ." reserved by the Bill of Rights, Art. 2, § 1, supra, then it logically follows that any limitation upon the exercise of the power by the General Assembly, without a ratification thereof by the electorate, is prohibited by the last section of the Bill of Rights, Art. 2, § 29, supra, which provides: ". . . to guard against any encroachments on the rights herein retained, . , we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of the government . . . and that all laws contrary thereto, . . . shall be void." It follows that the limitations placed upon the delegates by Act 16 of 1975 render the Act void.
Since it appears that the limitations placed upon the delegates are sp mutually connected with and dependent upon the other provisions of the Act, supra, as to warrant the belief that the Legislature would not pass the residue independently, it follows that we find the Act is not severable. See Cotham v. Coffman, 111 Ark. 108, 163 S.W. 1183 (1914). Professor Ralph C. Barnhart, former Dean, School of Law, University of Arkansas in his article, 17 Ark. L. Rev. 1, "A Xetv Constitution for Arkansas?", points out that the "limited Constitutional Convention" is the price that has to be paid to get the legislature to agree to call the convention at all.
Since the foregoing discussion disposes of this litigation, we find it unnecessary to discuss the other issues set forth in the excellent briefs of the parties and the amici curiae.
Affirmed.
Lyle Brown, Fogleman and Jones, JJ., concur.
Harris, C.J., George Rose Smith, and Holt, JJ., dissent.
The Constitution proposed by that convention was defeated at the 1970 General Election.