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OKLAHOMA
CONSTITUTION OF
THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Section I-1: Supreme law of land.
The State of Oklahoma is an inseparable part of the Federal
Union, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law
of the land.
Section I-2: Religious liberty - Polygamous or plural marriages.
Perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and
no inhabitant of the State shall ever be molested in person or
property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; and no
religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or
political rights. Polygamous or plural marriages are forever
prohibited.
Section I-3: Unappropriated public lands - Indian lands -
Jurisdiction of United States.
The people inhabiting the State do agree and declare that they
forever disclaim all right and title in or to any unappropriated
public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all
lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian,
tribe, or nation; and that until the title to any such public
land shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same
shall be and remain subject to the jurisdiction, disposal, and
control of the United States. Land belonging to citizens of the
United States residing without the limits of the State shall
never be taxed at a higher rate than the land belonging to
residents thereof. No taxes shall be imposed by the State on
lands or property belonging to or which may hereafter be
purchased by the United States or reserved for its use.
Section I-4: Territorial debts and liabilities.
The debts and liabilities of the Territory of Oklahoma are
hereby assumed, and shall be paid by the State.
Section I-5: Public schools - Separate schools.
Provisions shall be made for the establishment and maintenance
of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the
children of the state and free from sectarian control; and said
schools shall always be conducted in English: Provided, that
nothing herein shall preclude the teaching of other languages in
said public schools.
Section I-6: Right of suffrage.
The State shall never enact any law restricting or abridging
the right of suffrage on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.
Section II-1: Political power - Purpose of government - Alteration
or reformation.
All political power is inherent in the people; and government
is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit, and to
promote their general welfare; and they have the right to alter
or reform the same whenever the public good may require it:
Provided, such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the
United States.
Section II-2: Inherent rights.
All persons have the inherent right to life, liberty, the
pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own
industry.
Section II-3: Right of assembly and petition.
The people have the right peaceably to assemble for their own
good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of
government for redress of grievances by petition, address, or
remonstrance.
Section II-4: Interference with right of suffrage.
No power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent
the free exercise of the right of suffrage by those entitled to
such right.
Section II-5: Public money or property - Use for sectarian purposes.
No public money or property shall ever be appropriated,
applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use,
benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system
of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest,
preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or
sectarian institution as such.
Section II-6: Courts of justice open - Remedies for wrongs - Sale,
denial or delay.
The courts of justice of the State shall be open to every
person, and speedy and certain remedy afforded for every wrong
and for every injury to person, property, or reputation; and
right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial,
delay, or prejudice.
Section II-7: Due process of law.
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law.
Section II-8: Right to bail - Exceptions.
A. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties,
except that bail may be denied for:
1. capital offenses when the proof of guilt is evident, or the
presumption thereof is great;
2. violent offenses;
3. offenses where the maximum sentence may be life
imprisonment or life imprisonment without parole;
4. felony offenses where the person charged with the offense
has been convicted of two or more felony offenses arising out of
different transactions; and
5. controlled dangerous substances offenses where the maximum
sentence may be at least ten (10) years imprisonment.
On all offenses specified in paragraphs 2 through 5 of this
section, the proof of guilt must be evident, or the presumption
must be great, and it must be on the grounds that no condition of
release would assure the safety of the community or any person.
B. The provisions of this resolution shall become effective on
July 1, 1989.
Section II-9: Excessive bail or fines - Cruel or unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted.
Section II-10: Habeas corpus - Suspension.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be
suspended by the authorities of this State.
Section II-11: Officers - Personal attention to duties -
Intoxication.
Every person elected or appointed to any office or employment
of trust or profit under the laws of the State, or under any
ordinance of any municipality thereof, shall give personal
attention to the duties of the office to which he is elected or
appointed. Drunkenness and the excessive use of intoxicating
liquors while in office shall constitute sufficient cause for
impeachment or removal therefrom.
Section II-12: Officers of United States or other states -
Ineligibility to office.
