Article III. Every [male] citizen of [twenty-one] years of age and upwards, excepting
[paupers and] persons under guardianship who shall have resided [within the commonwealth
one year, and] within the town or district in which he may claim a right to vote, six
calendar months next preceding any election of governor, lieutenant governor, senators, or
representatives, [and who shall have paid, by himself or his parent, master or guardian,
any state or county tax, which shall, within two years next preceding such election, have
been assessed upon him in any town or district of this commonwealth; and also, every
citizen who shall be, by law, exempted from taxation, and who shall be, in all other
respects, qualified as above mentioned,] shall have a right to vote in such election of
governor, lieutenant governor, senators and representatives; and no other person shall be
entitled to vote in such election. [See Amendments, Arts. XX, XXIII, XXVI, XXVIII, XXX,
XXXI, XXXII, XL, LXVIII, LXIX, XCIII, XCIV, XCV, and C.] [For absent voting, see
Amendments, Arts. XLV and LXXVI.]
Article IV. Notaries public shall be appointed by the governor in the same manner as
judicial officers are appointed, and shall hold their offices during seven years, unless
sooner removed by the governor with the consent of the council, upon the address of both
houses of the legislature. [See Amendments, Articles XXXVII, LXII, and LXIX, section 2].
[In case the office of secretary or treasurer of the commonwealth shall become vacant
from any cause during the recess of the general court, the governor, with the advice and
consent of the council, shall nominate and appoint, under such regulations as may be
prescribed by law, a competent and suitable person to such vacant office, who shall hold
the same until a successor shall be appointed by the general court.] [This paragraph
superseded by Amendments, Art. XVII.]
[Whenever the exigencies of the commonwealth shall require the appointment of a
commissary-general, he shall be nominated, appointed and commissioned in such manner as
the legislature may, by law, prescribe.
All officers commissioned to command in the militia may be removed from office in such
manner as the legislature may, by law, prescribe.] [Last two paragraphs annulled and
superseded by Amendments, Art. LIII.]
Article V. [In the elections of captains and subalterns of the militia, all the members
of their respective companies, as well those under as those above the age of twenty-one
years, shall have a right to vote.] [Annulled by Amendments, Art. LIII].
Article VI. Instead of the oath of allegiance prescribed by the constitution, the
following oath shall be taken and subscribed by every person chosen or appointed to any
office, civil or military under the government of this commonwealth, before he shall enter
on the duties of his office, to wit:
Article VII. No oath, declaration or subscription, excepting the oath prescribed in the
preceding article and the oath of office, shall be required of the governor, lieutenant
governor, councillors, senators or representatives, to qualify them to perform the duties
of their respective offices.
Article VIII. No judge of any court of this commonwealth (except the court of sessions)
and no person holding any office under the authority of the United States (postmasters
excepted) shall, at the same time, hold the office of governor, lieutenant governor, or
councillor, or have a seat in the senate or house of representatives of this commonwealth;
and no judge of any court in this commonwealth (except the court of sessions) nor the
attorney-general, solicitor-general, county attorney, clerk of any court, sheriff,
treasurer and receiver-general, register of probate, nor register of deeds, shall continue
to hold his said office after being elected a member of Congress of the United States, and
accepting that trust; but the acceptance of such trust by any of the officers aforesaid
shall be deemed and taken to be a resignation of his said office; and judges of the courts
of common pleas shall hold no other office under the government of this commonwealth, the
office of justice of the peace and militia offices excepted. [See Amendments, Art. LXV].
Article IX. [If, at any time hereafter, any specific and particular amendment or
amendments to the constitution be proposed in the general court, and agreed to by a
majority of the senators and two thirds of the members of the house of representatives
present and voting thereon, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on the
journals of the two houses, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the
general court then next to be chosen, and shall be published; and if, in the general court
next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a
majority of the senators and two thirds of the members of the house of representatives
present and voting thereon; then it shall be the duty of the general court to submit such
proposed amendment or amendments to the people: and if they shall be approved and ratified
by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon, at meetings legally warned and
holden for that purpose, they shall become part of the constitution of this commonwealth.]
[Annulled by Amendments, Art. XLVIII, General Provisions, VIII].
Article X. The political year shall begin on the first Wednesday of January instead of
the last Wednesday of May, and the general court shall assemble every year on the said
first Wednesday of January, and shall proceed at that session to make all the elections,
and do all the other acts which are by the constitution required to be made and done at
the session which has heretofore commenced on the last Wednesday of May. And the general
court shall be dissolved on the next day preceding the first Wednesday of January, without
any proclamation or other act of the governor. But nothing herein contained shall prevent
the general court from assembling at such other times as they shall judge necessary, or
when called together by the governor. [The governor, lieutenant governor and councillors,
shall also hold their respective offices for one year next following the first Wednesday
of January, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead.] [See Amendments,
Arts. XIV, LXXII, and LXXV].
