A proposed state constitutional amendment to allow an elected lieutenant governor and an elected attorney general may be voted on in the state Senate as early as Thursday.
After several years of campaigning for these positions to be elected, Clarksville Senator Rosalind Kurita got the resolution out of Senate State & Local Government Committee today. She says the issue is whether the citizens can choose five important officials.
“This would be creating a new office, of lieutenant governor. It would be the secretary of state, the treasurer, the comptroller, and electing the attorney general. And we would also give to the attorney general prosecutorial powers, so that he or she could prosecute public corruption.”
Currently the lieutenant governor is the senator elected to preside over the state Senate. The comptroller, secretary of state and treasurer are chosen by the legislature, usually by the dominant political party. The attorney general is hired by the state Supreme Court.
Kurita says Tennessee is one of only four states in the U.S. where citizens don’t elect such offices.
The proposal would have to pass multiple readings before the close of the 2008 legislative session, and then again in the next elected General Assembly. After that it would go on a governor’s election ballot as a referendum.
WEB EXTRA:
The measure is Senate Joint Resolution 139 and is cosponsored by the current lieutenant governor, Senator Ron Ramsey.
The measure would have to pass in the current General Assembly by a simple majority. It would then have to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the 106th General Assembly, and then go on to the general election ballot as a referendum in 2010.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM