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Inventory of the California State Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee Records, including records of Assembly Elections
and Constitutional Amendments Committee, 1960-1982
See individual series.
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Title: California State Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee records,
Date (inclusive): 1960-1982
Inventory: See individual series.
Creator:
Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee, Assembly Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee
Extent:
5.5 cubic feet
Repository:
California State Archives
Sacramento, California
Abstract: This collection contains the records of the California State Assembly Local Government Committee and the Assembly Elections
and Constitutional Amendment Committee. They reflect the activity of the committees in overseeing constitutional amendments,
and election procedures for the period 1969-1970. They consist of bill files, hearing files, and subject files. This relatively
small collection only includes records created between 1959 and 1982 with the bulk from 1968-1972.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication
is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility
for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives
collections.
[Identification of item], [Name of Committee] Records, LP[number]:[folder number], California State Archives, Office of the
Secretary of State, Sacramento, California
The California State Archives received these records as voluntary transfers from the Committees. These transers occurred over
a number of years and archives staff arranged them at various times. While the physical arrangement of the records reflects
this variety, this inventory describes all of these records according to present standards for legislative committee records.
Therefore, the physical arrangement of these records does not necessarily follow the inventory's order.
The Assembly Constitutional Amendment Committee was first created in 1901. Its purpose was to review all proposed constitutional
amendments. In most cases, the committee reviewed proposed amendments in addition to the review by a specific legislative
committee with jurisdiction over the topic of the Amendment.
The necessity of the committee was questioned at times. In 1959, the Bureau of Public Administration reviewed the entire
standing committee structure of the California Legislature. The subsequent report noted that the Senate simply referred constitutional
amendments to a specific committee rather than have an additional Constitutional Amendment Committee. They suggested the
Assembly abolish its committee (Bureau of Public Administration and the California Citizens Legislative Advisory Commission,
Standing and Interim Committees of the California Legislature (Sacramento: Assembly Rules Committee, 1959), 14). Nevertheless,
the Assembly committee continued to play its traditional role (HR 438, Assembly Journal, 11 July 1968, 5708).
The most significant change for the committee came in the 1960s, when citizens and politicians advocated a substantive revision
of the California Constitution. In response, the Legislature created a Citizen's Advisory Committee to Study Constitutional
Revision in 1963. As the Advisory Committee finished its deliberations, the Constitutional Amendments Committee reviewed
these recommendations before they were presented to the legislature and then to the voters.
In 1969, the Constitutional Amendments Committee merged with the Elections and Reapportionment Committee creating the Elections
and Constitutional Amendment Committee (HR 21, Assembly Journal, 13 January 1969, 113-114). Its scope then became "the subject
matter embraced in the Elections Code, uncodified laws on the same subject, matters relating to elections and reapportionment,
the subject matter of the State Constitution and all matters relating thereto." After questions about the computer tabulation
of the primary election results were raised in June 1970, there was a subcommittee on Voter Tabulation formed on June 8, 1970
(HR 414, Assembly Journal, 4 August 1969, 7393; Assembly Journal, 8 June 1970, 4233).
In 1971, the committee once again became the Constitutional Amendments Committee and was responsible only for review of such
Amendments; the Elections and Reapportionment Committee took over matters related to elections. In 1974, the number of Assembly
committees was reduced from 26 to 19. One of the committees abolished was the Constitutional Amendment Committee effective
November 30, 1974 (HR 13, Assembly Journal, 14 January 1971, 167; HR 208, Assembly Journal, 28 August 1974, 17935). The Assembly
Judiciary Committee took over review of constitutional amendments from 1974 until 1980.
In 1980, the Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee was reestablished as a regular standing committee. Once again, the
committee's responsibilities were to review all constitutional amendments introduced in the legislature, to review initiatives
for "possible defects" in proposed constitutional amendments and to explore methods of improving the initiative process without
undermining its "fundamental responsibility." At the time, however, Sacramento Union columnist Dan Walters speculated that
Speaker of the House Leo McCarthy reconstituted the committee specifically way to block passage of SCA 4 (1980) that would
have allowed for legislative veto of agency regulations (Assembly Journal, 1 December 1980, 12; Larry Doyle, Memorandum to
Phil Wyman, 8 June 1981, Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee Records, LP220:2, California State Archives).
