Page images
PDF
EPUB

SEC. 16. No member of the legislature shall be liable in any civil action or criminal prosecution whatever, for words spoken in debate.

SEC. 17. The style of the laws of the state shall be, "The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:" and no law shall be enacted except by bill.

SEC. 18. No private or local bill, which may be passed by the legislature, shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.

SEC. 19. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature; and a bill passed by one house may be amended by the other.

SEC. 20. The yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the request of one-sixth of those present, be entered on the journal.

SEC. 21. Each member of the legislature shall receive for his services, two dollars and fifty cents for each day's attendance during the session, and ten cents for every mile he shall travel in going to and returning from the place of the meeting of the legislature, on the most usual route.

SEC. 22. The legislature may confer upon the boards of supervisors of the several counties of the state, such powers, of a local, legislative, and administrative character as they shall from time to time prescribe.

SEC. 23. The legislature shall establish but one system of town and county government, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable.

SEC. 24. The legislature shall never authorize any lottery, or grant any divorce.

SEC. 25. The legislature shall provide by law that all stationery required for the use of the state, and all printing authorized and required by them to be done for their use, or for the state, shall be let by contract to the lowest bidder; but the legislature may establish a maximum price. No member of the legislature, or other state officer, shall be interested either directly or indirectly, in any such contract.

SEC. 26. The legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into. Nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.

SEC. 27. The legislature shall direct by law in what manner and in what courts suits may be brought against the state.

SEC. 28. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Wisconsin, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices to the best of their ability.

SEC. 29. The legislature shall determine what persons shall constitute the militia of the state, and may provide for organizing and disciplining the same, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 30. In all elections to be made by the legislature, the members thereof shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be entered on the journal.

ARTICLE V.

EXECUTIVE.

SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for two years. A lieutenant governor shall be elected at the same time, and for the same term.

SEC. 2. No person, except a citizen of the United States, and a qualified elector of the state, shall be eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant governor.

SEC. 3. The governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state, at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant

governor shall be elected. But in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieutenant governor, the two houses of the legislature, at its next annual session, shall forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieutenant governor. The returns of election for governor and lieutenant governor shall be made in such manner as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 4. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the mili tary and naval forces of the state. He shall have power to convene the legislature on extraordinary occasions; and in case of invasion, or danger from the prevalence of contagious disease at the seat of government, he may convene them at any other suitable place within the state. He shall communicate to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to them for their consideration, as he may deem expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of the government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

SEC. 5. The governor shall receive, during his continuance in office, an annual compensation of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.

SEC. 6. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, after conviction, for all offences, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have the power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the legislature, at its next meeting, when the legislature shall either pardon, or commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon granted, stating the name of the

*

convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons for granting the same.

SEC. 7. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, death, inability from mental or physical disease, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor for the residue of the term, or until the governor, absent or impeached, shall have returned, or the disability shall cease. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of the military force thereof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of the military force of the state.

SEC. 8. The lieutenant governor shall be president of the senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If during a vacancy in the office of governor, the lieutenant governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or from mental or physical disease become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the state, the secretary of state shall act as governor until the vacancy shall be filled, or the disability shall cease.

SEC. 9. The lieutenant governor shall receive double the per diem allowance of members of the senate, for every day's attendance as president of the senate, and the same mileage as shall be allowed to members of the legislature.

SEC. 10. Every bill which shall have passed the legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon the journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the bill shall

be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

ARTICLE VI.

ADMINISTRATIVE.

SECTION 1. There shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the state, at the times and places of choosing the members of the legislature, a secretary of state, treasurer, and an attorney general, who shall severally hold their offices for the term of two years.

SEC. 2. The secretary of state shall keep a fair record of the official acts of the legislature and executive department of the state, and shall, when required, lay the same and all matters relative thereto before either branch of the legislature. He shall be ex-officio auditor, and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned him by law. He shall receive as a compensation for his services, yearly, such sum as shall be provided by law, and shall keep his office at the seat of government.

SEC. 3. The powers, duties, and compensation of the treasurer and attorney general shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 4. Sheriffs, coroners, registers of deeds, and district attorneys shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties, once in every two years, and as often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be ineligible for two years next succeeding the termination of their offices. They may be required by law to renew their security from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. The governor may remove any officer in this section mentioned, giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defence.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »