New+Constitution

=The Constitution of 1945= ==== In 1931 the Institute of Public Affairs at the [|University of Georgia] published "A Proposed Constitution for Georgia." Though the document was produced for discussion purposes only, it helped to push a call for constitutional revision by the state legislature and Governor [|Ellis Arnall]. As a result the governor appointed a twenty-three-member constitutional commission representing all three branches of government. Approval of the legislature and the voters was required. Working in subcommittees for two years, the commission completed the document in January 1945. Both houses of the General Assembly held public hearings to allow group and individual input. Governor Arnall promoted the inclusion of home rule, the merit system for state employees, and a prison board. ==== ==== The Constitution of 1945 was ratified by the public in August 1945. It was considered streamlined, with changes confined primarily to form and organization. Approximately 90 percent of the provisions, however, were taken from the Constitution of 1877. Significant changes included the addition of the office of [|lieutenant governor], new constitutional officers, the creation of a state Board of Corrections and a state department of veterans' service, authorization of jury service for women, and an increase in the number of justices in the state supreme court to seven. During the next thirty years the lack of substantive revision led to concerns about both the process and the substance of the Constitution of 1945. ====