[The meeting for the choice of governor, lieutenant governor, senators and
representatives shall be held on the second Monday of November in every year; but meetings
may be adjourned if necessary, for the choice of representatives, to the next day, and
again to the next succeeding day, but no further. But in case a second meeting shall be
necessary for the choice of representatives, such meetings shall be held on the fourth
Monday of the same month of November.] [See Amendments, Art. LXIV] [This paragraph
superseded by Amendments, Art. XV].
All the other provisions of the constitution, respecting the elections and proceedings
of the members of the general court, or of any other officers or persons whatever, that
have reference to the last Wednesday of May, as the commencement of the political year,
shall be so far altered as to have like reference to the first Wednesday of January.
This article shall go into operation on the first day of October next following the day
when the same shall be duly ratified and adopted as an amendment of the constitution[; --
and the governor, lieutenant governor, councillors, senators, representatives and all
other state officers, who are annually chosen, and who shall be chosen for the current
year when the same shall go into operation, shall hold their respective offices until the
first Wednesday of January then next following, and until others are chosen and qualified
in their stead, and no longer -- and the first election of the governor, lieutenant
governor, senators and representatives to be had in virtue of this article shall be had
conformably thereunto, in the month of November following the day on which the same shall
be in force, and go into operation pursuant to the foregoing provision.]
All the provisions of the existing constitution inconsistent with the provisions herein
contained are hereby wholly annulled. [See Amendments, Art. LXIV].
Article XI. Instead of the third article of the bill of rights, the following
modification and amendment thereof is substituted.
Article XII. [In order to provide for a representation of the citizens of this
commonwealth, founded upon the principles of equality a census of the ratable polls, in
each city, town and district of the commonwealth, on the first day of May, shall be taken
and returned into the secretary's office, in such manner as the legislature shall provide,
within the month of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-seven, and in every tenth year thereafter, in the month of May, in manner
aforesaid, and each town or city having three hundred ratable polls at the last preceding
decennial census of polls may elect one representative, and for every four hundred and
fifty ratable polls in addition to the first three hundred, one representative more.
Any town having less then three hundred ratable polls shall be represented thus; the
whole number of ratable polls, at the last preceding decennial census of polls, shall be
multiplied by ten, and the product divided by three hundred, and such town may elect one
representative as many years within ten years, as three hundred is contained in the
product aforesaid.
Any city or town having ratable polls enough to elect one or more representatives, with
any number of polls beyond the necessary number, may be represented as to that surplus
number by multiplying such surplus number by ten and dividing the product by four hundred
and fifty; and such city or town may elect one additional representative as many years
within the ten years as four hundred and fifty is contained in the product aforesaid.
Any two or more of the several towns and districts may, by consent of a majority of the
legal voters present at a legal meeting in each of said towns and districts respectively
called for that purpose, and held previous to the first day of July in the year in which
the decennial census of polls shall be taken, form themselves into a representative
district, to continue until the next decennial census of polls, for the election of a
representative or representatives, and such district shall have all the rights, in regard
to representation, which would belong to a town containing the same number of ratable
polls.
The governor and council shall ascertain and determine within the months of July and
August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, according to
the foregoing principles, the number of representatives, which each city, town and
representative district is entitled to elect, and the number of years within the period of
ten years then next ensuing, that each city, town and representative district may elect an
additional representative, and where any town has not a sufficient number of polls to
elect a representative each year then how many years within the ten years, such town may
elect a representative, and the same shall be done once in ten years thereafter by the
governor and council, and the number of ratable polls in each decennial census of polls,
shall determine the number of representatives, which each city, town and representative
district may elect as aforesaid, and when the number of representatives to be elected by
each city, town or representative district is ascertained and determined as aforesaid, the
governor shall cause the same to be published forthwith for the information of the people
and that number shall remain fixed and unalterable for the period of ten years.
All the provisions of the existing constitution inconsistent with the provisions herein
contained, are hereby wholly annulled.] [Superseded by Amendments, Arts. XIII, XXI, LXXI,
XCII, CI and CIX.
Article XIII. [A census of the inhabitants of each city and town, on the first day of
May, shall be taken, and returned into the secretary's office, on or before the last day
of June, of the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and of every tenth year
thereafter, which census shall determine the apportionment of senators and representatives
for the term of ten years. [See Amendments, Arts. XXI, XXII LXXI, XCII, CI and CIX].
The several senatorial districts now existing shall be permanent. The senate shall
consist of forty members: and in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and every
tenth year thereafter, the governor and council shall assign the number of senators to be
chosen in each district, according to the number of inhabitants in the same. But, in all
cases, at least one senator shall be assigned to each district. [See Amendments, Arts.
XXII, LXXI, XCII, CI and CIX].
The members of the house of representatives shall be apportioned in the following
manner: Every town or city containing twelve hundred inhabitants, may elect one
representative; and two thousand four hundred inhabitants shall be the mean increasing
number which shall entitle it to an additional representative. [See Amendments, Arts. XXI,
LXXI, XCII, CI and CIX].
Every town containing less than twelve hundred inhabitants, shall be entitled to elect
a representative as many times, within ten years, as the number one hundred and sixty is
contained in the number of the inhabitants of said town. Such towns may also elect one
representative for the year in which the valuation of estates within the commonwealth
shall be settled.
Any two or more of the several towns may, by consent of a majority of the legal voters
present at a legal meeting, in each of said towns respectively, called for that purpose,
and held before the first day of August, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty,
and every tenth year thereafter, form themselves into a representative district, to
continue for the term of ten years; and such district shall have all the rights in regard
to representation, which would belong to a town containing the same number of inhabitants.
The number of inhabitants which shall entitle a town to elect one representative, and
the mean increasing number, which shall entitle a town or city to elect more than one, and
also the number by which the population of towns, not entitled to a representative every
year, is to be divided, shall be increased respectively, by one tenth of the numbers above
mentioned, whenever the population of the commonwealth shall have increased to seven
hundred and seventy thousand, and for every additional increase of seventy thousand
inhabitants, the same addition of one tenth shall be made, respectively, to the said
numbers above mentioned.
In the year of each decennial census, the governor and council shall, before the first
day of September, apportion the number of representatives which each city, town, and
representative district is entitled to elect, and ascertain how many years within ten
years, any town may elect a representative, which is not entitled to elect one every year;
and the governor shall cause the same to be published forthwith.
Nine councillors shall be annually chosen from among the people at large, on the first
Wednesday of January, or as soon thereafter as may be, by the joint ballot of the senators
and representatives assembled in one room, who shall, as soon as may be, in like manner,
fill up any vacancies that may happen in the council, by death, resignation, or otherwise.
No person shall be elected a councillor, who has not been an inhabitant of this
commonwealth for the term of five years immediately preceding his election; and not more
than one councillor shall be chosen from any one senatorial district in the commonwealth.]
[See Amendments, Arts. XVI, LXIV, LXXX, XCII, CI and CIX].
No possession of a freehold or of any other estate shall be required as a qualification
for holding a seat in either branch of the general court, or in the executive council.
Article XIV. In all elections of civil officers by the people of this commonwealth,
whose election is provided for by the constitution, the person having the highest number
of votes shall be deemed and declared to be elected.
Article XV. [The meeting for the choice of governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and
representatives, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November,
annually; but in case of a failure to elect representatives on that day, a second meeting
shall be holden for that purpose on the fourth Monday of the same month of November.] [See
Amendments, Arts. LXIV and LXXX.
Article XVI. Eight councillors shall be annually chosen by the inhabitants of this
commonwealth, qualified to vote for governor. The election of councillors shall be
determined by the same rule that is required in the election of governor. The legislature,
at its first session after this amendment shall have been adopted, and at its first
session after the next state census shall have been taken, and at its first session after
each decennial state census thereafterwards, shall divide the commonwealth into eight
districts of contiguous territory, each containing a number of inhabitants as nearly equal
as practicable, without dividing any town or ward of a city, and each entitled to elect
one councillor: provided, however, that if, at any time, the constitution shall
provide for the division of the commonwealth into forty senatorial districts, then the
legislature shall so arrange the councillor districts that each district shall consist of
five contiguous senatorial districts, as they shall be, from time to time, established by
the legislature. No person shall be eligible to the office of councillor who has not been
an inhabitant of the commonwealth for the term of five years immediately preceding his
election. The day and manner of the election, the return of the votes, and the declaration
of the said elections, shall be the same as are required in the election of governor.
[Whenever there shall be a failure to elect the full number of councillors, the vacancies
shall be filled in the same manner as is required for filling vacancies in the senate; and
vacancies occasioned by death, removal from the state, or otherwise, shall be filled in
like manner, as soon as may be after such vacancies shall have happened.] And that there
may be no delay in the organization of the government on the first Wednesday of January,
the governor, with at least five councillors for the time being, shall, as soon as may be,
examine the returned copies of the records for the election of governor,
lieutenant-governor, and councillors; and ten days before the said first Wednesday in
January he shall issue his summons to such persons as appear to be chosen, to attend on
that day to be qualified accordingly; and the secretary shall lay the returns before the
senate and house of representatives on the said first Wednesday in January, to be by them
examined; and in case of the election of either of said officers, the choice shall be by
them declared and published; but in case there shall be no election of either of said
officers, the legislature shall proceed to fill such vacancies in the manner provided in
the constitution for the choice of such officers. [See Amendments, Arts. XXV, LXIV and
LXXX.
