Summary
Representative Luck introduced a proposed constitutional amendment asking voters to require that gubernatorial proclamations calling special sessions for revenue or budget issues not limit the General Assembly’s ability to consider the full state budget; committee postponed the referral.
Representative Luck asked the committee to refer a proposed constitutional amendment to the 2026 ballot that would require any governor proclamation calling a special session for a state revenue shortfall or budgetary issue to allow the General Assembly to consider the entirety of the state budget rather than a narrowly framed list of items. "The business specially named in the proclamation must not be so narrowly framed as to impose a particular outcome on the General Assembly," Luck read from the proposed amendment.
Luck said the change is aimed at preserving separation of powers and allowing the legislature to exercise its constitutional role in addressing budget shortfalls. "If the governor convenes the General Assembly by proclamation for the purpose of addressing a state revenue shortfall or other state budgetary issue, the governor shall not limit the scope of the special session to only a portion of the budget," the sponsor read.
Public testimony included two witnesses who supported giving the people a chance to decide whether the governor can narrow special‑session scope; one testified that the measure should go on the November ballot so a similar narrow call cannot be issued before 2026. The committee declined to send the amendment to the committee of the whole and then postponed the resolution indefinitely.