No member of Congress from this State, or person holding any
office of trust or profit under the laws of any other State, or
of the United States, shall hold any office of trust or profit
under the laws of this State.
Section II-12A: Term limits for Congressman.
Beginning January 1, 1995 persons wanting to become a candidate
for election to the United States Congress from this State for a term
beginning on or after January 1, 1995, shall be subject to the
following provisions:
A. Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the
ballot for election to the United States House of Representatives
shall be ineligible if, by the end of the then current term of
office, that person has served in that office for three (3) two-year
terms.
B. Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the
ballot for election to the United States Senate shall be ineligible
if, by the end of the then current term of office, that person has
served in that office for two (2) six-year terms.
C. A person elected to serve as a member of the United States
Congress shall be eligible to serve as a Representative for a total
of six (6) years and as a Senator for a total of twelve (12) years
for a maximum total of eighteen (18) years as a member of Congress
from this State.
D. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to or
include:
1. The years served by any person as a member of the United
States House of Representatives or as a member of the United States
Senate which began prior to the election at which this measure was
enacted.
2. The years served by a person who has been appointed to
complete the remainder of a vacated term.
E. The provisions of this Section shall not be construed so as
to prevent casting a ballot for any person regardless of the number
of years previously served in the United States Congress by writing
the name of that person on the ballot, or from having such ballot
counted or to prevent a person from campaigning by means of a "write-
in" campaign if that procedure is otherwise authorized in this
Constitution or by law.
Section II-13: Imprisonment for debt.
Imprisonment for debt is prohibited, except for the non-payment
of fines and penalties imposed for the violation of law.
Section II-14: Military subordinate to civil authorities -
Quartering without owner's consent.
The military shall be held in strict subordination to the civil
authorities. No soldier shall be quartered in any house, in time
of peace, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war,
except in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Section II-15: Bills of attainder - Ex post facto laws - Obligation
of contracts - No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law
impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed. No
conviction shall work a corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate:
Provided, that this provision shall not prohibit the imposition of
pecuniary penalties.
Section II-16: Treason.
Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war
against it or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on
confession in open court.
Section II-17: Indictment or information - Preliminary examination -
Prosecutions in courts not of record.
No person shall be prosecuted criminally in courts of record
for felony or misdemeanor otherwise than by presentment or
indictment or by information. No person shall be prosecuted for
a felony by information without having had a preliminary
examination before an examining magistrate, or having waived such
preliminary examination. Prosecutions may be instituted in
courts not of record upon a duly verified complaint.
Section II-18: Grand jury.
A grand jury shall be composed of twelve (12) persons, any nine
(9) of whom concurring may find an indictment or true bill. A grand
jury shall be convened upon the order of a district judge upon his
own motion; or such grand jury shall be ordered by a district judge
upon the filing of a petition therefor signed by qualified electors
of the county equal to the number of signatures required to propose
legislation by a county by initiative petition as provided in Section
5 of Article V of the Oklahoma Constitution, with the minimum number
of required signatures being five hundred (500) and the maximum being
five thousand (5,000); and further providing that in any calendar
year in which a grand jury has been convened pursuant to a petition
therefor, then any subsequent petition filed during the same calendar
year shall require double the minimum number of signatures as were
required hereunder for the first petition; or such grand jury shall
be ordered convened upon the filing of a verified application by the
Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma who shall have authority to
conduct the grand jury in investigating crimes which are alleged to
have been committed in said county or involving multicounty criminal
activities; when so assembled such grand jury shall have power to
inquire into and return indictments for all character and grades of
crime. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws of this
state in conflict with the provisions of this constitutional
amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
The Legislature shall enact laws to prevent corruption in making,
filing, circulating and submitting petitions calling for convening a
grand jury.
Section II-19: Trial by jury.
