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Concerning the Legislative Department.
Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representatives and Senate, which together shall be styled the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Section 2. The members of the House of Representatives shall continue in service for the term of two years from the day of the general election and no longer.
Section 3. Representatives shall be chosen on the first Monday in August in every second year; and the mode of holding the elections shall be regulated by law.
Section 4. No person shall be a Representative, who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, has not attained the age of twenty-four years, and who has not resided in this State two years next preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the county, town, or city for which he may be chosen.
Section 5. The General Assembly shall divide each county of this Commonwealth into convenient election precincts, or may delegate power to do so to such county authorities as may be designated by law; and elections for Representatives .for the several counties shall be held at the places of holding their respective courts, and in the several election precincts into which the counties may be divided: Provided, That when it shall appear to the General Assembly that any city or town hath a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio then fixed, such city or town shall be invested with the privilege of a separate representation, in either or both Houses of the General Assembly, which shall be retained so long as such city or town shall contain a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio which may, from time to time, be fixed by law; and thereafter elections for the county in which such city or town is situated shall not be held therein-, but such city or town shall not be entitled to a separate representati
on unless such county, after the separation, shall also be entitled to one or more Representatives. That whenever a city or town shall be entitled to a separate representation in either House of the General Assembly, and by its numbers shall be entitled to more than one Representative, such city or town shall be divided, by squares which are contiguous, so as to make the most compact form, into Representative districts, as nearly equal as may be, equal to the number of Representative to which such city or town may be entitled; and one Representative shall be elected from each district. In like manner shall said city or town be divided into Senatorial districts, when, by the apportionment, more than one Senator shall be allotted to such city or town; and a Senator shall be elected from each Senatorial district; but no ward or municipal division shall be divided by such division of Senatorial or Representative districts, unless it be necessary to equalize the elective, Senatorial, or Representative districts.
Section 6. Representation shall be equal and uniform in this Commonwealth, and shall be forever regulated and ascertained by the number of qualified voters therein. In the year 1850, again in the year 1857, and every eighth year thereafter, an enumeration of all the qualified voters of the State shall be made; and to secure uniformity and equality of representation, the State is hereby laid off into ten districts. The first district shall be composed of the counties of Fulton, Hickman, Ballard, McCracken, Graves, Calloway, Marshall, Livingston, Crittenden, Union, Hopkins, Caldwell and Trigg. The second district shall be composed of the counties of Christian, Muhlenburg, Henderson, Daviess, Hancock, Ohio, Breckinridge, Meade, Grayson, Butler and Edmonson. The third district shall be composed of the counties of Todd, Logan, Simpson, Warren, Allen, Monroe, Barren and Hart. The fourth district shall be composed of the counties of Cumberland, Adair, Green, Taylor, Clinton, Russell, Wayne, Pulaski, Casey, Boyle and Lincoln. The fifth district shall be composed of the counties of Hardin, Larue, Bullitt, Spencer, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Mercer and Anderson. The sixth district shall be composed of the counties of Garrard, Madison, Estill, Owsley, Rockcastle, Laurel, Clay, Whitley, Knox, Harlan, Perry, Letcher, Pike, Floyd and Johnson. The seventh district shall be composed of the counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Trimble, Carroll, Henry and Shelby, and the city of Louisville. The eighth district shall be composed of the counties of Bourbon, Fayette, Scott, Owen, Franklin, Woodford and Jessamine. The ninth district shall be composed of the counties of Clark, Bath, Montgomery fiery, Fleming, Lewis, Greenup, Carter, Lawrence, Morgan and Breathitt. The tenth district shall be composed of the counties of Mason, Bracken, Nicholas, Harrison Pendleton, Campbell, Grant, Kenton, Bootie and Gallatin. The number of Representatives shall, at the several sessions of the General Assembly next after the making of the enumerations, be apportioned among the ten several districts, according to the number of qualified voters in each; and the Representatives shall be apportioned, as near as may be, among the counties, towns, and cities in each district; and in making such apportionment the following rules shall govern, to-wit: every county, town, or city having the ratio shall have one Representative; if double the ratio, two Representatives, and so on. Next, the counties, towns, or cities having one or more Representatives, and the largest number of qualified voters above the ratio, and counties having the largest number under the ratio shall have a Representative, regard being always had to the greatest number of qualified voters: Provided, That when a county may not have a sufficient number of qualified voters to entitle it to one Representative, then such county may be joined to some adjacent county or counties, which counties shall send one Representative. When a new county shall be formed of territory belonging to more than one district, it shall form a part of that district having tine least number of qualified voters.
Section 7. The House of Representatives shall choose its Speaker and other officers.
Section 8. Every free white male citizen, of the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in the State two years, or in the county, town, or city in which he offers to vote, one year next preceding the election, shall be a voter; but such voter shall have been, for sixty days next preceding the election, a resident of the precinct in which he offers to vote, and he shall vote in said precinct, and not elsewhere.
Section 9. Voters, in all cases except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance at, going to, or returning from elections.
Section 10. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years; and the Senate shall have power to choose its officers biennially.
Section 11. Senators and Representatives shall be elected, under the first apportionment after the adoption of this Constitution, in the year 1851.
Section 12. At the session of the General Assembly next after the first apportionment under this Constitution, the Senators shall be divided by lot, as equally as may be, into two classes; the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of two years from the day of the election, and those of the second class at the end of four years, so that one-half shall be chosen every two years.
Section 13. The number of Representatives shall be one hundred, and the number of Senators thirty-eight.