Article XVII. The secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, auditor, and
attorney-general, shall be chosen [annually,] on the day in November prescribed for the
choice of governor; and each person then chosen as such, duly qualified in other respects,
shall hold his office for the term of [one year] from the third Wednesday in January next
thereafter, and until another is chosen and qualified in his stead. The qualification of
the voters, the manner of the election, the return of the votes, and the declaration of
the election, shall be such as are required in the election of governor. In case of a
failure to elect either of said officers on the day in November aforesaid, or in case of
the decease in the mean time of the person elected as such, such officer shall be chosen
on or before the third Wednesday in January next thereafter from the [two persons who had
the highest number of votes for said offices on the day in November aforesaid], by joint
ballot of the senators and representatives in one room; and in case the office of
secretary, or treasurer and receiver-general, or auditor, or attorney-general, shall
become vacant from any cause during an annual or special session of the general court,
such vacancy shall in like manner be filled by choice from the people at large; but if
such vacancy shall occur at any other time, it shall be supplied by the governor by
appointment, with the advice and consent of the council. The person so chosen or
appointed, duly qualified in other respects, shall hold his office until his successor is
chosen and duly qualified in his stead. In case any person chosen or appointed to either
of the offices aforesaid, shall neglect, for the space of ten days after he could
otherwise enter upon his duties, to qualify himself in all respects to enter upon the
discharge of such duties, the office to which he has been elected or appointed shall be
deemed vacant. No person shall be eligible to either of said offices unless he shall have
been an inhabitant of this commonwealth five years next preceding his election or
appointment. [See Amendments, Arts. LXIV, LXXIX and LXXX.
Article XVIII. [All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support
of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the state for the support
of common schools, shall be applied to, and expended in, no other schools than those which
are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities of
the town or city in which the money is to be expended; and such moneys shall never be
appropriated to any religious sect for the maintenance exclusively of its own schools.]
[Superseded by Amendments, Arts. XLVI, XCVI and CIII.
Article XIX. The legislature shall prescribe, by general law, for the election of
sheriffs, registers of probate, [commissioners of insolvency,] and clerks of the courts,
by the people of the several counties, and that district-attorneys shall be chosen by the
people of the several districts, for such term of office as the legislature shall
prescribe. [See Amendments, Art. XXXVI.
Article XX. No person shall [have the right to vote, or] be eligible to office under
the constitution of this commonwealth, who shall not be able to read the constitution in
the English language, and write his name: -- provided, however, that the provisions
of this amendment shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from
complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to
any persons who shall be sixty years of age or upwards at the time this amendment shall
take effect. [See Amendments, Arts. III, XXIII, XXVI, XXVIII, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XL, XLV
and LXXVI.]
Article XXI. [A census of the legal voters of each city and town, on the first day of
May, shall be taken and returned into the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, on
or before the last day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven;
and a census of the inhabitants of each city and town, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five, and of every tenth year thereafter. In the census aforesaid, a
special enumeration shall be made of the legal voters; and in each city, said enumeration
shall specify the number of such legal voters aforesaid, residing in each ward of such
city. The enumeration aforesaid shall determine the apportionment of representatives for
the periods between the taking of the census.
The house of representatives shall consist of two hundred and forty members, which
shall be apportioned, by the legislature, at its first session after the return of each
enumeration as aforesaid, to the several counties of the commonwealth, equally, as nearly
as may be, according to their relative numbers of legal voters, as ascertained by the next
preceding special enumeration; and the town of Cohasset, in the county of Norfolk, shall,
for this purpose, as well as in the formation of districts, as hereinafter provided, be
considered as part of the county of Plymouth; and it shall be the duty of the secretary of
the commonwealth, to certify, as soon as may be after it is determined by the legislature,
the number of representatives to which each county shall be entitled, to the board
authorized to divide each county into representative districts. The mayor and aldermen of
the city of Boston, the county commissioners of other counties than Suffolk, -- or in lieu
of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Boston, or of the county commissioners in each
county other than Suffolk, such board of special commissioners in each county, to be
elected by the people of the county, or of the towns therein, as may for that purpose be
provided by law, shall, on the first Tuesday of August next after each assignment of
representatives to each county, assemble at a shire town of their respective counties, and
proceed, as soon as may be, to divide the same into representative districts of contiguous
territory, so as to apportion the representation assigned to each county equally, as
nearly as may be, according to the relative number of legal voters in the several
districts of each county; and such districts shall be so formed that no town or ward of a
city shall be divided therefor, nor shall any district be made which shall be entitled to
elect more than three representatives. Every representative, for one year at least next
preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the district for which he is
chosen, and shall cease to represent such district when he shall cease to be an inhabitant
of the commonwealth. The districts in each county shall be numbered by the board creating
the same, and a description of each, with the numbers thereof and the number of legal
voters therein, shall be returned by the board, to the secretary of the commonwealth, the
county treasurer of each county, and to the clerk of every town in each district, to be
filed and kept in their respective offices. The manner of calling and conducting the
meetings for the choice of representatives, and of ascertaining their election, shall be
prescribed by law.] [Not less than one hundred members of the house of representatives
shall constitute a quorum for doing business; but a less number may organize temporarily,
adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members.] [Annulled and
superseded by Amendments, Arts. XXXIII, LXXI, CI, and CIX.]
