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NEBRASKA BLUE BOOK, 1920

CONSTITUTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
     The first movement for the formation of a state constitution for Nebraska resulted in submission of the question to the voters of the territory at an election held March 5, 1860 The proposition was defeated by a vote of 2,094 for and 2,212 against. Cass and Otoe counties were the strongest supporters of this movement; Douglas, Sarpy and Washington were its strongest opponents.

     Political issues arising out of the Civil war prompted and sustained the next movement for statehood. Nebraska had become strongly republican and there was a call !or more republican senators and congressmen at Washington. The ninth territorial legislature, by a joint memorial to congress, approved January 16, 1864, petitioned for legislation preparatory to the admission of Nebraska as a state. The democratic party in Nebraska was opposed to statehood, and eleven out of the thirty-seven members in the lower house of the legislature voted against the memorial. Congress responded almost immediately by passing the Nebraska. enabling act on April 19, 1864. In accordance with this instrument an election for delegates to a constitutional convention was held June 6, 1864. The number of members chosen was equal to the membership of the territorial legislature. The convention met at the capitol in Omaha, July 4, 1864, and elected Sterling P. Majors of Nemaha county president. Immediately upon completing its organization the. convention voted to "adjourn sine die, without forming a constitution." A considerable majority of the members of this convention were pledged to this action before their election. The chief reason assigned was the desire to avoid the expense of state government An additional reason was opposition by the democrats.

     The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, and the rapid development of controversy between Andrew Johnson and the republican leaders in congress again brought the question of statehood for Nebraska to the front. On February 9, 1866, the eleventh territorial legislature passed a joint resolution to prepare a constitution for submission to the people. This constitution was drafted in great haste by a legislative committee and rushed through both houses. It was the barest framework of government, providing for the fewest possible officers, the lowest salaries and the most meagre functions for the new state in order to forestall objections to the increased expense. The constitution was submitted to the people at an election held June 2, 1866, and adopted after a heated campaign by a vote of 3,938 in its favor to 3,838 against.

      This constitution of 1866 limited suffrage to "free white males," in accord with the constitutions of many of the free states of the north before the war. Its use in the Nebraska constitution delayed the admission of the state into the union nearly a year. Congress passed the bill admitting Nebraska under this constitution on July 27, 1860, just before adjournment, but President Johnson withheld his signature and it failed to become a law. Efforts were made during the passage of this bill in congress to amend it by requiring Nebraska to include negro suffrage in her constitution. When congress reassembled, the bill admitting Nebraska was again passed, on January 15, 1867, with the added condition that Nebraska should amend her constitution so as to prevent the "abridgement or denial of the exercise of the elective franchise or of any other right to any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed." President Johnson vetoed this bill January 29, 1867. Congress promptly passed it over the president's veto, and provided that the amendment insisted on by congress should be ratified by the Nebraska. legislature. This was done in a special session on

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February 20 and 21, 1867, and on March 1, 1867, President Johnson proclaimed Nebraska to be a state.
     The inadequacy of the constitution of 1866 was soon felt and the state legislature at its fifth session, by a joint resolution approved February 15, 1869, submitted to the electors a proposition to hold a constitutional convention. On October 11, 1870, the voters, by a vote of 3,968 in favor to 979 against, decided to hold the convention. An act approved March 27, 1871, fixed the date for election of members to the convention on the first Tuesday in May, 1871, and required them to convene in Lincoln on the second Tuesday in June following. On June 13, 1871, Silas A. Strickland of Douglas county was chosen permanent president of the convention. The convention sat forty-seven days. Its discussions covered nearly all the political, social and religious questions of that day. Five different propositions, which a majority of the convention were unwilling to adopt, were submitted separately, viz.: woman suffrage, prohibition, compulsory education, municipal aid to corporations, and, liability of stockholders. By a vote of 7,986 for and 8,627 against, this constitution was rejected by the people on September 19, 1871, likewise all the propositions submitted separately. The most potent causes of its defeat were the provisions taxing church property which exceeded five thousand dollars in value and the one providing that railroad right of way should revert to the original owners when no longer used for railroad transportation.

