Missouri Constitution
The Missouri State Constitution is going to
be revised and portions of it maybe
rewritten. I am one of the members of the
Commission that have been assigned to
take on this task. The Legislative,
Executive, and the Judicial branches of
government are going to be overlooked
and some procedures and policies may even
be rewritten. In the following
report that I am about to give, I will be
addressing some core issues, that
should be considered for change and also some
issues that should remain the
same and why, in the rewriting process of the
Constitution. I will first
be speaking about the Legislative department and will
cover both the House of
Representatives and also the Senate. In the House the
term for a
representative is now set at two years and that individual can serve
up to a
maximum of eight years in that chamber. In the Senate the term for
an
individual is a four-year term and the maximum they can serve is eight
years
also for a combined total of sixteen years in both chambers. The terms
and
limits for both chambers should remain the same due to the fact that one
member
cannot gain too much influence in their position. Both terms are the
same as the
national level and these terms have always worked. Because these
representatives
are on the state level they should not be allowed to serve
any more than eight
years in each chamber with a total of Sixteen in both
chambers. This maximum
service of sixteen is ideal so no one member can gain
too much influence in
their position. They are either forced to go elsewhere
or to run for the
national level and service our state to further their
career. As for
qualifications, a House member is to be at least 24 years of
age, have been a
registered voter for two years, and a resident of the state
for one year. Having
the age limit set at 24 is ideal because it is the
lowest adult age for an
individual to start a brilliant career. The
qualification for being a registered
voter for two years should be raised to
three because someone of this stature
should have just a bit more of
experience in elections and voting. As for being
a resident for, the standard
should be raised from one year to three years
because one should have more
background in they state he is serving than just
one year. The people should
feel like he or she is more involved in the state
for more than just one
year; someone could just move here for a year from
another state just to get
this position and not really have the longtime
residents’ best interests at
heart. All the qualifications for the Senate
should be the same as the House
except for the age, which should stay at 30
because this position is a little
more prestigious, and should have a higher age
limit. Moving on to whether
the Legislature should be kept as bicameral or
changed to a unicameral
legislature. The Legislature should be kept bicameral
because having two
houses is the most efficient way for the Legislature to work.
By having
two houses, we spread the power and duties and if a certain party
rules one
chamber, they might be able to do as they please with laws and
bills.
This duel-chambered policy is ideal for a system of checks and
balances within
the Legislative department. The House and the Senate meet in
early January until
mid May each year for their session. While they are in
session, each member
receives ten dollars a day on top of the annual salary
of $29,080.20. The
session length is satisfactory enough do discuss what
needs to be discussed for
the state at that time. As for the salary of the
members of congress, many of
the representatives have other jobs besides
being a representative for their
area. After all, they do not even meet for a
full half-year. Therefore, their
salaries should remain the same. The
governor and five SEO’s head up the
Executive department. The governor is
required to be 30 years of age, been a
citizen for fifteen years, and have
been a resident of the state for a total of
ten years that do not have to be
consecutive. The qualifications of the governor
should be kept where they are
because they only seem logical to have a
governor’s age at 30 because that is
about mid life and because this is a
prestigious position the residency and
the citizenship should be greatly
increased from that of a senator. The
governor’s duties are commander in chief
of the National Guard just as the
president is the commander in chief of the
armed forces for the United
States. His duties are just as the President’s are
for the country, he
appoints his own staff, department heads, and can appoint
certain judges.
However; the governor cannot introduce a bill, this should be
changed so that
if the governor does have an idea for a bill, he can propose it
to one of the
chambers and they can take it from there, regardless, the bill
still has to
go through the same channels of both houses in becoming a bill. In
addition
to the governor, he has five other elected officials that head the
state with
him, which are: the Lt. Governor, State Auditor, the Secretary of
State, the
Attorney General, and the State Treasurer. All five of these offices
serve a
four-year term and have no term limits on what they can serve. Limits
should
be placed on how many terms each office should serve, and that limit
should
be three terms for a total of 12 years in that elected office. If
one
individual is in an office too long, they could take advantage of their
office
and use it unlawfully. We should place the same restrictions that are
on our
U.S. President and Vice President and apply them to our state
officials. Certain
individuals could gain too much influence and control a
certain area of the
state. The Lt. Governor presides over the Senate which is
rightfully so because
the VP of the U.S. also is the presiding officer of the
Senate on the national
level. The Lt. Governor also can create additional
tasks for himself, which is a
good idea because he should find more duties to
get more involved in the
government. The State Auditor is the only SEO that
is elected at a different
time than all the others and he audits all state
agencies and can audit local
government units upon request. The State
Auditor’s duties are few but
important and they should remain the same
because he has a specific task that
takes time and effort. The Secretary of
State coordinates elections, keeps
records, and oversees the maintenance of
libraries. These roles for the
Secretary should also remain the same. He
also has specific duties towards the
state that takes careful planning and
hard work and this position should not
require any more activity. The
Attorney General must donate his or her full time
to the office and is not
allowed to involve them in a private practice and is
liked to have a law
degree. Being the most important office in the government
the Attorney
General is required to issue legal opinions to all statewide
executive
officials. Though the opinions of the Attorney General do not have the
force
of law, his opinion is highly regarded just because of the position that
he
is in. The attorney General defends state law when challenged on the
federal
constitutional grounds. This office also protects monopolies from
forming and
enforces the Consumer Protection Act. The Attorney General’s
office should not
be taken lightly because they have a great deal of power
and responsibility.
This position should stay a full time position due to
the duties that have to be
preformed. However, the requirements for the
office should change. Because this
office is so highly decorated the person
running should at least be 28 years of
age, have been a citizen for ten
years, and a resident of the state for at least
five years. He or she should
also be required to have a law degree due to the
fact that he is required to
serve the state in legal matters. This position
should not be taken lightly,
the Attorney General is a powerful man that can
powerful influences on the
people and on other offices. The State Treasurer
handles the budget for
Missouri and being that is his function, that should be
his only function.
Dealing with the state budget takes careful planning in how
the money should
and will be spent. They must also keep records of all the money
that has been
spent and how. This is a great responsibility and this should be
the only
one. The Missouri Judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court then
the
Court of Appeals. Next are the Circuit Courts with 45 circuits in each
county
and then below that are the circuit, juvenile, associate, probate,
and
municipal divisions of courts. Trial and circuit courts use partisan
selections,
which allows the people to vote on a judge who is geographically
close. The
Appellate uses the Missouri plan that eliminates partisan
politics, promotes
independence, and is more competitive. In criminal cases
charges can be filed
either by the prosecutor or by a grand jury. Both of
these plans should be kept
the same because we use the prosecutor indictment
mainly, but it is good to have
a second form. The terms and qualifications
for municipal judges are to be
between 21 and seventy, and must not be a term
less than two years. For
associate judges, they are elected for four-year
terms and must be at least 25
years of age. Circuit judges are popularly
elected and serve six-year terms and
must be at least 30 years of age.
Appellate and Supreme Court judges are
selected for 12-year terms. These
qualifications and they can get re-elected
into their spot if that time
comes. All the judges should be elected except for
that of the Missouri
Supreme Court. Because this is such a prestigious position
to have they
should be appointed for life just as on the national level. The
Missouri
government is financed through general revenue, through federal funds,
and
through some other small funds such as the taxing on cigarette’s,
gambling,
liquor, and the lottery. These taxes and sources of revenue income
should be
kept as they are. We may even reduce the tax on some of the small
taxes since
the income for the state this past year exceeded the
Hancock
Amendment.