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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1975)
Page 6 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1975 Constitution Senate approves proposed state charter, 22-1 AUSTIN, Tex. (AP) — Senators approved a proposed new constitu tion Tuesday, blending up-to-the- minute suggestions with ideas tested over nearly 100 years. “You have done in one day what we couldn’t do in seven months in our last constitutional convention,” said Sen. Bob Gammage, who spon sored the eight-section package of proposals. If the House also approves the document, it would go to the voters in a statewide election Nov. 4. Gammage’s statement tends to obscure the fact that the proposal the Senate approved was virtually the same constitution that the con vention failed to accept by three votes last summer. The Senate climaxed almost six hours of debate by voting a second time on each of the sections. A po tential trouble spot was smoothed over when enough senators switched their votes to pass a provi sion giving restricted voting rights to convicts. On the first vote it was 17-11, short of the two-thirds required for approval, but the second and final vote was 22-8. No other vote on a section was any closer, which meant there was always one vote to spare. Another crucial vote change —• by Sen. Grant Jones, D-Abilene — en abled the Senate to take a final vote Tuesday, instead of waiting another day. In a 16-14 vote, senators rejected a controversial proposal to lock into the constitution the law against labor-management agreements re quiring union membership or pay ment of union dues to hold a job. Gammage, D-Houston, pre dicted passage of the proposal — which some say was responsible for the defeat of the 1974 constitution — would have scuttled the entire general provisions section. At least eight senators clustered around Senate secretary Charles Schnabel awaiting the tally, and Sen. Tom Creighton, D-Mineral Wells, yelled, “No switches, no switches.” One amendment added in the af ternoon session would require any future constitutional convention to submit a new document by a two- TODAY SENIOR CLASS COUNCIL meets at 7:30 p.m. in Rudder rm. 302. PRE-LAW SOCIETY will nominate oflicers at 7:30 p.m. in Rudder rm. 401. WHEELMEN will start a bike ride from the MSC fountain at 5:30 p.m. STUDENT Y presents a program by the Middle Earth Drug Crisis Center at 7:30 p.m. in room 212 of the MSC. SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS meets at 5 p.m. in room GZachry to elect officers and discuss plans for the NASA trip. EL PASO HOMETOWN CLUB meets at 7:30 p.m. in room 402 of the Rudder Tower. BRYAN COUNCIL OF STUTTERERS meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center, 3300 E. 29th St. in Bryan. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE AR CHITECTS meets at 7:30 p.m. in the Barcelona Apts, party room. Prof. Rodney Hill will speak. DR. M. M. SIBLEY will speak on Texas travel litera ture at 7:30 p.m. in the Rudder Tower. THURSDAY CEPHEID VARIABLES meet at 7:30 in rms. A and B of the MSC student programs office. SYMPHONIC BAND will present a concert in the MSC fountain area at 12:45 p.m. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT WIVES CLUB will meet at 1015 Guadalupe at 7:30 p.m. HORSEMAN S ASSOCIATION meets at 7:30 in 215 AI. DATA PROCESSING MANAGEMENT ASSOCI ATION meets at 8 p. m. in room 401 of the Rud der Tower to hear Dr. Stuart Lynn speak on cost recovery in data processing centers. MIDLAND HOMETOWN CLUB meets at 8 p. m. in the Rudder Tower for officer elections. STUDENT Y presents a panel discussion by commun ity leaders for Drug Awareness Week. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE AR CHITECTS meets at 7:30 p.m. in the Barcelona Apts, party room. Prof. Rodney Hill will speak. WOMEN’S AWARENESS meets in MSC rm. 104 at 8 p.m. MONDAY MATH CLUB meets in the third floor lounge of Har rington at 7:30 p.m. INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS presents Dr. D. L. Solomon at 3 p.m. in rm. 110 Oceanography to speak on mathematics and ecology. THEATER ARTS, TAMU PRESENTS A PLAY FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES REWARD THE rox IM THE FORUM THEATER RUDDER CEMTER, TAMU 7 00 PM. WED., APR. 2 THRU ERL, APR.4 2 30 RM. SAT, APR. S CHILDREN 504 ADULTS thirds, not a majority vote. The finance article retained Texas’ “pay-as-you-go” principle. It requires political subdivisions to allow a $3,000 exemption from property taxes for persons 65 or older if their annual incomes are below $7,500. State debt could be authorized only by approval of two-thirds of the legislature and a majority vote of the people. The new constitution would pro hibit discrimination against hand icapped persons in hiring employes. A major difference between the document approved by the Senate and the 1974 convention proposal was that Gammage had stripped away special proposals to ban parimutuel gambling, to limit state taxes to 8 per cent of the state’s in come in one year, to grant House members four-year terms and con stitutionally ban the union shop. Numerous attempts were made to amend the proposed constitution after two tries to delay debate each failed, 21-9. Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby broke a tie to enable senators to tack on an amendment to include campuses of Texas State Technical Institute under the new higher education fund. The fund earmarks a state property tax of 10 cents on $100 val uation for colleges outside the Uni versity of Texas and Texas A&M University systems. The legislative article maintains a 181-member legislature, including 150 House members and 31 senators, and establishes annual sessions. The executive article pro vides that the life of a state agency is 10 years, unless extended by! legislature. The judicial article proposes merger of the State Court ofCn: nal Appeals and the Texas Suprt: Court, with Texas’ 14 civil apjx. courts assuming civil and crimij jurisdiction. The state wouldle the cost of all courts. SKAGGS ALBERTSONS & SKAGGS DRUGS