     Agitation for a new constitution grew stronger as settlement extended west of the central portion of the state. The legislature by a joint resolution, approved February 26, 1873, again submitted the proposition for a constitutional convention. At the election in October, 1874, the proposition carried by a vote of 18,067 to 3,880. On February 20, 1875, the legislature passed an act providing for the election of members of the constitutional convention on April 6 of that year and required the convention to assemble in Lincoln May 11. There were sixty-nine members of this convention. John L. Webster of Douglas county was made permanent president and Guy A. Brown, secretary. The convention adjourned on June 12 and the constitution, which has continued to be the fundamental law of the state, was adopted on October 12, 1875, by a vote of 30,9202 to 5,474.

     The constitution of 1875 was in large part the same as the rejected constitution of 1871. The executive, legislative and judicial departments were enlarged, and more adequate salaries provided for. State officers were prohibited from appropriating fees to their own use. The judges of the supreme court were relieved from duty as district judges. Special legislation was forbidden. Provision was made for regulation of corporations. The power of taxation was limited.

     Thirty-nine amendments were submitted by the legislature, or initiative, to the people during the years from 1875 to and including 1918. The most persistent subjects were the increase in the number and salaries of judges, which was considered at six elections; the creation of a railway commission, which was voted on four times; and the salary of legislators, which was considered three times and twice raised by amendment.

     Only eleven of the amendments voted on were finally adopted. These are; 1. Increasing pay of legislators. 2. Creating a railway commission. 3. Increasing number and pay of judges. 4. Investment of school fund. 5. Initiative and referendum. 6. Increasing pay of legislators. 7. Creating board of commissioners for state institutions. 8. Providing for biennial elections. 9. Home rule charters for cities. 10. Prohibition. 11. Forbidding suffrage to aliens.

     With the exception of the first of these amendments increasing legislative salaries, on which the vote was recounted by the legislature under circumstances that argue for a generous interpretation of the contents of the ballot boxes, all of the successful amendments submitted by the legislature have had the aid of what is known as the "party circle" law enacted in 1901, and the primary law of 1907. These laws permit the counting of straight party votes in favor of an amendment, if the party has endorsed the amendment at the primaries. Without this form of assistance, it has been impossible to amend the fundamental law of Nebraska except through the initiative which was adopted in November 1912.

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     The constitutional requirement of a favorable majority of all the electors voting at an election for the adoption of an amendment has blocked all amendment
     This inelasticity has enforced rigidity upon the entire instrument. Growth of activities and function were purposely arrested by a provision that "no other executive office shall be continued or created." The burden of all new forms of executive activity thus was forced on officers elected or appointed under the constitution. This resulted in the creation of deputyships. These official positions separated power from performance, and thrust many dissimilar responsibilities upon constitutional officers whose other and fundamental duties grew with the development of the state.

     The constitutional convention of 1919 convened December 2, 1919. It took a recess on March 25, 1920 until October 19, 1920, when it met for an adjourned session. It submitted forty-one amendments to the people and at a special election held on September 21, 1920, all of the amendments were adopted. A committee had been appointed by the convention before adjournment on March 25 to incorporate the amendments adopted into the constitution of 1875. On October 19, 1920, the convention met and signed the document which appears below.

     NOTE-The original shorthand report of the proceedings of the constitutional convention of 1871 was discovered in a state house vault by Addison E. Sheldon in 1899. In 1905 the discoverer secured from the Nebraska legislature an appropriation for the publication of these discussions in book form and subsequently edited two volumes of the same. The verbatim report of the convention of 1873 is lost. The journal of that convention has been preserved and brought out in a third volume of the constitutional series, by Mr. Albert Watkins.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA,
of 1875

AND SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS, AS AMENDED

BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION of 1919-20.

     The form of the Nebraska Constitution given in the following pages is the one prepared by a committee of the 1920 Constitutional Convention of which I. L. Albert was chairman. The report of this committee was approved by the convention on October 19, 1920, at its adjourned session, and the original was deposited in the office of the secretary of state as the corrected Nebraska constitution after the adoption of the amendments by the people at the election held September 21, 1920.

     In the following pages, where practicable, the changes made in 1920 are put in black face. Amendments adopted between 1875 and 1920 are indicated by footnotes.

     PREAMBLE. We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, do ordain and establish the following declaration of rights and frame of government, as the Constitution of the State of Nebraska.

ARTICLE I--BILL OF RIGHTS
     Section 1. All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, and the protection of property, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

     Sec. 2. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

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     Sec. 3. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
     Sec. 4. All persons have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship against his consent. and no preference shall be given by law to any religious society, nor shall any interference with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religious test shall be required as a qualification for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief; but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the legislature to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.

     Sec. 5. Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects. being responsible for the abuse of that liberty, and in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth when published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense.

