Government, and no idiot or insane person, shall be entitled to the privilege of an elector. Pro [Amended by striking out the word white before the word male. posed and passed at the Eighth Session of the Legislature, January 15, 1877, Statutes of 1877, page 213; agreed to and passed at the Ninth Session of the Legislature, January 27, 1879, Statutes of 1879, page 149, and approved and ratified by the people at the general election of 1880.] defined. SEC. 2. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be Residence deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of the United States or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any almshouse or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined at any public prison. vote. SEC. 3. The right of suffrage shall be enjoyed by all per- Soldiers and sons, otherwise entitled to the same, who may be in the mili- sailors may tary or naval service of the United States; provided, the votes so cast shall be made to apply to the county and township of which said voters were bona fide residents at the time of their enlistment; and provided further, that the payment of a poll 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. SEC. 4. During the day on which any general election Civil process shall be held in this State, no qualified elector shall be arrested suspended. by virtue of any civil process. ballot. SEC. 5. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and Elections by all elections by the Legislature, or by either branch thereof, shall be "viva voce." SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the registra- Electors tion of the names of the electors within the counties of which registered. they 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 laws rules or oaths as may be deemed necessary as a test of electoral qualifications. 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 exceed- provided for. ing 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. vote on SEC. 8. All persons qualified by law to vote for represen- Who may tatives to the General Assembly of the Territory of Nevada, Constitution. on the twenty-first day of March, A. D. eighteen hundred and 7 Powers of Legislative when. 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. SECTION 1. The powers of the Government of the State of Nevada shall be divided into three separate departmentsthe Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial; and no person 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 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. The sessions of the Legislature shall be biennial, To convene, and shall commence on the third 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. Assembly- Senators [Amended by changing first Monday to third Monday in January. Proposed and passed at the Twelfth Session of the Legislature, February 23, 1885, Statutes of 1885, page 151; agreed to and passed at the Thirteenth Session of the Legislature, March 3, 1887, Statutes of 1887, page 165, and approved and ratified by the people at a special election held February 11, 1889.] 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 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. SEC. 5. Senators and members of the Assembly shall be Who eligible. duly 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. Powers of 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 proceedings, and may punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member. SEC. 7. Either house, during the session, may punish, by 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 to be SEC. 8. No Senator or member of Assembly shall, during Members the term for which he shall have been elected, nor for one beneficiaries. 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. when. SEC. 9. No person holding any lucrative office under the Persons not Government of the United States, or any other power, shall eligible, 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. from office SEC. 10. Any person who shall be convicted of the embez- Disqualified zlement or defalcation of the public funds of this State, or holding. 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 from arrest on civil process during the session of the Legislature, and for fifteen days next before the commencement of each session. SEC. 12. When vacancies occur in either house, the Governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancy. relating to SEC. 13. A majority of all the members elected to each Rules house shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but a legislative smaller number may adjourn, from day to day, and may com- procedure. pel 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 proceedings, which shall be published, and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the desire of any three members present, be entered on the journal. relating to SEC. 15. The doors of each house shall be kept open dur- Rules ing its session, except the Senate while sitting in executive legislative session, and neither shall, without the consent of the other, procedure. adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be holding their sessions. SEC. 16. Any bill may originate in either house of the Relating to Legislative procedure. Public moneys, how disbursed and accounted for. Legislative powers restricted. Legislature, and all bills passed by one may be amended in the other. SEC. 17. Each law enacted by the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, and matters properly connected therewith, 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 reenacted and published at length. SEC. 18. Every bill shall be read by sections on three several days in each house, unless, in case of emergencey, twothirds 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 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 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. SEC. 20. The Legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases-that is to say: Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of the Justices of the Peace and of Constables; for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors; regulating the practice of courts of justice; providing for changing the venue in civil and criminal cases; granting divorces; changing the names of persons; vacating roads, town plots, streets, alleys and public squares; summoning and impaneling grand and petit juries, and providing 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 and township officers, and designating the places of voting; providing for the sale of real estate or personal property belonging to minors or other persons under legal disabilities; giving effect to invalid deeds, wills or other instruments; refunding money paid into the State Treasury, or into the treasury of any county; releasing the indebtedness, liability or obligation of any corporation, association or person to the State, or to any county, town or city of this State. But nothing in this section shall be construed to deny or restrict the power of the Legislature to establish and regulate the compensation and fees of county and township officers; to establish and regulate the rates of freight, passage, toll, and charges of railroads, toll roads, ditch, flume and tunnel companies incorporated under the laws of this State or doing business therein. [As amended. Proposed and passed at the Twelfth Session of the Legislature, February 23, 1885, Statutes of 1885, page 152; agreed to and passed at the Thirteenth Session of the Legislature, March 3, 1887, Statutes of 1887, page 166, and approved and ratified by the people at a special election held February 11, 1889.] uniform. SEC. 21. In all cases enumerated in the preceding section, Laws and in all other cases where a general law can be made general and applicable, all laws shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State. SEC. 22. Provision may be made by general law for bring- Suit may be ing 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. brought against the State. SEC. 24. No lottery shall be authorized by this State, nor Lottery shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed. inhibited. government. SEC. 25. The Legislature shall establish a system of county County and township government, which shall be uniform throughout the State. 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 Who may be juries all persons not qualified electors of the State, and all excused from juries. 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. sation fixed SEC. 28. No money shall be drawn from the State Treas- Compenury as salary or compensation to any officer or employee of by law. 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 employee, and the salary or compensation so fixed shall neither be increased nor diminished so as to apply to any officer or employee of the Legislature, or either branch thereof, at such session; provided, that this restriction shall not apply to the first session of the Legislature. session SEC. 29. The first regular session of the Legislature under Legislative this Constitution may extend to ninety days, but no subse- limited. quent 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 2 |