Provides for the submission to the people the question of whether or not to convene a constitutional convention

§2. Requires that the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same" be placed on the next general election ballot as allowed under Article XIX, section 2 of the State Constitution.

§§3 and 4: Process and voting.

Justification

New York's Constitution is a fundamental document that performs three vital roles. It organizes the government, establishes the fundamental rights and liberties of the people and articulates the basic values and principal concerns of the people that they wish their government to address. Periodic review of the Constitution is absolutely critical. New York is one of a handful of states that possess this important constitutional Clause. Such reviews correct deficiencies and strengthen the governing process. As part of our acceptance of the social contract embodied by our Constitution, periodic review and democratic citizen participation is necessary to truly have a fair, efficient and modern representative document. As Thomas Jefferson stated:

And, lastly, let us provide in our constitution for its revision at stated periods...Each generation is as independent as the one preceding, as that was of all, which had gone before. It has then, like them, a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness; consequently, to accommodate to the circumstances in which itself, had received from its predecessors; and it is for the peace and good of mankind, that a solemn opportunity of doing this every nineteen or twenty years, should be provided by the constitution; so that it may be handed on, with periodic repairs, from generation to generation, to the end of time, if anything human can so long endure. (1)

As Jefferson envisioned, state constitutions should be revisited every nineteen or twenty years or for "periodic repairs." Throughout history, the Constitution, either by convention or amendment, has been altered to structurally reform the inefficiency of government al institutions or to expand the rights of the People. Recent dysfunction in government vis a vis the budget process and other institutional failures illustrate the need to revisit New York's Constitution to remedy and provide "periodic repairs."

Nine conventions have taken place over the course of the State's history. Out of those conventions have come profound and expanded rights for all New Yorkers. The first convention convened in White Plains in 1777. At this convention the first State Constitution was drafted. Other conventions have produced significant expansion of rights and reformation of governments. For example, the Bill of Rights and the Governor's veto power were added to the Constitution at the convention of 1821. The convention of 1846, the extension of the franchise and the transfer of many appointive offices to elective ones was added to the Constitution. At the convention of 1894, a provision that required legislation to age for at least three days prior to being put to a vote was ratified and the Blaine amendment (prohibiting State funding to parochial schools) was approved. The last convention was held in 1967 and the new Constitution was subsequently defeated. 1997 was the last year that voters got to decide whether or not to hold a convention.

Legislative history

A.11859 of 2004 A.579 (2005-06) A.1197 (2007-2008)

Fiscal implications

Undetermined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the provisions of section two of this act shall not take effect unless and until the question proposed in section one of this act shall have been submitted to the people at the general election to be held in the next succeeding November after the effective date of this act, and shall have received a majority of all votes cast f or and against it at such election. Upon approval by the people section two of this act shall take effect immediately. The ballots to be furnished for the use of the voters upon the submission of section one of this act shall be in the form prescribed by the election law, and the proposition or question to be submitted shall be printed in the following form: "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?" (1) Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval (July 12, 1816) in THOMAS JEFFERSON WRITINGS 1395, 1402 (Library of America ed., 1984).