1938 Convention
The Constitution established in 1894 required the voters to vote on the necessity of a constitutional convention in 1936. On November 3 of that year, the voters approved the holding of a convention.
There were 168 delegates to the convention. These included Alfred E. Smith, Hamilton Fish III, Robert F. Wagner, and Robert Moses. The Convention was chaired by Frederick E. Crane, the Chief Judge of the State Court of Appeals. Governor Herbert Lehman appointed Charles Poletti to head a committee to gather information for the convention's use. The twelve-volume report they produced is called the Poletti Report.
The 1938 Convention did not actually adopt a new Constitution, but it did make major changes (57 amendments in all) to the Constitution, which were bundled into nine questions for the voters. However, only six questions were approved. Changes approved were:
- The State Legislature was now authorized to enact a Social Security program
- The State Legislature could provide funding to eliminate railroad crossings
- New York City was excluded from debt limits in order to finance a public rapid transport system
- An amendment setting out the rights of public works projects workers
- A number of non-controversial amendments
- Permission for the State Legislature to fund transportation to parochial schools
Read more about this topic: New York Constitution
Famous quotes containing the word convention:
“Every one knows about the young man who falls in love with the chorus-girl because she can kick his hat off, and his sister’s friends can’t or won’t. But the youth who marries her, expecting that all her departures from convention will be as agile or as delightful to him as that, is still the classic example of folly.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)