The right of trial by jury shall be and remain inviolate, except
in civil cases wherein the amount in controversy does not exceed One
Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00), or in criminal cases
wherein punishment for the offense charged is by fine only, not
exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00). Provided,
however, that the Legislature may provide for jury trial in cases
involving lesser amounts. Juries for the trial of civil cases,
involving more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), and felony
criminal cases shall consist of twelve (12) persons. All other juries
shall consist of six (6) persons. However, in all cases the parties
may agree on a lesser number of jurors than provided herein.
In all criminal cases where imprisonment for more than six (6)
months is authorized the entire number of jurors must concur to render
a verdict. In all other cases three-fourths (3/4) of the whole number
of jurors concurring shall have power to render a verdict. When a
verdict is rendered by less than the whole number of jurors, the
verdict shall be signed by each juror concurring therein.
Section II-20: Rights of accused in criminal cases.
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right
to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county
in which the crime shall have been committed or, where
uncertainty exists as to the county in which the crime was
committed, the accused may be tried in any county in which the
evidence indicates the crime might have been committed.
Provided, that the venue may be changed to some other county of
the state, on the application of the accused, in such manner as
may be prescribed by law. He shall be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation against him and have a copy thereof, and
be confronted with the witnesses against him, and have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his behalf. He shall have the
right to be heard by himself and counsel; and in capital cases,
at least two days before the case is called for trial, he shall
be furnished with a list of the witnesses that will be called in
chief, to prove the allegations of the indictment or information,
together with their postoffice addresses.
Section II-21: Self-incrimination - Double jeopardy.
No person shall be compelled to give evidence which will tend
to incriminate him, except as in this Constitution specifically
provided; nor shall any person, after having been once acquitted
by a jury, be again put in jeopardy of life or liberty for that
of which he has been acquitted. Nor shall any person be twice
put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense.
Section II-22: Liberty of speech and press - Truth as evidence in
prosecution for libel.
Every person may freely speak, write, or publish his sentiments
on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right;
and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of
speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libel,
the truth of the matter alleged to be libelous may be given in
evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the
matter charged as libelous be true, and was written or published
with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be
acquitted.
Section II-23: Private property - Taking or damaging for private
use.
No private property shall be taken or damaged for private use,
with or without compensation, unless by consent of the owner,
except for private ways of necessity, or for drains and ditches
across lands of others for agricultural, mining, or sanitary
purposes, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
Section II-24: Private property - Public use - Character of use a
judicial question.
Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use
without just compensation. Just compensation shall mean the value of
the property taken, and in addition, any injury to any part of the
property not taken. Any special and direct benefits to the part of
the property not taken may be offset only against any injury to the
property not taken. Such compensation shall be ascertained by a board
of commissioners of not less than three freeholders, in such manner as
may be prescribed by law. Provided however, in no case shall the
owner be required to make any payments should the benefits be judged
to exceed damages. The commissioners shall not be appointed by any
judge or court without reasonable notice having been served upon all
parties in interest. The commissioners shall be selected from the
regular jury list of names prepared and made as the Legislature shall
provide. Any party aggrieved shall have the right of appeal, without
bond, and trial by jury in a court of record. Until the compensation
shall be paid to the owner, or into court for the owner, the property
shall not be disturbed, or the proprietary rights of the owner
divested. When possession is taken of property condemned for any
public use, the owner shall be entitled to the immediate receipt of
the compensation awarded, without prejudice to the right of either
party to prosecute further proceedings for the judicial determination
of the sufficiency or insufficiency of such compensation. The fee of
land taken by common carriers for right of way, without the consent of
the owner, shall remain in such owner subject only to the use for
which it is taken. In all cases of condemnation of private property
for public or private use, the determination of the character of the
use shall be a judicial question.
Section II-25: Contempt - Definition - Jury trial - Hearing.
The legislature shall pass laws defining contempts and
regulating the proceedings and punishment in matters of contempt:
Provided, that any person accused of violating or disobeying,
when not in the presence or hearing of the court, or judge
sitting as such, any order of injunction, or restraint, made or
entered by any court or judge of the State shall, before penalty
or punishment is imposed, be entitled to a trial by jury as to
the guilt or innocence of the accused. In no case shall a
penalty or punishment be imposed for contempt, until an
opportunity to be heard is given.