Section 14. At every apportionment of representation, the State shall be laid of into thirty-eight Senatorial districts, which shall be so formed as to contain, as near as may be, an equal number of qualified voters, and so that no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senatorial district, except such county shall be entitled, under the enumeration, to two or more Senators; and where two or more counties compose a district, they shall be adjoining.
Section 15. One Senator for each district shall be elected by the qualified voters therein, who shall vote in the precincts where they reside, at the places where elections are by law directed to be held.
Section 16. No person shall be a Senator, who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, has not attained the age of thirty years, and who has not resided in this State six years neat preceding his election, and the last year thereof in the district for which he may be chosen.
Section 17. The election for Senators, next after the first apportionment under this Constitution, shall be general throughout the State, and at the same time that the election for Representatives is held; and thereafter, there shall be a biennial election for Senators to fill the places of those whose term of service may have expired.
Section 18. The General Assembly shall convene on the first Monday in November after the adoption of this Constitution, and again on the first Monday in November, 1851, and on the same day of every second year thereafter, unless a different day be appointed by law; and their session shall be held at the Seat of Government.
Section 19. Not less than a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and shall be authorized by law to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as may be prescribed thereby.
Section 20. Each House of the General Assembly shall judge of qualifications, elections, and returns of its members; but a contested election shall be determined in such manner as shall be directed by law.
Section 21. Each House of the General Assembly may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish a member for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not a second time for the same cause.
Section 22. Each House of the General Assembly shall keep and publish, weekly, a journal of its proceedings; and the yeas and nays of the members, on any question, shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on their journal.
Section 23. Neither House, during the session of the General Assembly, 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 sitting.
Section 24. The members of the General Assembly shall severally receive, from the public treasury, a compensation for their services, which shall be three dollars a day, during their attendance on, and twelve and a half cents per mile for the necessary travel in going to and returning from the sessions of their respective Houses: Provided, That the same may be increased or diminished by law; but no alteration shall take effect during the session at which such alteration shall be made; nor shall a session of the General Assembly continue beyond sixty (lays, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House; but this shall not apply to the first session held under this Constitution.
Section 25. The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest, during their attendance at the sessions of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate, in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
Section 26. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he was elected, nor for one year thereafter, be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under this Commonwealth, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during the said term, except to such offices or appointments as may be filled by the election of the people.
Section 27. No person, while he continues to exercise the functions of a clergyman, priest, or teacher of any religious persuasion, society, or sect, nor while he holds or exercises any office of profit under this Commonwealth, or under the Government of the United States, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, except attorneys at law, justices of the peace, and militia officers: Provided, That attorneys for the Commonwealth, who receive a fixed annual salary, shall be ineligible.
Section 28. No person, who, at any time may have been a collector of taxes or public moneys for the State, or the assistant or deputy of such collector, shall be eligible to the General Assembly unless he shall have obtained a quietus six months before the election, for the amount of such collection, and for all public moneys for which he may have been responsible.
Section 29. No bill shall have the force of a law, until, on three several days, it be read over in each House of the General Assembly, and free discussion allowed thereon; unless, in cases of urgency, four-fifths of the House where the bill shall be depending, may deem it expedient to dispense with this rule.
Section 30. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose amendments, as in other bills: Provided, That they shall not introduce any new matter, under color of amendment, which does not relate to raising revenue.
Section 31. The General Assembly shall regulate, by law, by whom, and in what manner writs of election shall be issued to fill the vacancies which may happen in either branch thereof.
Section 32. The General Assembly shall have no power to grant divorces, to change the names of individuals, or direct the sales of estates belonging to infants, or other persons laboring under legal disabilities, by special legislation; but by general laws shall confer such powers on the courts of justice.
Section 33. The credit of this Commonwealth shall never be given or loaned in aid of any person, association, municipality, or corporation.
Section 34. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws to diminish the resources of the sinking fund, as now established by law, until the debt of the State be paid, but may pass laws to increase them; and the whole resources of said fund, from year to year, shall be sacredly set apart and applied to the payment of the interest and principal of the State debt, and to no other use or purpose, until the whole debt of the State is fully paid and satisfied.
Section 35. The General Assembly may contract debts to meet casual deficits or failures in the revenue, but such debts, direct or contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not, at any time, exceed five hundred thousand dollars; and the moneys arising from loans creating such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to repay such debts: Provided, That the State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities are threatened, provide for the public defense.
Section 36. No act of the General Assembly shall authorize any debt to be contracted on behalf of the Commonwealth, except for the purposes mentioned in the thirty-fifth section of this article, unless provision be made therein to lay and collect an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest stipulated, and to discharge the debt within thirty years; nor shall such act take effect until it shall have been submitted to the people at a general election, and shall have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it: Provided, That the General Assembly may contract debts by borrowing money to pay any part of the debt of the State without submission to the people, and without making provision in the act authorizing the same for a tax to discharge the debt so contracted, or the interest thereon.
Section 37. No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.
Section 38. The General Assembly shall not change the venue in any criminal or penal prosecution, but shall provide for the same by general laws.
Section 39. The General Assembly may pass laws authorizing writs of error in criminal or penal cases, and regulating the right of challenge of jurors therein.
Section 40. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass any act or resolution, for the appropriation of any money, or the creation of any debt, exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars, at any one time, unless the same, on its final passage, shall be voted for by a majority of all the members then elected to each branch of the General Assembly; and the yeas and nays thereon entered on the journal.
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