By MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A bill to finance a yearlong study of the Pennsylvania Constitution was passed out of a legislative committee Wednesday, potentially a step toward the state's first constitutional convention in four decades.
"We have to ask ourselves some real questions related to the future of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, told the State Government Committee. "It's high time we had a discussion about where we want to go."
Evans' bill would establish an unpaid 15-member commission, chosen by the governor and legislative leaders, to study the constitution "in light of the contemporary conditions and anticipated problems and needs" of state residents. It would have a $475,000 budget and a year to issue a written report to the governor and Legislature.
Similar commissions were created in 1919, 1935, 1957 and 1963, Evans noted. The commission could recommend specific constitutional amendments or whether to hold a constitutional convention, which most recently was done in 1967-68.
"There's nothing wrong with a little self-reflecting," he said.
The committee approved Evans' bill on an 18-10 vote, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in favor.
Rep. Glenn R. Grell, R-Cumberland, voted against it.
"I think this proposal is too wide-ranging," Grell said. He said the House's standing committees regularly handle constitutional issues and that the Joint State Government Commission, which includes leaders from both the House and Senate, is already in place and "very capable" of a top-to-bottom constitutional study.
"I just am not hearing from my members or people in my district that we need to open the constitution," said Rep. Matthew E. Baker, R-Tioga, who also voted against the bill.
Calls for a constitutional convention have arisen in the reform atmosphere of the past couple years, but the state constitution is silent about exactly how that is done.
All four held since 1790 were initiated by the Legislature. Between 1921 and 1963 voters rejected calling constitutional conventions five times.
Duquesne Law School professor Bruce Ledewitz, an expert on the state constitution, said there is not currently a consensus about what a convention should address.
"I just don't think you should take general popular dissatisfaction with government , which we have now , and hold a constitutional convention to quote 'do something about it,'" he said.
Senate State Government Committee chairman Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, has drafted a bill calling for a constitutional convention but has not introduced it.
"He knows how hard it is to get amendments to the constitution through the process, and (a convention) would probably be the easiest way to get an amendment through," said committee director Kirsten Kenyon.
Short of a convention, changing the constitution requires the Legislature to pass an amendment in two consecutive two-year sessions and then it must be approved by voters.
A constitutional convention's final product is voted on by the public as a package. "As a practical matter, once the convention's called, once the changes are made, ratification is almost a certainty," Ledewitz said.
Evans' bill was sent to the Appropriations Committee, and he said he anticipates the House will vote on it soon.
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