     Sec. 6. ¹The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but the legislature may authorize trial by a jury of a less number than twelve in courts inferior to the District Court, and may by general law authorize a verdict in civil cases in any court by not less than five-sixths of the jury.

     Sec. 7. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized.

     Sec. 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless in case of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety requires it, and then only in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

     Sec. 9. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for treason and murder, where the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

     Sec. 10. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, except in cases in which the punishment is by fine, or imprisonment otherwise than in the penitentiary, in case of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, unless; on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury; PROVIDED, That the Legislature may, by law, provide for holding persons to answer for criminal offenses on information of a public prosecutor; and may, by law, abolish, limit, change, amend or otherwise regulate the grand jury system.

     Sec. 11. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person or by counsel, to demand the nature and cause of accusation, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses against him face to face, to have process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf; and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.

     Sec. 12. No person shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to give evidence against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.

     Sec. 13. All courts shall be open, and every person, for any injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall have a remedy by due course of law, and justice administered without denial or delay.

     Sec. 14. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against the state, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the
     ¹1920 constitutional convention struck out the word "men" after "twelve" and added words in black face. Proposal No. 1.

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same overt act, or on confession in open court.
     Sec. 15. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offense, and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; nor shall any person be transported out of the state for any offense committed within the state.

     Sec. 16. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or making any irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities shall be passed.

     Sec. 17. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.

     Sec. 18. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war except in the manner prescribed by law.

     Sec. 19. The right of the people peaceably to assemble to consult for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shalt never be abridged.

     Sec. 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action or mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud.

     Sec. 21. The property of no person shall be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation therefor.

     Sec. 22. All elections shall be free; and there shall be no hindrance or impediment to the right of a qualified voter to exercise the elective franchise.

     Sec. 23. The writ of error shall be a writ of right in all cases of felony; and in capital cases shall operate as a supersedeas to stay the execution of the sentence of death, until the further order of the supreme court in the premises.

     Sec. 24. The right to be heard in all civil cases in the court of last resort, by appeal, error, or otherwise, shall not be denied.

     Sec. 25. ²There shall be no discrimination between citizens of the United States in respect to the acquisition, ownership, possession, enjoyment or descent of property.

     The right of aliens in respect to the acquisition, enjoyment and descent of property may be regulated by law.

      Sec. 26. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others, retained by the people, and all powers not herein delegated, remain with the people.

     Sec. 27. ³The English language in hereby declared to be the official language of this state, and all official proceedings, records and publications shall be in such language, and the common school branches; shall he taught in said language in public., private, denominational and parochial schools.

ARTICLE II--DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS
     Section 1. The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, executive and judicial, and no person or collection of persons being one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others except as hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.
ARTICLE III--LEGISLATIVE
     Section 1. The legislative authority of the state shall be vested in a legislature consisting of a senate and house of representatives, but the people reserve to themselves power to propose laws, and amendments to the constitution, and to enact or reject the same at the polls independent of the legislature, and also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or part of any act passed by the legislature.
     ³1920 constitutional convention added this section. Proposal No. 3.
     ²1920 constitutional convention struck out the words "resident aliens and" before the word "citizens." Proposal No. 2.

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     Sec. 2. ⁴The first power reserved by the people is the initiative whereby laws may be enacted and constitutional amendments adopted by the people independently of the legislature. This power may be invoked by petition wherein the proposed measure shall be set forth at length. If the petition be for the enactment of a law, it shall be signed by seven per cent of the electors of the state and if the petition be for the amendment of the constitution, the petition therefor shall be signed by ten per cent of such electors. In all cases the electors signing such petition shall be so distributed as to include five per cent of the electors of two-fifths of the counties of the state and when thus signed the petition shall be filed with the secretary of state, who shall submit the measure thus proposed to the electors of the state at the first general election held not less than four months after such petition shall have been filed. The same measure, either in form or in essential substance, shall not be submitted to the people by initiative petition, either affirmatively or negatively, oftener than once in three years. If conflicting measures submitted to the people at the same election be approved, the one receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall thereby become law as to all conflicting provisions. The constitutional limitations as to the scope and subject matter of statutes enacted by the legislature shall apply to those enacted by the initiative.
     Sec. 3. ⁴The second power reserved is the referendum which may be invoked, by petition, against any act or part of an act of the legislature, except those making appropriations for the expense of the state government or a state institution existing at the time of the passage of such act. Petitions invoking the referendum shall be signed by not less than five per cent of the electors of the state, distributed as required for initiative petitions, and filed in the office of the secretary of state within ninety days after the legislature at which the act sought to be referred was passed shall have adjourned sine die or for more than ninety days. Such petition shall set out the title of the act against which the referendum is invoked, and in addition thereto, when only a portion of the act is sought to be referred, the number of the section or sections or portion of sections of the act designating such portion. When the referendum to thus invoked the secretary of state shall refer the same to the electors for approval or rejection at the first general election to be held not less than thirty days after the filing of such petition.

     When the referendum is invoked, as to any act or part of act, other than emergency acts or those for the Immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, by petition signed by not less than ten per cent of the electors of the state, distributed as aforesaid, it shall suspend the taking effect of such act or part of act until the same has been approved by the electors of the state.

     Sec. 4. ⁴The whole number of votes cast for governor at the general election next preceding the filing of all initiative or referendum petition shall be the basis on which the number of signatures to such petition shall be computed. The veto power of the governor shall not extend to measures initiated by or referred to the people. A measure initiated shall become a law or part of the constitution, as the case may be, when a majority of the votes cast thereon, and not less than thirty-five per cent of the total vote cast at the election at which the same was submitted, are cast in favor thereof, and shall take effect upon proclamation by the governor which shall be made within ten days after the official canvass of such votes. The vote upon initiative and referendum measures shall be returned and canvassed in the manner prescribed for the canvass of votes for president. The method of submitting and adopting amendments to the constitution provided by this section shall be supplementary to the method prescribed in the article of this constitution, entitled, "Amendments" and the latter shall in no case be construed to conflict herewith. The provisions with respect to the initiative and referendum shall be self-executing, but legislation may be enacted to facilitate their operation. All propositions submitted in pursuance hereof shall be submitted in a non-partisan manner and without any indication or suggestion on the ballot that they have been approved or endorsed by any political party

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or organization. Only the title or proper descriptive words of measures shall be printed on the ballot and when two or more measures have the same title they shall be numbered consecutively in the order of filing with the secretary of state and the number shall be followed by the name of the first petitioner on the corresponding petition.
     Sec. 5. ⁵At the regular session of the legislature held in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one the legislature shall by law divide the state into senatorial and representative districts. In the creation of senatorial and representative districts, any county that contains population sufficient to entitle it to two or more senators or representatives, shall be divided into separate and distinct senatorial and representative districts, as nearly equal in population as may be and composed of contiguous and compact territory. After the creation of such districts, one senator shall be elected from each senatorial district and one representative from each representative district. The basis of apportionment shall be the population, excluding aliens, as shown by next preceding federal census. In like manner, when necessary to a correction of inequalities in the population of such districts, the state may be redistricted from time to time, but not oftener than once in ten years.

     Sec. 6. ⁶The house of representatives shall consist of not more than one hundred members and the senate of not more than fifty members. The sessions of the legislature shall be biennial, except as otherwise provided by this constitution.

     Sec. 7. ⁷Senators and representatives shall be elected for a term of two years. They shall each receive the sum of eight hundred dollars for attendance at each regular biennial session of the legislature and tell dollars for each day in actual attendance at special sessions; but in no case shall compensation for attendance at any one special session exceed one hundred dollars. They shall also be paid ten cents per mile for each mile traveled in once going to and returning from each regular or special session of the legislature by the most usual route. Members of the legislature shall receive no pay nor perquisites other than their mileage and salary or per diem, as the case may be, nor shall employees receive any other compensation than their salary or per diem. After the expiration of twenty days of the session, no bills nor joint resolutions of the nature of bills shall be introduced, unless the governor shall, by special message call the attention of the. legislature to the necessity of passing a law on the subject matter embraced in the message, and the introduction of bills shall be restricted thereto. Provided, that the general appropriation bills may be introduced up to and including the fortieth day.

     Sec. 8. No person shall be eligible to the office of senator, or member of the house of representatives, who shall not be an elector and have resided within the district from which he is elected for the term of one year next before his election, unless he shall have been absent on the public, business of the United States
     ⁴1912, initiative and referendum first adopted. Vote 189,200 for; 15,515 against. Endorsed in party platforms. Initiative and referendum sections rewritten by constitutional convention of 1920. Proposal No. 4. Percentages of voters required for petitions were changed as follows:

1912 1920

Initiative (law)
10% 7%

Initiative (constitutional amendment)
15% 10%

Referendum (law)
10% 5%

     ⁵1920 constitutional convention rewrote this section. Principal change applies rule "one member-one district" to senatorial and representative districts in place of 1875 provision permitting several members from one district. Proposal No. 5.
     ⁶1920 constitutional convention struck out words "thirty-three" and inserted word "fifty "--relating to membership in senate. Proposal No. 6
     ⁷1886 amended (by recount of votes) to change pay of legislators from $3 per day to $5 per day. Recount vote for, 72,497; against, 22,135.
     1912 amended to change pay from $5 per day to $600 for each regular session. Vote for, 173,225; against, 26,335.
     1920 amended to change pay from $600 to $800 regular session and not to exceed $100 for special session. Proposal No. 7.

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or of this state. And no person elected as aforesaid shall hold his office after he shall have removed from such district.
     Sec. 9. No person holding office under the authority of the United States, or any lucrative office under the authority of this state, shall be eligible to, or have a seat in the legislature, but this provision shall not extend to precinct or township officers, justices of the peace, notaries public, or officers of the militia, nor shall any person interested in a contract with, or an unadjusted claim, against the state hold a seat in the legislature.

     Sec. 10. The session of the legislature shall commence at 12:00 o'clock (noon) on the first Tuesday in January in the next year ensuing the election of members thereof, and at no other time, unless as provided by this constitution. A majority of the members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum; each. house shall determine the rules of its proceedings and be the judge of the election returns, and qualifications of its members, shall choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president, to preside when the lieutenant governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor. The secretary of state shall call the house of representatives to order at the opening of each new legislature, and preside, over it until a temporary presiding officer thereof shall have been chosen, and shall have taken his seat. No member shall be expelled by either house, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to that house, and no member shall be twice expelled for the same offense. Each house may punish by imprisonment any person not a member thereof who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence, but no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time, unless the person shall persist in such disorderly or contemptuous behavior.

     Sec. 11. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings and publish them (except such parts as may require secrecy) and the yeas and nays of the members on any question, shall at the desire of any two of them be entered on the journal. All votes in either house shall. be viva voce. The doors of each house, and of the committee of the whole, shall be open, unless when the business shall be such as ought to be kept secret. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days.

     Sec. 12. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature, except bills appropriating money, which shall originate only in the house of representatives, and all bills passed by one house may be amended by the other.

     Sec. 13. ⁸The style of all bills shall be, "Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska," and no law shall be enacted except by bill. No bill shall be passed by the legislature unless by the assent of a majority of all members elected to each house of the legislature, and the question upon final passage shall be taken immediately upon its last reading and the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journal. No amendment to any bill by one house shall be concurred in by the other nor shall the report of any conference committee as to any bill be adopted by either house except by the assent of the same number of members as is required for the passage of the original bill taken by yeas and nays entered upon the journal.

     Sec. 14. ⁹Every bill and concurrent resolution shall be read by title when introduced, and a printed copy, thereof provided for the use of each member, and the bill and all amendments thereto shall be printed and read at large before the vote is taken upon its final passage. No bill shall contain more than one subject, and the same shall be clearly expressed in the title. And no law shall be amended unless the new act contain the section or sections as amended and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. The presiding officer of each house shall sign in the presence of the house over which he presides while the same is in session and capable of transacting business, all bills and concurrent resolutions passed by the legislature.

     Sec. 15. Members of the legislature in all cases except treason, felony or
     ⁸1920 amendment adds matter in black face. Proposal No. 8.

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breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during the session of the legislature, and for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination thereof.
     Sec. 16. "No person elected or appointed to the legislature shall receive any civil appointment to a state office during the term for which he has been elected or appointed, and all such appointments shall be void; nor shall any member of the legislature, or any state officer be interested, either directly or indirectly in any contract, with the state or any county or municipality thereof, authorized by any law enacted during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed, or within one year after the expiration of such term.

     Sec. 17. The senate and house of representatives in joint convention shall have the sole power of impeachment, but a majority of the members elected must concur therein. Upon the entertainment of a resolution to impeach by either house, the other house shall at once be notified thereof and the two houses shall meet in joint convention for the purpose of acting upon such resolution within three days of such notification. A notice of an impeachment of any officer other than a justice of the supreme court, shall be forthwith served upon the chief justice, by the secretary of the senate, who shall thereupon call a session of the supreme court. to meet at the capitol within ten days after such notice to try the impeachment. A notice of an impeachment of a justice of the supreme court shall be served by the secretary of the senate, upon the judge of the judicial district within which the capitol is located, and he thereupon shall notify all the judges of the district court in the state to meet with him within thirty days at the capitol, to sit as a court to try such impeachment, which court shall organize by electing one of its number to preside. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds, of the members of the court of impeachment, but judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, profit, or trust, in this state, but the party impeached, whether convicted or acquitted shall nevertheless be liable to prosecution and punishment according to law. No officer shall exercise his official duties after he shall have been impeached and notified thereof, until he shall have been acquitted.

     Sec. 18. The legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following cases, that is to say:

For granting divorces.

Changing the names of persons or places.

Laying out, opening, altering and working roads or highways.

Vacating roads, town plats, streets.. alleys, and public grounds.

Locating or changing county seats.

Regulating county and township offices.

Regulating the practice of courts of justice.

Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace, police magistrates, and constables.

Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases.

Incorporating cities, towns and villages, or changing or amending the charter of any town, city, or village.

Providing for the election of officers in townships, incorporated towns or cities.

Summoning or empaneling grand or petit juries.

Providing for the bonding of cities, towns, precincts, school districts, or other municipalities.

     ⁹1920 amendment strikes out provision requiring all bills to be read at large on three separate days. Proposal No. 8.
     ¹⁰1920 amendment changes 1875 rule forbidding any legislator from receiving any civil appointment from the governor and senate during big term to one forbidding him from receiving "any civil appointment to a state office" during his term. It adds the words "or appointed" and "municipality" in place of "City". Proposal No. 9.

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Providing for the management of public schools.

Regulating the interest on money.

The opening and conducting of any election, or designating the place of voting.

The sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others under disability.

The protection of game or fish.

Chartering or licensing ferries, or toll bridges, remitting tines, penalties or forfeitures, creating, increasing, and decreasing fees,

percentages or allowances of public officers, during the term for which said officers ire elected or appointed.

Changing the law of descent.

Granting to any corporation, association, or individual, the right to lay down railroad tracks, or amending existing charters for such purpose.

Granting to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive privileges, Immunity, or franchise whatever. In all

other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.

     Sec. 19. ¹¹The legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, or servant after the services have been rendered nor to any contractor after the contract has been entered into, nor shall the compensation of any public officer, including any officer whose compensation is fixed by the legislature subsequent to the adoption hereof be increased or diminished during his term of office.

     Sec. 20. ¹² The salt springs, coal, oil, mineral, or other natural resources on or contained in the land belonging to the state shall never be alienated, but provision may be made by law for the leasing or development of the same.

     Sec. 21. Lands under control of the state shall never be donated to railroad companies, private corporations or individuals.

     Sec. 22. Each legislature shall make appropriations for the expenses of the government until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session, and all appropriations shall end with such fiscal quarter. And whenever it is deemed necessary to make further appropriations for deficiencies, the same shall require a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each house, and shall not exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in such time. Bills making appropriations for the pay of members and officers of the legislature, and for the salaries of the officers, of the government, shall contain no provision on any other subject.

     Sec. 23. All offices created by this constitution shall become vacant by the death of the incumbent, by removal from the state, resignation, conviction of a felony, impeachment, or becoming of unsound mind. And the legislature shall provide by general law for the filling of such vacancy, when no provision is made for that purpose in this constitution.

     Sec. 24. The legislature shall not authorize any games of chance, lottery, or gift enterprise under any pretense, or for any purpose whatever.

     Sec. 25. No allowance shall be made for the incidental expenses of any state officer except the same be made by general appropriation and upon in account specifying each item. No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of a specific appropriation made by law, and on the presentation of a warrant issued by the auditor thereon, and no money shall be diverted from any appropriation made for any purpose, or taken from any fund whatever, either by joint or separate resolution. The auditor shall within sixty days after the adjournment of each session of the legislature, prepare and publish a full statement of all moneys expended it such session, specifying the amount of each item, and to whom and for what paid.

     Sec. 26. No member of the legislature shall be liable in any civil or criminal action whatever for words spoken in debate.

     Sec. 27. No act shall take effect until three calendar months after the ad-
     ¹¹1920 amendment adds words in black face. Proposal No. 10.
     ¹²1920 amendment adds words in black face. Proposal No. 11.

	1912	1920
Initiative (law)	10%	7%
Initiative (constitutional amendment)	15%	10%
Referendum (law)	10%	5%