Article XXII. [A census of the legal voters of each city and town, on the first day of
May, shall be taken and returned into the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, on
or before the last day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven;
and a census of the inhabitants of each city and town, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five, and of every tenth year thereafter. In the census aforesaid, a
special enumeration shall be made of the legal voters, and in each city said enumeration
shall specify the number of such legal voters aforesaid, residing in each ward of such
city. The enumeration aforesaid shall determine the apportionment of senators for the
periods between the taking of the census. The senate shall consist of forty members. The
general court shall, at its first session after each next preceding special enumeration,
divide the commonwealth into forty districts of adjacent territory, each district to
contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of legal voters, according to the
enumeration aforesaid: -- provided, however, no town or ward of a city shall be
divided therefor; and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be, without uniting
two counties, or parts of two or more counties, into one district. Each district shall
elect one senator, who shall have been an inhabitant of this commonwealth five years at
least immediately preceding his election, and at the time of his election shall be an
inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen; and he shall cease to represent such
senatorial district when he shall cease to be an inhabitant of the commonwealth.] [Not
less than sixteen senators shall constitute a quorum for doing business; but a less number
may organize temporarily, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent
members.] [See Amendments, Art. XXIV.] [Annulled and superseded by Amendments, Arts.
XXXIII, LXXI, XCII, CI and CIX.
Article XXIII. [No person of foreign birth shall be entitled to vote, or shall be
eligible to office, unless he shall have resided within the jurisdiction of the United
States for two years subsequent to his naturalization, and shall be otherwise qualified,
according to the constitution and laws of this commonwealth: provided, that this
amendment shall not affect the rights which any person of foreign birth possessed at the
time of the adoption thereof; and, provided, further, that it shall not affect the
rights of any child of a citizen of the United States, born during the temporary absence
of the parent therefrom.] [Annulled by Amendments, Art. XXVI].
Article XXIV. Any vacancy in the senate shall be filled by election by the people of
the unrepresented district, upon the order of a majority of senators elected.
Article XXV. In case of a vacancy in the council, from a failure of election or other
cause, the senate and house of representatives shall, by concurrent vote, choose some
eligible person from the people of the district wherein such vacancy occurs, to fill that
office. If such vacancy shall happen when the legislature is not in session, the governor,
with the advice and consent of the council, may fill the same by appointment of some
eligible person.
Article XXVI. The twenty-third article of the articles of amendment of the constitution
of this commonwealth, which is as follows, to wit: -- "No person of foreign birth
shall be entitled to vote, or shall be eligible to office, unless he shall have resided
within the jurisdiction of the United States, for two years subsequent to his
naturalization, and shall be otherwise qualified according to the constitution and laws of
this commonwealth: provided, that this amendment shall not affect the rights which
any person of foreign birth possessed at the time of the adoption thereof; and provided,
further, that it shall not affect the rights of any child of a citizen of the United
States, born during the temporary absence of the parent therefrom," is hereby wholly
annulled.
Article XXVII. So much of article two of chapter six of the constitution of this
commonwealth as relates to persons holding the office of president, professor or
instructor of Harvard College is hereby annulled.
Article XXVIII. No person having served in the army or navy of the United States in
time of war, and having been honorably discharged from such service, if otherwise
qualified to vote, shall be disqualified therefor on account of [being a pauper;] or, [if
a pauper,] because of the non-payment of a poll tax.] [Amended by Amendments, Art. XXXI.]
Article XXIX. The general court shall have full power and authority to provide for the
inhabitants of the towns in this commonwealth more than one place of public meeting within
the limits of each town for the election of officers under the constitution, and to
prescribe the manner of calling, holding and conducting such meetings. All the provisions
of the existing constitution inconsistent with the provisions herein contained are hereby
annulled. [For absent voting, see Amendments, Arts. XLV and LXXVI.]
Article XXX. No person, otherwise qualified to vote in elections for governor,
lieutenant-governor, senators, and representatives, shall, by reason of a change of
residence within the commonwealth, be disqualified from voting for said officers in the
city or town from which he has removed his residence, until the expiration of six calendar
months from the time of such removal. [For absent and compulsory voting, see Amendments,
Arts. XLV, LXI and LXXVI.]
Article XXXI. [Article twenty-eight of the amendments of the constitution is hereby
amended by striking out in the fourth line thereof the words "being a pauper",
and inserting in place thereof the words: -- receiving or having received aid from any
city or town, -- and also by striking out in said fourth line the words "if a
pauper", so that the article as amended shall read as follows: ARTICLE XXVIII. No
person having served in the army or navy of the United States in time of war, and having
been honorably discharged from such service, if otherwise qualified to vote, shall be
disqualified therefor on account of receiving or having received aid from any city or
town, or because of the non-payment of a poll tax.]
Article XXXII. So much of article three of the amendments of the constitution of the
commonwealth as is contained in the following words: "and who shall have paid, by
himself, or his parent, master, or guardian, any state or county tax, which shall, within
two years next preceding such election, have been assessed upon him, in any town or
district of this commonwealth; and also every citizen who shall be, by law, exempted from
taxation, and who shall be, in all other respects, qualified as above mentioned", is
hereby annulled.
Article XXXIII. A majority of the members of each branch of the general court shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from
day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members. All the provisions of the
existing constitution inconsistent with the provisions herein contained are hereby
annulled.
Article XXXIV. So much of article two of section one of chapter two of part the second
of the constitution of the commonwealth as is contained in the following words: "and
unless he shall at the same time, be seised in his own right, of a freehold within the
commonwealth of the value of one thousand pounds"; is hereby annulled.
Article XXXV. So much of article two of section three of chapter one of the
constitution of the commonwealth as is contained in the following words: "The
expenses of travelling to the general assembly, and returning home, once in every session,
and no more, shall be paid by the government, out of the public treasury, to every member
who shall attend as seasonably as he can, in the judgment of the house, and does not
depart without leave", is hereby annulled.
Article XXXVI. So much of article nineteen of the articles of amendment to the
constitution of the commonwealth as is contained in the following words
"commissioners of insolvency", is hereby annulled.
Article XXXVII. The governor, with the consent of the council, may remove justices of
the peace and notaries public.
Article XXXVIII. Voting machines or other mechanical devices for voting may be used at
all elections under such regulations as may be prescribed by law: provided, however,
that the right of secret voting shall be preserved.
Article XXXIX. Article ten of part one of the constitution is hereby amended by adding
to it the following words: -- The legislature may by special acts for the purpose of
laying out, widening or relocating highways or streets, authorize the taking in fee by the
commonwealth, or by a county, city or town, of more land and property than are needed for
the actual construction of such highway or street: provided, however, that the land
and property authorized to be taken are specified in the act and are no more in extent
than would be sufficient for suitable building lots on both sides of such highway or
street, and after so much of the land or property has been appropriated for such highway
or street as is needed therefor, may authorize the sale of the remainder for value with or
without suitable restrictions.
Article XL. Article three of the amendments to the constitution is hereby amended by
inserting after the word "guardianship", in line two, the following: -- and
persons temporarily or permanently disqualified by law because of corrupt practices in
respect to elections.
Article XLI. [Full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the general
court to prescribe for wild or forest lands such methods of taxation as will develop and
conserve the forest resources of the commonwealth.] [Annulled by Amendments, Art. CX.]
Article XLII. [Full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the general
court to refer to the people for their rejection or approval at the polls any act or
resolve of the general court or any part or parts thereof. Such reference shall be by a
majority yea and nay vote of all members of each house present and voting. Any act,
resolve, or part thereof so referred shall be voted on at the regular state election next
ensuing after such reference, shall become law if approved by a majority of the voters
voting thereon, and shall take effect at the expiration of thirty days after the election
at which it was approved or at such time after the expiration of the said thirty days as
may be fixed in such act, resolve or part thereof.] [Annulled and superseded by
Amendments, Art. XLVIII, General Provisions, VIII.]
Article XLIII. The general court shall have power to authorize the commonwealth to take
land and to hold, improve, sub-divide, build upon and sell the same, for the purpose of
relieving congestion of population and providing homes for citizens; provided, however,
that this amendment shall not be deemed to authorize the sale of such land or buildings at
less than the cost thereof.
Article XLIV. Full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the general
court to impose and levy a tax on income in the manner hereinafter provided. Such tax may
be at different rates upon income derived from different classes of property, but shall be
levied at a uniform rate throughout the commonwealth upon incomes derived from the same
class of property. The general court may tax income not derived from property at a lower
rate than income derived from property, and may grant reasonable exemptions and
abatements. Any class of property the income from which is taxed under the provisions of
this article may be exempted from the imposition and levying of proportional and
reasonable assessments, rates and taxes as at present authorized by the constitution. This
article shall not be construed to limit the power of the general court to impose and levy
reasonable duties and excises.
