suffrage to in military SEC. 3. The right of suffrage shall be enjoyed by all persons Right of otherwise entitled to the same who may be in the military or be enjoyed naval service of the United States; provided, the votes so by persons cast shall be made to apply to the county and township of service. which said voters were bona fide residents at the time of their enlistment; and, provided further, that the payment of a poll Proviso. tax or a registration of such voters shall not be required as a condition to the right of voting. Provision shall be made by law regulating the manner of voting, holding elections and making returns of such elections, wherein other provisions are not contained in this Constitution. to be SEC. 4. During the day on which any general election shall Elector, not be held in this State, no qualified elector shall be arrested by arrested. virtue of any civil process. SEC. 5. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and Elections. all elections by the Legislature, or by either branch thereof, shall be viva voce. required. SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the registration Registration of the names of the electors within the counties of which they of electors may be residents, and for the ascertainment, by proper proofs, of the persons who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage, as hereby established, to preserve the purity of elections and to regulate the manner of holding and making returns of the same; and the Legislature shall have power to prescribe by law any other or further rules or oaths as may be deemed necessary, as a test of electoral qualification. SEC. 7. The Legislature shall provide by law for the pay- Poll tax. ment of an annual poll tax of not less than two nor exceeding four dollars from each male person resident in the State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, (uncivilized American Indians excepted), one half to be applied for State, and one half for county purposes; and the Legislature may, in its discretion, make such payment a condition to the right of voting. voters. SEC. 8. All persons qualified by law to vote for representa- Qualified tives to the General Assembly of the Territory of Nevada on the twenty-first day of March, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and all other persons who may be lawful voters in said Territory on the first Wednesday of September next following, shall be entitled to vote directly upon the question of adopting or rejecting this Constitution. ARTICLE III.-DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS. Powers SECTION 1. The powers of the Government of the State of Nevada shall be divided into three separate departments-the restricted. Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial; and no persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases herein expressly directed or permitted. ARTICLE IV.-LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. SECTION 1. The Legislative authority of this State shall be Where held. How vested. vested in a Senate and Assembly, which shall be designated "The_Legislature of the State of Nevada," and the sessions of such Legislature shall be held at the seat of government of the State. Sessions. Assembly men, when chosen. Term of office. Senators, SEC. 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall be biennial, and shall commence on the first Monday of January next ensuing the election of members of the Assembly, unless the Governor of the State shall, in the interim, convene the Legislature by proclamation. SEC. 3. The members of the Assembly shall be chosen biennially, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, and their term of office shall be two years from the day next after their election. SEC. 4. Senators shall be chosen at the same time and places when chosen as members of the Assembly, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, and their term of office shall be four years from the day next after their election. Term of office. Senators and SEC. 5. Senators and members of the Assembly shall be duly Assembly qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent, and the number of Senators shall not be less than one third nor more than one half of that of the members of the Assembly. men to be qualified electors. Right to judge of qualification SEC. 6. Each House shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members, choose its own officers (except the President of the Senate), determine the rules of its May punish proceedings, and may punish its members for disorderly conand expel. duct, and with the concurrence of two thirds of all the members elected, expel a member. May punish for con SEC. 7. Either House, during the session, may punish, by tempt, etc. imprisonment, any person not a member who shall have been guilty of disrespect to the House by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but such imprisonment shall not extend beyond the final adjournment of the session. Not eligible to appoint ment to civil office. Who not eligible to office. When disqualified. SEC. 8. No Senator or Member of Assembly shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this State which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term, except such office as may be filled by elections by the people. SEC. 9. No person holding any lucrative office under the Government of the United States, or any other power, shall be eligible to any civil office of profit under this State; provided, that Postmasters whose compensation does not exceed five hundred dollars per annum, or Commissioners of Deeds, shall not be deemed as holding a lucrative office. SEC. 10. Any person who shall be convicted of the embezzlement or defalcation of the public funds of this State, or who may be convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment to office, or received a bribe to aid in the procurement of office for any other person, shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust in this State; and the Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide by law for the punishment of such defalcation, bribery or embezzlement as a felony. SEC. 11. Members of the Legislature shall be privileged Members from arrest on civil process during the session of the Legisla- exempt from ture, and for fifteen days next before the commencement of each session. arrest. SEC. 12. When vacancies occur in either House, the Gov- Vacancies, ernor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancy. how filled. SEC. 13. A majority of all the members elected to each Quorum. House shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each house may prescribe. SEC. 14. Each house shall keep a journal of its own pro- Journal ceedings, which shall be published, and the yeas and nays of required. the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of any three members present, be entered on the journal. SEC. 15. The doors of each House shall be kept open during Doors may its session, except the Senate while sitting in executive session; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be holding their sessions. be closed. may SEC. 16. Any bill may originate in either house of the Legis- Where bills lature, and all bills passed by one may be amended in the other. originate. SEC. 17. Each law enacted by the Legislature shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, Laws, what which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title; and no law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title only; but, in such case, the Act as revised, or section as amended, shall be re-enacted and published at length. to embrace. read. SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read by sections on three sev- Bills, how eral days in each house, unless in case of emergency two thirds of the house where such bill may be pending shall deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; but the reading of a bill by sections, on its final passage, shall in no case be dispensed with, and the vote on the final passage of every bill or joint How passed. resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journals of each house; and a majority of all the members elected to each house shall be necessary to pass every bill or joint resolution, and all bills or joint resolutions so passed shall be signed by the presiding officers of the respective houses, and by the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the Assembly. SEC. 19. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. An accurate be drawn. statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be attached to and published with the laws at every regular session of the Legislature. How signed. Money, how restricted. SEC. 20. The Legislature shall not pass local or special laws Legislation in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of Justices of the Peace and of Constables: For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors: Providing for changing the venue in civil and criminal cases: Changing the names of persons: Vacating roads, town plots, streets, alleys and public squares: Laws to be general. Suits against the State. Enacting clause. Lotteries prohibited. County and township Summoning and empanneling grand and petit juries and pro. viding for their compensation: Regulating county and township business: Regulating the election of county and township officers: For the assessment and collection of taxes for State, county and township purposes: Providing for opening and conducting elections of State, county or township officers, and designating the places of voting: Providing for the sale of real estate belonging to minors or other persons laboring under legal disabilities. SEC. 21. In all cases enumerated in the preceding section, and in all other cases where a general law can be made appli-' cable, all laws shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State. SEC. 22. Provision may be made by general law for bringing suit against the State, as to all liabilities originating after the adoption of this Constitution. SEC. 23. The enacting clause of every law shall be as follows: "The People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be enacted except by bill. SEC. 24. No lottery shall be authorized by this State, nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed. SEC. 25. The Legislature shall establish a system of county and township government, which shall be uniform throughout government. the State. County Commissioners. Jury service. Elections. When money to be drawn. Time of session. Homesteads SEC. 26. The Legislature shall provide by law for the election of a Board of County Commissioners in each county, and such County Commissioners shall, jointly and individually, perform such duties as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 27. Laws shall be made to exclude from serving on juries, all persons not qualified electors of this State, and all persons who shall have been convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, larceny, or other high crimes, unless restored to civil rights; and laws shall be passed regulating elections and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult or other improper practice. SEC. 28. No money shall be drawn from the State Treasury as salary or compensation to any officer or employé of the Legislature, or either branch thereof, except in cases where such salary or compensation has been fixed by a law in force prior to the election or appointment of such officer or employé, and the salary or compensation so fixed shall neither be increased nor diminished so as to apply to any officer or employé of the Legislature, or either branch thereof, at such session; provided, that this restriction shall not apply to the first session of the Legislature. SEC. 29. The first regular session of the Legislature, under this Constitution, may extend to ninety days, but no subsequent regular session shall exceed sixty days, nor any special session, convened by the Governor, exceed twenty days. SEC. 30. A homestead, as provided by law, shall be exempt exempt from from forced sale under any process of law, and shall not be alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife, when forced sale. that relation exists; but no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes or for the payment of obligations contracted for the purchase of said premises, or for the erection of improvements thereon; provided, the provisions of this section shall not apply to any process of law obtained by virtue of a lien given by the consent of both husband and wife; and laws shall be enacted providing for the recording of such homestead within the county in which the same shall be situated. Wife to hold Registration. SEC. 31. All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed by her before marriage, and that acquired af- property. terward by gift, devise or descent, shall be her separate property; and laws shall be passed more clearly defining the rights of the wife in relation, as well to her separate property as to that held in common with her husband. Laws shall also be passed providing for the resignation of the wife's separate property. SEC. 32. The Legislature shall provide for the election, by officers, the people, of a Clerk of the Supreme Court, County Clerks, provision to County Recorders, who shall be ex officio County Auditors, Dis- election of. trict Attorneys, Sheriffs, County Surveyors, Public Administrators, and other necessary officers, and fix, by law, their duties and compensation. County Clerks shall be ex officio Clerks of the Courts of Record, and of the Boards of County Commissioners, in and for their respective counties. be made for sation. SEC. 33. The members of the Legislature shall receive for their services, a compensation to be fixed by law, and paid out Compenof the public treasury; but no increase of such compensation shall take effect during the term for which the members of either house shall have been elected; provided, that an appropriation may be made for the payment of such actual expenses as members of the Legislature may incur for postage, express charges, newspapers and stationery, not exceeding the sum of sixty dollars for any general or special session, to each member; and, furthermore provided, that the Speaker of the Assembly, and Lieutenant-Governor as President of the Senate, shall each, during the time of their actual attendance as such presiding officers, receive an additional allowance of two dollars per diem. Senators SEC. 34. In all elections for United States Senators, such United elections shall be held in joint convention of both houses of the States Legislature. It shall be the duty of the Legislature which con- how elected. venes next preceding the expiration of the term of such Senator to elect his successor. If a vacancy in such Senatorial representation, from any cause occur, it shall be the duty of the Legislature then in session, or at the succeeding session thereof, to supply such vacancy. If the Legislature shall, at any time as herein provided, fail to unite in a joint convention within twenty days after the commencement of the session of the Legislature, for the election [of] such Senator, it shall be the duty of the Governor, by proclamation, to convene the two houses of the Legislature in joint convention within not less than five days nor exceeding ten days from the publication of his proclamation; and the joint convention, when so assembled, shall proceed to elect the Senator as herein provided. SEC. 35. Every bill which may have passed the Legislature Bill, when shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor. to become a If he approve it, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, law. |