Nevertheless, hoping to strengthen the political influence of the committee, the Committee's Chair Philip Wyman explored the
possibility of adding responsibility for "measure relating to judges, courts and court personnel" and removing this responsibility
from the Assembly Judiciary Committee. He was concerned that the relatively small number of measures being referred to the
committee meant that without expanded responsibilities its influence would decline (Larry Doyle, Memorandum to Phil Wyman,
8 June 1981).
Perhaps because of this limited workload, the committee's responsibilities were absorbed temporarily into the Elections, Reapportionment,
and Constitutional Amendments Committee in 1983. A Constitutional Amendments Committee existed again from 1985 to 1986. Afterwards,
however, the review of constitutional amendment became part of the responsibilities of the Assembly Elections, Reapportionment,
and Constitutional Amendments Committee (Assembly Journal, 12 January 1987, 192).
The chairs of these committees were:
Assembly Constitutional Amendment Committee, 1903-1975
H. S. G. McCartney (Rep.), 1903-1904
Frederick Houser (Rep.), 1905-1906
H. W. A. Weske (Rep.), 1907-1908
Nathan C. Goghlan (Rep./Union Labor), 1909-1910
W. A. Sutherland (Rep.), 1911-1912
William C. Clark (Rep.), 1913-1914
John F. Quinn (Dem./Rep.), 1915-1916
Milton Marks (Rep.), 1917-1918
Arthur A. Wendering (Rep./Dem.), 1919-1920
Carlton W. Greene (Rep./Dem.), 1921-1922
Allen G. Mitchell (Rep.), 1923-1924
Roscoe J. Anderson (Rep., Rep./Dem.), 1925-1930
B. J. Feigenbaum (Rep, Rep./Dem.), 1931-1934
E. V. Latham (Rep.), 1935-1936
Charles A. Hunt (Dem.), 1937-1938
Ernest C. Crowley (Dem., Dem./Rep.), 1941-1952
Frank P. Belotti (Dem./Rep.), 1953-1954
Clark L. Bradley (Rep.), 1955-1956
Eugene G. Nisbet (Dem.), 1957-1958
John A. Busterud (Rep.), 1959-1960
Milton Marks (Rep.), 1961-1962
Edward M. Gaffney (Dem.), 1963-1964
Edward E. Elliott (Dem.), 1965-1968
Assembly Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, 1969-1970
Paul V. Priolo (Rep.), 1969-1970
Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee, 1971-1974, 1981-1982, 1985-1986
Alex P. Garcia (Dem.), 1971-1974
Dennis Brown (Rep.), 1981
Phillip D. Wyman (Rep.), 1981-1982
Johan Klehs, (Dem.), 1985-1986.
The records of the Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee and its predecessors consist of bill files, hearing files,
and subject files. This relatively small collection only includes records created between 1959 and 1982 with the bulk from
1968-1972. Records on the committee before 1959 are not held by California State Archives. The bill files may contain correspondence,
testimony and related reports on Constitutional Amendments proposed by Senators or Assembly Members as well as on constitutional
amendments introduced by popular initiatives. The hearing files for these committee files are particularly rich for the 1960s
when the California Constitution was being substantively revised. Other hearings exposed concerns about whether California
citizens and interest groups were overusing the initiative process. A series of hearing in the late 1960s examined whether
the minimum voting age in California should be changed to 18; this debate reflected pressures being put on politicians in
light of student activism and the drafting of men younger than 21 to serve in the Vietnam War. In 1970, concerns over the
use of computer to tabulate ballots in a number of California counties resulted in a series of hearings that reflect concern
about the potential corruption of the voting process with new technology. Researchers should be aware that the subject files
for these committees consist of material that did not correspond to either specific bills or hearings. The committee did
not necessarily label these files in this manner and the contents of specific files and their potential usefulness to researchers
varies greatly.
Related Collections at the California State Archives
Constitutional Revision Commission Records, 1964-1972
Assembly Judiciary Committee Records, especially for 1975-1980.
Assembly Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional Amendment Committee Records, especially for 1983-1984, and 1987-2001.
Note to Researchers
Researchers interested in this committee are advised to check the papers of its chairs (listed in the Committee History).
Committee chairs often kept materials relating to committee operations among their personal files. These papers may be available
at the California State Archives or at other repositories.
The following terms have been associated with these materials in the Archives' automated public access system (currently in
development, November 2003).
California. Legislature. Assembly. Constitutional Amendments Committee.
California. Legislature. Assembly. Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
California Constitution Revision Commission
Referendum - California.
Voting age - California.