Article XLV. [The general court shall have power to provide by law for voting by
qualified voters of the commonwealth who, at the time of an election, are absent from the
city or town of which they are inhabitants in the choice of any officer to be elected or
upon any question submitted at such election.] [Annulled and superseded by Amendments,
Arts. LXXVI and CV.] [For compulsory voting, see Amendments, Art. LXI.
Article XLVI. (In place of article XVIII of the articles of amendment of the
constitution ratified and adopted April 9, 1821, the following article of amendment,
submitted by the constitutional convention, was ratified and adopted November 6, 1917.)
Article XVIII.
Section 1. No law shall be passed prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
Section 2. All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support of
public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the commonwealth for the
support of common schools shall be applied to, and expended in, no other schools than
those which are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the
authorities of the town or city in which the money is expended; and no grant,
appropriation or use of public money or property or loan of public credit shall be made or
authorized by the commonwealth or any political division thereof for the purpose of
founding, maintaining or aiding any other school or institution of learning, whether under
public control or otherwise, wherein any denominational doctrine is inculcated, or any
other school, or any college, infirmary, hospital, institution, or educational, charitable
or religious undertaking which is not publicly owned and under the exclusive control,
order and superintendence of public officers or public agents authorized by the
commonwealth or federal authority or both, except that appropriations may be made for the
maintenance and support of the Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts and for free public
libraries in any city or town, and to carry out legal obligations, if any, already entered
into; and no such grant, appropriation or use of public money or property or loan of
public credit shall be made or authorized for the purpose of founding, maintaining or
aiding any church, religious denomination or society.]
Section 3. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the commonwealth, or
any political division thereof, from paying to privately controlled hospitals,
infirmaries, or institutions for the deaf, dumb or blind not more than the ordinary and
reasonable compensation for care or support actually rendered or furnished by such
hospitals, infirmaries or institutions to such persons as may be in whole or in part
unable to support or care for themselves.
Section 4. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive any inmate of a
publicly controlled reformatory, penal or charitable institution of the opportunity of
religious exercises therein of his own faith; but no inmate of such institution shall be
compelled to attend religious services or receive religious instruction against his will,
or, if a minor, without the consent of his parent or guardian.
Section 5. This amendment shall not take effect until the October first next succeeding
its ratification and adoption by the people. [See Amendments, Arts. XLVIII, The
Initiative, Sec. 2., LXII, XCV, section 1 and CIII.]
Article XLVII. The maintenance and distribution at reasonable rates, during time of
war, public exigency, emergency or distress, of a sufficient supply of food and other
common necessaries of life and the providing of shelter, are public functions, and the
commonwealth and the cities and towns therein may take and may provide the same for their
inhabitants in such manner as the general court shall determine.
Article XLVIII. Definition.
Legislative power shall continue to be vested in the general court; but the people
reserve to themselves the popular initiative, which is the power of a specified number of
voters to submit constitutional amendments and laws to the people for approval or
rejection; and the popular referendum, which is the power of a specified number of voters
to submit laws, enacted by the general court, to the people for their ratification or
rejection.
The Initiative.
II. Initiative Petitions.
Section 1. Contents. - An initiative petition shall set forth the full text of
the constitutional amendment or law, hereinafter designated as the measure, which is
proposed by the petition.
Section 2. Excluded Matters. - No measure that relates to religion,
religious practices or religious institutions; or to the appointment,
qualification, tenure, removal, recall or compensation of judges; or to the reversal of a
judicial decision; or to the powers, creation or abolition of courts; or the operation of
which is restricted to a particular town, city or other political division or to
particular districts or localities of the commonwealth; or that makes a specific
appropriation of money from the treasury of the commonwealth, shall be proposed by an
initiative petition; but if a law approved by the people is not repealed, the general
court shall raise by taxation or otherwise and shall appropriate such money as may be
necessary to carry such law into effect.
Neither the eighteenth amendment of the constitution, as approved and ratified to take
effect on the first day of October in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, nor this
provision for its protection, shall be the subject of an initiative amendment.
No proposition inconsistent with any one of the following rights of the individual, as
at present declared in the declaration of rights, shall be the subject of an initiative or
referendum petition: The right to receive compensation for private property appropriated
to public use; the right of access to and protection in courts of justice; the right of
trial by jury; protection from unreasonable search, unreasonable bail and the law martial;
freedom of the press; freedom of speech; freedom of elections; and the right of peaceable
assembly.
No part of the constitution specifically excluding any matter from the operation of the
popular initiative and referendum shall be the subject of an initiative petition; nor
shall this section be the subject of such a petition.