Section II-26: Bearing arms - Carrying weapons.
The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his
home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when
thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but
nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from
regulating the carrying of weapons.
Section II-27: Witnesses not excused from testifying - Immunity from
prosecution.
Any person having knowledge or possession of facts that tend to
establish the guilt of any other person or corporation under the
laws of the state shall not be excused from giving testimony or
producing evidence, when legally called upon so to do, on the
ground that it may tend to incriminate him under the laws of the
state; but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any
penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction,
matter, or thing concerning which he may so testify or produce
evidence. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws
of this state in conflict with the provisions of this
constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
Section II-28: Corporate records, books and files.
The records, books, and files of all corporations shall be, at
all times, liable and subject to the full visitorial and
inquisitorial powers of the State, notwithstanding the immunities
and privileges in this Bill of Rights secured to the persons,
inhabitants, and citizens thereof.
Section II-29: Transportation out of State.
No person shall be transported out of the State for any offense
committed within the State, nor shall any person be transported
out of the State for any purpose, without his consent, except by
due process of law; but nothing in this provision shall prevent
the operation of extradition laws, or the transporting of persons
sentenced for crime, to other states for the purpose of
incarceration.
Section II-30: Unreasonable searches or seizures - Warrants,
issuance of.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches or seizures
shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon
probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, describing as
particularly as may be the place to be searched and the person or
thing to be seized.
Section II-31: State - Engagement in occupation or business.
The right of the State to engage in any occupation or business
for public purposes shall not be denied nor prohibited, except
that the State shall not engage in agriculture for any other than
educational and scientific purposes and for the support of its
penal, charitable, and educational institutions.
Section II-32: Perpetuities - Monopolies - Primogeniture -
Entailments.
Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a
free government, and shall never be allowed, nor shall the law of
primogeniture or entailments ever be in force in this State.
Section II-33: Effect of enumeration of rights.
The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny, impair, or disparage others retained by
the people.
Section II-34: Rights of victims.
A. To preserve and protect the rights of victims to justice and
due process, and ensure that victims are treated with fairness,
respect and dignity, and are free from intimidation, harassment, or
abuse, throughout the criminal justice process, any victim or family
member of a victim of a crime has the right to know the status of the
investigation and prosecution of the criminal case, including all
proceedings wherein a disposition of a case is likely to occur, and
where plea negotiations may occur. The victim or family member of a
victim of a crime has the right to know the location of the defendant
following an arrest, during a prosecution of the criminal case,
during a sentence to probation or confinement, and when there is any
release or escape of the defendant from confinement. The victim or
family member of a victim of a crime has a right to be present at any
proceeding where the defendant has a right to be present, to be heard
at any sentencing or parole hearing, to be awarded restitution by the
convicted person for damages or losses as determined and ordered by
the court, and to be informed by the state of the constitutional
rights of the victim.
B. An exercise of any right by a victim or family member of a
victim or the failure to provide a victim or family member of a
victim any right granted by this section shall not be grounds for
dismissing any criminal proceeding or setting aside any conviction or
sentence.
C. The Legislature, or the people by initiative or referendum,
has the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define,
implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by
this section, including the authority to extend any of these rights
to juvenile proceedings and if enacted by the Legislature, youthful
offender proceedings.
D. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights for
victims shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights
granted by the Legislature or retained by victims.
Section III-1: Qualifications of electors.
Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all
citizens of the United States, over the age of eighteen (18) years,
who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of
this state.
Section III-2: State Election Board - Creation - Membership.
The Legislature shall create a State Election Board to be charged
with the supervision of such elections as the Legislature shall
direct. Not more than a majority of the members of said Board shall
be selected from the same political party.
Section III-3: Mandatory primary system - Nomination of candidates.
The Legislature may enact laws providing for a mandatory primary
system which shall provide for the nomination of all candidates in
all elections for federal, state, county and municipal offices, for
all political parties, except for the office of Presidential Elector,
the candidates for which shall be nominated by the recognized
political parties at their conventions. The Legislature also shall
enact laws providing that citizens may, by petition, place on the
ballot the names of independent, nonpartisan candidates for office,
including the office of Presidential Elector
Section III-4: Manner of holding and conducting elections -
Registration of electors.
The Legislature shall prescribe the time and manner of holding
and conducting all elections, and enact such laws as may be necessary
to detect and punish fraud in such elections. The Legislature may
provide by law for the registration of electors throughout the state
and, when it is so provided, no person shall vote at any election
unless he shall have registered according to law.
Section III-5: Free and equal elections - Interference by civil or
military power - Privilege from arrest.
All elections shall be free and equal. No power, civil or
military, shall ever interfere to prevent the free exercise of the
right of suffrage, and electors shall, in all cases, except for
treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest
during their attendance on elections and while going to and from the
same.
Section IV-1: Departments of government - Separation and
distinction.
The powers of the government of the State of Oklahoma shall be
divided into three separate departments: The Legislative,
Executive, and Judicial; and except as provided in this
Constitution, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
departments of government shall be separate and distinct, and
neither shall exercise the powers properly belonging to either of
the others.
Section V-1: Legislature - Authority and composition - Powers
reserved to people.
The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a
Legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of
Representatives; but the people reserve to themselves the power
to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact
or reject the same at the polls independent of the Legislature,
and also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject
at the polls any act of the Legislature.
Section V-2: Designation and definition of reserved powers -
Determination of percentages.
The first power reserved by the people is the initiative, and
eight per centum of the legal voters shall have the right to
propose any legislative measure, and fifteen per centum of the
legal voters shall have the right to propose amendments to the
Constitution by petition, and every such petition shall include
the full text of the measure so proposed. The second power is
the referendum, and it may be ordered (except as to laws
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health, or safety), either by petition signed by five per centum
of the legal voters or by the Legislature as other bills are
enacted. The ratio and per centum of legal voters hereinbefore
stated shall be based upon the total number of votes cast at the
last general election for the State office receiving the highest
number of votes at such election.
Section V-3: Petitions - Veto power - Elections - Time of taking
effect - Style of bills - Duty of legislature.
Referendum petitions shall be filed with the Secretary of State
not more than ninety (90) days after the final adjournment of the
session of the Legislature which passed the bill on which the
referendum is demanded. The veto power of the Governor shall not
extend to measures voted on by the people. All elections on
measures referred to the people of the state shall be had at the
next election held throughout the state, except when the
Legislature or the Governor shall order a special election for
the express purpose of making such reference. Any measure
referred to the people by the initiative or referendum shall take
effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a
majority of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise.
The style of all bills shall be: "Be it Enacted By the People
of the State of Oklahoma."
Petitions and orders for the initiative and for the referendum
shall be filed with the Secretary of State and addressed to the
Governor of the state, who shall submit the same to the people.
The Legislature shall make suitable provisions for carrying into
effect the provisions of this article.
Section V-4: Referendum against part of act.
The referendum may be demanded by the people against one or
more items, sections, or parts of any act of the Legislature in
the same manner in which such power may be exercised against a
complete act. The filing of a referendum petition against one or
more items, sections, or parts of an act shall not delay the
remainder of such act from becoming operative.
Section V-5: Reservation of powers to voters of counties and
districts - Manner of exercising.
The powers of the initiative and referendum reserved to the
people by this Constitution for the State at large, are hereby
further reserved to the legal voters of every county and district
therein, as to all local legislation, or action, in the
administration of county and district government in and for their
respective counties and districts. The manner of exercising said
powers shall be prescribed by general laws, except that Boards of
County Commissioners may provide for the time of exercising the
initiative and referendum powers as to local legislation in their
respective counties and districts.
The requisite number of petitioners for the invocation of the
initiative and referendum in counties and districts shall bear
twice, or double, the ratio to the whole number of legal voters
in such county or district, as herein provided therefor in the
State at large.
Section V-5a: Township organization or government - Abolition and
restoration.
Each county in the State of Oklahoma may by a majority of the
legal voters of such county voting upon the proposition, abolish
township organization or government. The Board of County
Commissioners of such county, upon a petition signed by sixteen
per centum of the total number of votes cast at the last general
election for the county office receiving the highest number of
votes, praying that the question of abolishing township
organization or government be submitted to a vote of the county,
shall within thirty days after the regular meeting of such board
next convening after the filing of such petition, call a special
election for such purpose, or the board may in their discretion
submit such question at the next general election held after the
filing of such petition. If such question shall be carried,
township organization or government shall cease in such county,
and all the duties theretofore performed by the township officers
shall be cast upon and be performed by such county officers
having like duties to perform in relation to the county at large
as such township officers performed in relation to the township
at large. At any general election after the abolition of
township organization or government the question of returning to
township government may be submitted as provided for the
submission of the question of abolishing such government, and if
a majority of the votes cast upon such question be in favor of
township government the same shall thereupon be established, and
the Board of County Commissioners shall appoint the full quota of
township officers, who shall hold their offices and perform the
duties thereof until their successors shall have been elected at
the next general election and until they have been qualified.
Except as otherwise specifically provided by this section, the
law relating to carrying into effect the initiative and
referendum provisions of the Constitution shall govern
Section V-6: Subsequent proposal of rejected measure.
Any measure rejected by the people, through the powers of the
initiative and referendum, cannot be again proposed by the
initiative within three years thereafter by less than twenty-five
per centum of the legal voters.
Section V-7: Powers of Legislature not affected.
The reservation of the powers of the initiative and referendum
in this article shall not deprive the Legislature of the right to
repeal any law, propose or pass any measure, which may be
consistent with the Constitution of the State and the
Constitution of the United States.
Section V-8: Prevention of corruption.
Laws shall be provided to prevent corruption in making,
procuring, and submitting initiative and referendum petitions.
Section V-9A: Senatorial districts - Tenure.
The state shall be apportioned into forty-eight senatorial
districts in the following manner: the nineteen most populous
counties, as determined by the most recent Federal Decennial
Census, shall constitute nineteen senatorial districts with one
senator to be nominated and elected from each district; the
fifty-eight less populous counties shall be joined into
twenty-nine two-county districts with one senator to be nominated
and elected from each of the two-county districts. In
apportioning the State Senate, consideration shall be given to
population, compactness, area, political units, historical
precedents, economic and political interests, contiguous
territory, and other major factors, to the extent feasible.
Each senatorial district, whether single county or
multi-county, shall be entitled to one senator, who shall hold
office for four years; provided that any senator, serving at the
time of the adoption of this amendment, shall serve the full time
for which he was elected. Vitalization of senatorial districts
shall provide for one-half of the senators to be elected at each
general election.
Section V-10A: House of Representatives - Number of members -
Formula - Tenure.
The House of Representatives shall consist of the number of
Representatives as determined by the formula and procedure set
forth herein. The number of members of the House of
Representatives to which each county shall be entitled shall be
determined according to the following formula:
a. The total population of the state as ascertained by the
most recent Federal Decennial Census shall be divided by the
number one hundred and the quotient shall be the ratio of
representation in the House of Representatives, except as
otherwise provided in this Article.
b. Every county having a population less than one full ratio
shall be assigned one Representative; every county containing an
entire ratio but less than two ratios shall be assigned two
Representatives; every county containing a population of two
entire ratios but less than three ratios shall be assigned three
Representatives; and every county containing a population of
three entire ratios but less than four ratios shall be assigned
four Representatives.
After the first four Representatives, a county shall qualify
for additional representation on the basis of two whole ratios of
population for each additional Representative.
Each Representative nominated and elected shall hold office for
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