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  1. Overview: Utah State Constitutional Convention 1895 (2020 Edition)
  2. Full Record: Utah State Constitutional Convention 1895 (2020 Edition)
  3. Committee:The Convention
  4. Session: 1895-04-12 10:00:00
  5. Event type: CREATE

Utah State Constitutional Convention 1895 (2020 Edition)

Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled to Adopt a Constitution for the State of Utah

The Convention

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Document introduced in:

Session 7380: 1895-04-12 10:00:00

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Article on the Legislative [Article No. 9.3]

There is 1 proposed amendment related to this document on which a decision has not been taken.

Distribution of Powers.

Section 1. The powers of the government of the state of Utah are divided into three distinct departments–the 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.

Legislative Department.

Section 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a senate and house of representatives, which shall be designated “the legislature of the state of Utah.”

Section 2. Regular sessions of the legislature shall be held bi-ennially at the seat of government: and except the first session thereof shall commence on the second Monday in January next after the election of members of the house of representatives.

Section 3. The members of the house of representatives after the first election shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the respective representative districts on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1896, and biennially thereafter and their term of office shall be two years from the first day of January next after their election.

Section 4. The senators shall be chosen at the same times and places as members of the house of representatives by the qualified electors of the respective senatorial districts, and their term of office shall be for four years from the first day of January next after their election: provided, however, that the senators elected in 1896, shall be divided by lot into two classes as nearly equal as may be, and seats of senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years; those of the second class at the expiration of four years, so that one half as near as possible shall be chosen bi-ennially thereafter. In case of increases in the number of senators, they shall be annexed by lot to one or the other of the two classes so as to keep them as nearly equal as practicable.

Section 5.

Section 6. No person shall be eligible to the office of senator, or representative, who is not a citizen of the United States, twenty-five years of age, a qualified voter in the district from which he is chosen, a resident for three years of the state, and for one year of the district from which he is elected.

Section 7.

Section 8. No person holding any public office of profit or trust under authority of the United States or of this state shall be a member of the legislature; provided, that appointments in the state militia, and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class shall not, within the meaning of this section, be considered offices of profit or trust.

Section 9. No member of the legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under this state, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during the term for which he was elected.

Section 10. Members of the legislature shall, in all cases except treason or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest fifteen days next preceding and during each session the legislature, and in returning from the same; and for words used in any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be question in any other place.

Section 11.

Section 12.

Section 13. Members of the Legislature shall receive such per diem and mileage as the Legislature may provide, not exceeding the sum of three dollars per day and ten cents per mile for the distance necessarily traveled going to the place of meeting on the most usual route, and they shall receive no other pay or perquisite.

Section 14. Each house shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members and may punish them for disorderly conduct, and with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member for a cause.

Section 15. A majority of the members of each 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 penalty as each house may prescribe.

Section 16. Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings and choose its own officers and employees.

Section 17. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in either house of the legislature.

Section 18. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings which, except in case of executive sessions, shall be published, and the yeas and nays on any question shall, at the request of five members of such house be entered upon the journal.

Section 19. All sessions of the legislature shall be public, except the senate while sitting in executive session, and neither house shall, without the consent of the other adjourn for more than three days nor to any other place than that in which it may be holding session.

Section 20. No regular session of the legislature (except the first which may sit ninety days) shall exceed sixty days, except in cases of impeachment. No special session shall exceed thirty days, and in such special session, or when a regular session of the legislature trying cases of impeachment exceeds sixty days, the members shall only receive for compensation the usual per diem and mileage.

Section 21. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment, two-thirds of all the members elected voting therefor.

Section 22. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate, and, senators when sitting for that purpose shall take oath or make affirmation to do justice according to the law and the evidence. When the governor is on trial, the chief justice of the supreme court shall preside. No person shall be convicted-without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators elected.

Section 23. The governor and other state and judicial officers, except justices of the peace, shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes or misdemeanors or malfeasance in office; but judgment in such cases shall extend only to removal from office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit in the state. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to prosecution, trial and punishment according to law.

Section 24. No person shall be tried on impeachment, unless he shall have been served with a copy of the articles thereof, at least ten days before the trial, and after such notice, he shall not exercise the duties of his office until he shall have been acquitted.

Section 25. All officers not liable to impeachment shall be removed for any for any of the offenses specified in this article in such manner as may be provided by law.

Section 26. The enacting clause of every law shall be: “Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Utah,” and no bill joint resolution shall be passed except with the assent of a majority of all of the members elected to each house of the legislature, and after it has been read three times; and the vote upon the final passage of all bills shall be by yeas and nays; and no law shall be revised or amended by reference to its title only: but the act as revised, or section as amended, shall be re-enacted and published at length.

Section 27. No bills shall be passed containing more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title, except general appropriation bills and bills for the codification and general revision of laws, no bills shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.

Section 28. The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the house over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the legislature, after their titles have been publicly read immediately before signing, and the fact of such signing shall be entered upon the journal.

Section 29.

Section 30. All acts shall be officially published, and no act shall take effect until so published nor until sixty days after the adjournment of the session at which it passed, unless the legislature shall, by vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, otherwise direct.

Section 31. The legislature is prohibited from enacting any private or special laws in the following cases:

1. Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace.

2. For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors.

3. Regulating the practice of courts of justice.

4. Providing for a change of venue in civil or criminal actions.

5. For the assessment and collection of taxes.

6. Regulating the interest on money.

7. Changing the law of descent or succession.

8. Granting divorce.

9. Changing the names of persons or places, or constituting one person the heir at law of another.

10. Locating or changing county seats.

11. Regulating county and township affairs.

12. Incorporating cities, towns or villages, or changing or amending the charter of any city, town or village or laying out, opening, vacating or altering town plats, highways, streets, wards, alleys or public grounds.

13. Providing for sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others under disability.

14. Authorizing persons to keep ferries across streams within the state.

15. Remitting fines, penalties or forfeitures.

16. Granting to an individual, association or corporation any immunity or franchise whatever.

17. Providing for the management of common schools.

18. Creating, increasing or decreasing fees, percentages or allowances of public officers during the term for which said officers are elected or appointed.

But the legislature may repeal any existing special law relating to the foregoing subdivisions.

In all other cases where a general law can be applicable, no special law shall be enacted. 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.

Section 32. The legislature shall have no power to release or extinguish, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability or obligation of any corporation or person to this state or to any municipal corporation therein.

Section 33. The legislature shall not authorize any game of chance, lottery or gift enterprise, under any pretense or for any purpose whatever.

Section 34. The legislature shall not delegate to any special commission, private corporation, or association, any power to make, supervise or interfere with any municipal improvement, money, property or effects, whether held in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes or to select a capital site, or to perform any municipal functions whatever.

Section 35. The legislature shall have no power to grant, or to authorize any county or municipal authority to grant any extra compensation, fee or allowance to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after service has been rendered or a contract has been entered into and performed in whole or in part, nor pay, nor authorize the payment of any claim hereafter created against the state, or any county or municipality of the state, under any agreement or contract made without authority of law. Provided this section shall not apply to claims incurred by public officers in the execution of the laws of the State.

Section 36. The Legislature shall not authorize the State, nor any county, city, township, district, or other political subdivision of the State, to lend its credit or subscribe stock or bonds in aid of any railroad, telegraph, or other private, individual, or corporate enterprise, or undertaking.

Decisions yet to be taken

  • Point of Order: Motion to Postpone Debate (introduced on 1895-04-12 10:00:00 - PROCEDURE - e694595)

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