CHAPTER XXX. Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 38-A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to section six, article nine of the Constitution of the State of California, relating to grammar schools. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California, at its regular session, commencing on the fourth day of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, two thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses voting in favor thereof, hereby propose that section six of article nine of the Constitution of the State of California be amended to read as follows: school Section 6. The public school system shall include primary Public and grammar schools, and such high schools, evening schools, system. normal schools, and technical schools as may be established by the Legislature, or by municipal or district authority, but the entire revenue derived from the state school fund, and the state school tax, shall be applied exclusively to the support of primary and grammar schools. Grammar schools shall Grammar include schools organized in a school district, or union of school districts, having more than one thousand inhabitants, in which a course of study shall be taught which will prepare pupils to enter the agricultural, mining, or scientific department of the University of California. schools. CHAPTER XXXI. Assembly Joint Resolution No. 33, relative to instructing our Representatives in Congress toward securing an appropriation for improving navigation in state waterways, and providing for the disposition of debris. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] WHEREAS, The State of California has appropriated the sum of Preamble. two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be expended in the construction of works for the restraining and impounding of mining and other debris, and the further sum of three hundred thousand dollars to be expended in the improvement and rectification of the navigable waterways of this State; and WHEREAS, The State of California has thus shown its willingness to assist in a work so imperatively demanded by the needs of commerce and which cannot with safety be longer delayed, but which, of right, ought to be undertaken and carried forward to completion by the general government, which National tion to im gation in alone has complete jurisdiction over the waterways sought to WHEREAS, The general government has already appropriated Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of Califorappropria- nia, jointly, That our Senators in Congress be instructed and prove navi- our Representatives requested to use all honorable means at California. their disposal to secure an early appropriation by Congress of the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, one half thereof to be expended in the construction of restraining barriers, and one half thereof to be used in dredging and otherwise improving the navigable waterways of California, to the end that the miner and farmer may be alike protected in the prosecution of their respective industries, and the commerce of a great State restored to the rightful condition. Resolved, That the Governor be and he is hereby requested to cause a certified copy of these resolutions to be mailed to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. CHAPTER XXXII. Assembly Joint Resolution No. 7. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] Preamble. WHEREAS, There is an open ship channel between San Francisco Bay and Antioch, for vessels drawing twenty-five feet of water, with the exception of a distance of from one half to three fourths of a mile in Suisun Bay; and Dredging Bay. WHEREAS, The water at low tide on said bar is sixteen feet in depth; therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That our in Suisun Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representatives therein be requested and urged, to take such action as shall result in an estimate by government engineers of the probable cost of dredging said bar to such depth as will admit the safe passage of vessels drawing twenty-five feet of water between said points herein before mentioned, and that following such report an appropriation by Congress be made to defray such expense. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be immediately forwarded by telegraph to our Senators and Representatives in Congress by the Chief Clerk of the Assembly. CHAPTER XXXIII. Assembly Joint Resolution No. 27, relative to the punishment of seamen for leaving a vessel before the expiration of the term of service agreed upon. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] WHEREAS, The seamen of our country are subject to arrest and Preamble. imprisonment for leaving a vessel before the expiration of the term of service agreed upon; and WHEREAS, This condition imposes upon our seamen a penal punishment for the violation of a civil contract, and is obviously an infringement to the thirteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and WHEREAS, The House of Representatives, at the first session of the fifty-fourth Congress, passed bills numbers twenty-six hundred and sixty-three and sixty-three hundred and ninetynine, which abolish imprisonment for desertion, besides. inaugurating several other much-needed reforms in the conditions of our seamen; therefore, be it ing pun seamen for Resolved, That we condemn the principle of imprisonment Condemnfor desertion among our seamen as unjust to them, unnecessary ishment of to commerce, and repugnant to our sense of American liberty; desertion. and, moreover, in view of the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Arago case, we deem such law a menace to the personal rights of every other class of workers; and urge the passage of said bills by Congress. Resolved, That we commend the action of the Representatives. of California in Congress in their efforts to improve the condition of our seamen and of our merchant marine; and further Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be immediately forwarded to our Representatives in Congress, to the President of the United States Senate, and to Senator Frye, chairman of the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate. CHAPTER XXXIV. Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 34-A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to section two of article four of the Constitution, in relation to sessions of the Legislature. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California, at its regular session, commencing on the fourth day of January, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, two thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses voting in favor Sessions of the Legislature. thereof, hereby propose that section two of article four of the Constitution of the State of California be amended to read as follows: Section 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall commence at twelve o'clock meridian on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding the election of its members, and shall be biennial, unless the Governor shall in the interim convene the Legislature by proclamation. The Legislature shall then remain in session for twenty-five days, after which it must adjourn to some date not less than thirty nor more than sixty days from the time of adjournment. If the two houses fail to agree upon a time at which they will resume their session, the Governor shall, by proclamation, fix a date for such reconvening, which shall be within the limits above prescribed. Upon reassembling, the Legislature shall complete its session. No pay shall be allowed to members for a longer period than seventy-five days, and no bill shall be introduced in either. house, except at the first twenty-five days of the session, without the consent of three fourths of the members thereof. Conven tion for revision of the Constitution. CHAPTER XXXV. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4-A resolution recommending the calling of a convention for the revision of the Constitution of the State of California, recommending that the electors of the State vote at the next general election for the calling of a convention to revise the Constitution, and to provide the number and qualification, compensation, and manner of electing the delegates to such convention. [Adopted March 22, 1897.] Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California, at its regular session commencing on the fourth day of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, two thirds of all the members elected to each house concurring, hereby recommend that the electors of the State vote at the next general election upon the proposition to call a convention to revise the State Constitution, such proposition to read as follows: SECTION 1. Two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature for the thirty-second session of the Legislature of the State of California, commencing on the fourth day of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, do hereby recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against a convention for the purpose of revising the Constitution of the State. Such vote to be taken for the reason that two thirds of the members of each branch of the Legislature, at said regular thirty-second session, deem it necessary to revise such Constitution. Hereby further recom mend that the convention to be called for such revision of the Number of Constitution shall consist of eighty delegates, one to be chosen delegates. from each assembly district. Such delegate shall possess the same qualification, and shall be elected in the same manner as members of the Assembly. They shall receive as compensation Compensathe sum of eight dollars per day, with the same mileage as the tion. members of the Assembly; and there shall be a reasonable number of clerks and other attachés, whose compensation shall be fixed by the convention. At such next general election the Ballots. ballot used shall, in addition to the other names and matters required by law to be printed thereon, contain the words "For the convention," and the words "Against the convention," written or printed thereon in a suitable place, with the appropriate space for each elector to designate his intention with respect to such proposition. The election officers at each and Canvass every voting precinct in the State shall make and ascertain, and make returns of the number of votes cast in favor of a convention, and the number of votes cast against a convention, as aforesaid, in like manner and with the same particularity as other votes are required by law to be counted and returned, and an abstract thereof shall be transmitted by each and every County Clerk of the State, and each and every Registrar of Voters in any county, or city and county, of the State, to the Secretary of State, in the same manner, and within the same time, that votes for state officers are now by law required to be transmitted. of vote. tary of Governor. SEC. 2. The Secretary of State shall have authority to Authority compel the mailing of such returns, and when received, shall reprepare and lay before the Governor of the State a complete State. abstract of the whole number of votes cast "for" and "against " a convention. If it shall appear from the returns of the County Clerks and Registrar of Voters that a majority of the electors voting at such general election on the proposition for a convention shall have voted in favor of calling such convention, it shall be the duty of the Governor to forthwith issue his Proclamaproclamation, announcing the fact that such convention has tion by been called; and thereupon, it shall be the duty of the Legislature at its session next after such election, to provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention, and for the holding thereof at the state capitol. All vacancies in the offices of delegates to be filled in the same manner as vacancies in the office of Assemblyman, and all contests over the election of delegates to be determined by the convention. Such conven- Date of tion to meet within three months from the date of the election holding calling it, and shall continue in session until it shall have tion. completed the work of revision, and provided for submitting the same to the electors for approval or rejection. conven |