Constitution With Proposed Amendments

be to post one copy, without delay, at each of the voting places, and, within ten days from the receipt thereof, to make return on oath to the clerk, as to the places where and dates at which said copies were respectively posted, which return the clerk shall record in a book kept in his office for the purpose; and he shall keep in his office for public inspection, for at least sixty days after receiving the list, not less than ten certified copies thereof, and also cause the list to be published in such other manner as may be prescribed by law. The original list returned by the treasurer shall be filed and preserved by the clerk among the public records of his office for at least five years after receiving the same. Within thirty days after the list has been so posted, any person who shall have paid his capitation tax, but whose name is omitted from the certified list, may, after five days' written notice to the treasurer, apply to the circuit court of his county, or corporation court of his city, or to the judge thereof in vacation, to have the same corrected and his name entered thereon, which application the court or judge shall promptly hear and decide.

The clerk shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, with the poll books, at a reasonable time before every election, to one of the judges of election of each precinct of his county or city, a like certified copy of the list, which shall be conclusive evidence of the facts therein stated for the purpose of voting. The clerk shall also, within sixty days after the filing of the list by the treasurer, forward a certified copy thereof, with such corrections as may have been made by order of the court or judge, to the Auditor of Public Accounts, who shall charge the amount of the poll taxes stated therein to such treasurer unless previously accounted for.

Further evidence of the prepayment of the capitation taxes required by this Constitution, as a prerequisite to the right to register and vote, may be prescribed by law.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

to the sheriff of the county or sergeant of the city, whose duty it shall be to post one copy, without delay, at each of the voting places, and, within ten days from the receipt thereof, to make return on oath to the clerk, as to the places where and dates at which said copies were respectively posted, which return the clerk shall record in a book kept in his office for the purpose; and he shall keep in his office for public inspection, for at least sixty days after receiving the list, not less than ten certified copies thereof, and also cause the list to be published in such other manner as may be prescribed by law; the original list returned by the treasurer shall be filed and preserved by the clerk among the public records of his office for at least five years after receiving the same. Within thirty days after the list has been so posted, any person who shall have paid his capitation tax, but whose name is omitted from the certified list, may, after five days' written notice to the treasurer, apply to the circuit court of his county, or corporation court of his city, or to the judge thereof in vacation, to have the same. corrected and his name entered thereon, which application the court or judge shall promptly hear and decide.

The clerk shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, with the poll books, at a reasonable time before every election, to one of the judges of election of each precinct of his county or city, a like certified copy of the list, which shall be conclusive evidence of the facts therein stated for the purpose of voting. The clerk shall also, within sixty days after the filing of the list by the treasurer, forward a certified copy thereof, with such corrections as may have been made by order of the court or judge, to the Auditor of Public Accounts, who shall charge the amount of the poll taxes stated therein to such treasurer unless previously accounted for.

Further evidence of the prepayment of the capitation taxes required by this Constitution, as a prerequisite to the right to register and vote, may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 44. Qualifications of senators and delegates; who ineligible: removal from district vacates office.Any person may be elected senator who, at the time of election, is actually a resident of the senatorial district and qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly; and any person may be elected a member of the House of Delegates who, at the time of election, is actually a resident of the house district and qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly. But no person holding a salaried office under the State government, and no judge of any court, attorney for the Commonwealth. sheriff, sergeant, treasurer, assessor of taxes, commissioner of the revenue, collector of taxes, or clerk of any court, shall be a member of either house of the General Assembly during his continuance in office, and the election of any such person to either house of the General Assembly, and his qualification as a member thereof, shall vacate any such office held by him; and no person holding any office or post of profit or profit or emolument under the United States government or who is in the employment of such government, shall be eligible to either house. The removal of a senator or delegate from the district for which he is elected, shall vacate his office.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison) Sec. 44.-Unchanged.

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

Sec. 45. Salaries of members of General Assembly to be fixed by law; members not to be elected or appointed to civil offices of profit except by election by the people. The members of the General Assembly shall receive for their services a salary to be fixed by law and paid from the public treasury; but no act increasing such salary shall take effect until after the end of the term for which the members voting thereon were elected; and no member during the term for which he shall have been elected, shall be elected by the General Assembly to any civil office of profit in the State.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

Sec. 45. Salaries of members of General Assembly to be fixed by law; members not to be elected or appointed to civil offices of profit except by election by the people. The members of the General Assembly shall receive for their services a salary to be fixed by law and paid from the public treasury; but no act increasing such salary shall take effect until after the end of the term for which the members voting thereon were elected; and no member during the term for which he shall have been elected, shall be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit in the State except offices filled by the election by the people.

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

Sec. 46. Time and duration of meetings of General Assembly; adjournments; majority shall be a quorum; power of smaller number than a quorum.-The General Assembly shall meet once in two years on the second Wednesday in January next succeeding the election of the members of the House of Delegates and not oftener unless convened in the manner prescribed by this Constitution. No session of the General Assembly shall continue longer than sixty days; but with the concurrence of three-fifths of the members elected to each house, the session may be extended for a period not exceeding thirty days. Members shall be allowed a salary for not exceeding sixty days at any regular session, and for not exceeding thirty days at any extra session. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn to another place nor for more than thirty days. A majority of the members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall have power to compel the attendance of members in such manner and under such penalty as each house may prescribe.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

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Sec. 46. Time and duration of meetings of General Assembly; adjournments; majority shall be a quorum; power of smaller number than a quorum.— The General Assembly shall meet once in two years on the second Wednesday in January next succeeding the election of the members of the House of Delegates and not oftener unless convened in the manner prescribed by this Constitution. No session of the General Assembly, after the first under this Constitution, shall continue longer than sixty days; but with the concurrence of three-fifths of the members elected to each house, the session may be extended for a period not exceeding thirty days. Except for the first session held under this Constitution members shall be allowed a salary for not exceeding sixty days at any regular session, and for not exceeding thirty days at any extra session. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn to another place nor for more than three days. A majority of the members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall have power to compel the attendance of members in such manner and under such penalty as each house may prescribe.

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

Sec. 47. Power of each house of General Assembly to elect its presiding officer, make its own rules, fill vacancies, and judge of the election and qualification of members and punish and expel members.-The House of Delegates shall choose its own speaker: and, in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor,

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

Sec. 47.-Unchanged.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

or when he shall exercise the office of Governor, the Senate shall choose from its own body a president pro tempore. Each house shall select its officers, settle its rules of procedure, and direct writs of election for supplying vacancies which may occur during the session of the General Assembly; but, if vacancies occur during the recess, such writs may be issued by the Governor, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Each house shall judge of the election, qualification, and returns of its members; may punish them for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds. expel a member.

Sec. 48. Privileges of members of General Assembly.-Members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace. be privileged from arrest during the sessions of their respective houses; and for any speech or debate in either house shall not be questioned in any other place. They shall not be subject to arrest, under any civil process, during the sessions of the General Assembly, or the fifteen days next before the beginning or after the ending of any session.

Sec. 49. Journal of proceedings.-Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be published from time to time, and the yeas and nays. of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

Sec. 50. Enactment of laws; tax laws shall specifically state the tax and require a vote of majority of members. No law shall be enacted except by bill. A bill may originate in either house, may be approved or rejected by the other, or amended by either, with the concurrence of the other.

No bill shall become a law unless, prior to its passage, it has been:

(a) Referred to a committee of each house, considered by such committee in session, and reported; (b) Printed by the house in which it originated prior to its passage therein;

(c) Read by title on three different calendar days in each house; and unless

(d) Upon its final passage a yea and nay vote has been taken thereon, separate and apart from any other bill, in each house, the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal, and a majority of those voting, which shall include at least two-fifths of the members elected to each house, recorded in the affirmative.

Only in the manner required in subdivision (d) of this section shall an amendment to a bill by one house be concurred in by the other, or a conference report be adopted by either house, or either house discharge a committee from the consideration of a bill and consider the same as if reported. The printing required in subdivision (b) of this section, may be dispensed with in a bill to codify the laws of the State, and in any case of emergency by a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house taken

Sec. 50. Enactment of laws; tax laws shall specifically state the tax and require a vote of majority of members. No law shall be enacted except by bill. A bill may originate in either house, to be approved or rejected by the other, or may be amended by either, with the concurrence of the other.

No bill shall become a law unless, prior to its passage, it has been:

(a) Referred to a committee of each house, considered by such committee in session, and reported; (b) Printed by the house in which it originated prior to its passage therein;

(c) Read at length on three different calendar days in each house; and unless,

(d) A yea and nay vote has been taken in each house upon its final passage, the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal, and a majority of those voting, which shall include at least two-fifths of the members elected to each house, recorded in the affirmative.

And only in the manner required in subdivision (d) of this section shall an amendment to a bill by one house be concurred in by the other, or a conference report be adopted by either house, or either house discharge a committee from the consideration of a bill and consider the same as if reported; provided that the printing and reading, or either, required in subdivisions (b) and (c) of this section, may be dispensed with in a bill to codify the laws of the State, and in any case of emergency by

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

by the yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against, entered on the journal.

No bill which creates or establishes a new office, or which creates, continues or revives a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money, or property, or releases, discharges or commutes any claim or demand of the State, or which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall be passed except by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house, the vote to be by the yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against, entered on the journal. Every law imposing, continuing or reviving a tax shall specifically state such tax, and no law shall be construed as so stating such tax, which requires a reference to any other law or any other tax.

The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the house over which he presides, sign. every bill that has been passed by both houses and duly enrolled. Immediately before this is done, all other business being suspended, the title of the bill shall be publicly read. The fact of signing shall be entered on the journal.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house taken by the yeas and nays, the names of the members voting for and against, entered on the journal; and provided further, that no bill which creates, or establishes a new office, or which creates, continues, or revives a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money, or property, or releases, discharges or commutes any claim or demand of the State, or which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall be passed except by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house, the vote to be by the yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against, entered on the journal. Every law imposing, continuing or reviving a tax shall specifically state such tax and no law shall be construed as so stating such tax, which requires a reference to any other law or any other tax. The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the house over which he presides, sign every bill that has been passed by both houses and duly enrolled. Immediately before this is done, all other business being suspended, the title of the bill shall be publicly read. The fact of signing shall be entered on the journal.

Changes made:

Constitution With Proposed Amendments

Sec. 51. Standing committee on special, private and local legislation.-There shall be a joint committee of the General Assembly, consisting of seven members appointed by the House of Delegates, and five members appointed by the Senate, which shall be a standing committee on special, private, and local legislation. Before reference to a committee as provided by section fifty, any special, private, or local bill introduced in either house shall be referred to and considered by such joint committee and returned to the house in which it originated with a statement in writing whether the object of the bill can be accomplished under general law or by court proceeding; whereupon, the bill, with the accompanying statement, shall take the course provided by section fifty. The joint committee may be discharged from the consideration of a bill by the house in which it originated in the manner provided in section fifty for the discharge of other committees.

Sec. 52. Law shall embrace but one object, which shall be expressed in its title; how laws revived or amended. No law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title; nor shall any law be revived or amended with reference to its title, but the act revived or the section amended shall be reenacted and published at length.

Constitution as at Present (for Comparison)

Sec. 51.-Unchanged.

Sec. 52.-Unchanged.