Guin: Not clear how to change constitution

DAVID WHITE News staff writer MONTGOMERY - A key state lawmaker Wednesday said supporters of a new state constitution might avoid future legal snags by changing part of the current constitution or at least getting a Supreme Court advisory opinion on it. Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, said Section 286, which deals with calling a convention to write a new constitution, is dangerously vague. "I would hate to see an awful lot of work go into the constitution and then the Supreme Court strike it down because they felt that in some way the process violated Section 286, which anyone can read is very vague and ambiguous," said Guin, the majority leader of the state House of Representatives. Section 286 says a majority of the Legislature can approve a law or resolution calling a convention. A majority of state voters then must approve a convention before it could meet. But Section 286 says nothing about how delegates would be chosen. The section also does not explicitly give state voters the final say over any new constitution written by a convention. It is silent about a ratifying vote. "It is intentionally designed to be vague, ambiguous and leave questions open for the (Supreme) Court to kill whatever was done," said Guin, a lawyer who chairs the House Elections Committee. He said he thinks lawmakers should consider rewriting Section 286 to say that in a call for a convention, the Legislature could spell out how delegates would be selected, set the number of days the convention could meet and require a ratifying vote on any new constitution proposed by the convention. Any amendment to Section 286 would have to be approved by voters before it could take effect. Barring an amendment, Guin said lawmakers should at least seek a Supreme Court advisory opinion to see if the court believed Section 286 required voters to ratify any convention-proposed constitution, even though the section is silent on that issue. But Sid McAnnally, a Decatur lawyer and treasurer of the nonprofit Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, said he doesn't think an amendment or advisory opinion would be necessary to ensure that voters could accept or reject a convention's proposed constitution. "I think Ken (Guin) is trying to be cautious in the face of language that is broad and wants to be certain that whatever work is done will be valid in the end," McAnnally said. Compare the changes in Alabama's Constitution that penalizes blacks and poor whites. The 1868 Constitution eliminated the citizens' right to bring a grievance against the State, even though the State improperly took his property. © The Birmingham News