thereon, shall become an organic law of such city at such time as may be fixed therein, and shall supersede any existing charter and all laws affecting the organization and government of such city which are now in conflict therewith. Within thirty days after its approval a copy of such charter as adopted, certified by the mayor and city recorder and authenticated by the seal of such city, shall be made in duplicate and deposited, one in the office of the Secretary of State and the other in the office of the City Recorder, and thereafter all courts shall take judicial notice of such charter.

Amendments to any such charter may be framed and submitted by the charter Commission in the same manner as provided for making of charters, or may be proposed by the legislative authority of the city upon a two-thirds vote thereof, or by petition of qualified electors to a number equal to one-tenth of the total vote cast for mayor on the next preceding election, and any such amendment may be submitted at the next regular election, and having been approved by the majority of the electors voting thereon, shall become a part of the charter at the time fixed in such amendment and shall be verified and filed as provided in case of charters.

Each city forming its charter under this Section shall have, and is hereby granted, the authority to exercise all powers relating to municipal affairs, and to adopt and enforce within its limits, local police, sanitary and similar regulation not in conflict with the general law, and no enumeration of powers in this constitution or any law shall be deemed to limit or restrict the general grant of authority hereby conferred; but this grant of authority shall not include the power to regulate the service or charges of public utilities so long as such regulation is provided for by general law, nor be deemed to limit or restrict the power of the Legislature in matters of public or general interest, nor those relating to State affairs.

The power to be conferred upon the cities by this Section shall include the following:

(a) To levy, assess and collect taxes and borrow money, within the limits prescribed by general law, and to levy and collect special assessments for benefits conferred.

(b) To furnish all local public services; to purchase, hire, construct, own, maintain and operate, or lease, public utilities, local in extent and use; to acquire by condemnation or otherwise, within or without the corporate limits, property necessary for any such purposes, subject to restrictions imposed by general law for the protection of other communities; and to grant local public utility franchises and regulate the exercise thereof subject to the continuing power of regulation of public utilities, their rates and service, by the State, as is now or may hereafter be, provided by general law.

(c) To make local public improvements and to acquire by condemnation, or otherwise, property within its corporate limits necessary for such improvements; and also to acquire an excess over that needed for any such improvement and to sell or lease such excess

property with restrictions, in order to protect and preserve the improvement.

(d) To issue and sell bonds on the security of any such excess property, or of any public utility owned by the city, or of the revenues thereof, or both, including, in the case of a public utility, a franchise stating the terms upon which, in case of foreclosure, the purchaser may operate such utility.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to submit the proposed amendment to the electors of the State at the next general election in the manner provided by law.

Sec. 3. If adopted by the electors of this State, this amendment shall take effect on January 1st, 1921. Approved March 18, 1919.

10. Wisconsin-Joint Resolution 53 (1919).

Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, that there be added to article XI of the constitution a new section to read: (Article XI) Section 3b. Any city, in addition to the indebtedness. of five per centum authorized by section 3 of this article, may incur an indebtedness not exceeding another five per centum on the value of the taxable property in such city for the purpose of acquiring or constructing street railway properties, or properties for the produciton, transmission, delivery or furnishing of light, heat, water or power to the public.

Joint Resolution 70 (1919).

*

Resolved by the Senate, the assembly concurring. That section 3 of article XI of the constitution be amended to read: (Article XI) Section 3. Cities and villages organized pursuant to state law *** are hereby empowered to determine their local affairs and government subject only to this constitution and to such enactments of the legislature of state-wide concern as shall with uniformity affect every city or every village. The method of such determination shall be prescribed by the legislature. * No county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation shall * * * become indebted * * to any amount including existing indebtedness, in the aggregate exceeding five per centum on the value of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last assessment for state and county taxes previous to the incurring of such indebtedness, except, that for the purpose of acquiring public service properties an additional indebtedness may be incurred not exceeding another five per centum. Any county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation incurring any indebtedness as aforesaid, shall, before or at the time of doing so, provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same; except that when such indebtedness is incurred in the acquisition of lands by any city *

or by any county having a population of one hundred fifty thousand or over, for public, municipal purposes, or for the permanent improvement thereof, the city or county incurring the same shall, before or at the time of so doing, provide for the collection of a direct annual tax, sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within a period not exceeding fifty years from the time of contracting the same.