The limitations on the legislative power of the general court in the constitution shall
extend to the legislative power of the people as exercised hereunder.
[Section 3. Mode of Originating. - Such petition shall first be signed by ten
qualified voters of the commonwealth and shall then be submitted to the attorney-general,
and if he shall certify that the measure is in proper form for submission to the people,
and that it is not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any
measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people within three
years of the succeeding first Wednesday in December and that it contains only subjects not
excluded from the popular initiative and which are related or which are mutually
dependent, it may then be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth. The secretary of
the commonwealth shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent signers, and shall print
at the top of each blank a description of the proposed measure as such description will
appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of the first ten signers. All
initiative petitions, with the first ten signatures attached, shall be filed with the
secretary of the commonwealth not earlier than the first Wednesday of the September before
the assembling of the general court into which they are to be introduced, and the
remainder of the required signatures shall be filed not later than the first Wednesday of
the following December.] [Section 3 superseded by section 1 of Amendments, Art. LXXIV.]
Section 4. Transmission to the General Court. - If an initiative petition,
signed by the required number of qualified voters, has been filed as aforesaid, the
secretary of the commonwealth shall, upon the assembling of the general court, transmit it
to the clerk of the house of representatives, and the proposed measure shall then be
deemed to be introduced and pending.
III. Legislative Action. General Provisions.
Section 1. Reference to Committee. - If a measure is introduced into the general
court by initiative petition, it shall be referred to a committee thereof, and the
petitioners and all parties in interest shall be heard, and the measure shall be
considered and reported upon to the general court with the committee's recommendations,
and the reasons therefor, in writing. Majority and minority reports shall be signed by the
members of said committee.
Section 2. Legislative Substitutes. - The general court may, by resolution
passed by yea and nay vote, either by the two houses separately, or in the case of a
constitutional amendment by a majority of those voting thereon in joint session in each of
two years as hereinafter provided, submit to the people a substitute for any measure
introduced by initiative petition, such substitute to be designated on the ballot as the
legislative substitute for such an initiative measure and to be grouped with it as an
alternative therefor.
IV. Legislative Action on Proposed
Constitutional Amendments.
[Section 1. Definition. - A proposal for amendment to the constitution
introduced into the general court by initiative petition shall be designated an initiative
amendment, and an amendment introduced by a member of either house shall be designated a
legislative substitute or a legislative amendment.
Section 2. Joint Session. - If a proposal for a specific amendment of the
constitution is introduced into the general court by initiative petition signed by not
less than twenty-five thousand qualified voters, or if in case of a proposal for amendment
introduced into the general court by a member of either house, consideration thereof in
joint session is called for by vote of either house, such proposal shall, not later than
the second Wednesday in June, be laid before a joint session of the two houses, at which
the president of the senate shall preside; and if the two houses fail to agree upon a time
for holding any joint session hereby required, or fail to continue the same from time to
time until final action has been taken upon all amendments pending, the governor shall
call such joint session or continuance thereof.] [Section 2 superseded by section 1 of
Amendments, Art. LXXXI.]
Section 3. Amendment of Proposed Amendments. - A proposal for an amendment to
the constitution introduced by initiative petition shall be voted upon in the form in
which it was introduced, unless such amendment is amended by vote of three-fourths of the
members voting thereon in joint session, which vote shall be taken by call of the yeas and
nays if called for by any member.
Section 4. Legislative Action. - Final legislative action in the joint session
upon any amendment shall be taken only by call of the yeas and nays, which shall be
entered upon the journals of the two houses; and an unfavorable vote at any stage
preceding final action shall be verified by call of the yeas and nays, to be entered in
like manner. At such joint session a legislative amendment receiving the affirmative votes
of a majority of all the members elected, or an initiative amendment receiving the
affirmative votes of not less than one-fourth of all the members elected, shall be
referred to the next general court.
Section 5. Submission to the People. - If in the next general court a
legislative amendment shall again be agreed to in joint session by a majority of all the
members elected, or if an initiative amendment or a legislative substitute shall again
receive the affirmative votes of a least one-fourth of all the members elected, such fact
shall be certified by the clerk of such joint session to the secretary of the
commonwealth, who shall submit the amendment to the people at the next state election.
Such amendment shall become part of the constitution if approved, in the case of a
legislative amendment, by a majority of the voters voting thereon, or if approved, in the
case of an initiative amendment or a legislative substitute, by voters equal in number to
at least thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at such state election and
also by a majority of the voters voting on such amendment.
Legislative Action on Proposed Laws.
[Section 1. Legislative Procedure. - If an initiative petition for a law is
introduced into the general court, signed by not less than twenty thousand qualified
voters, a vote shall be taken by yeas and nays in both houses before the first Wednesday
of June upon the enactment of such law in the form in which it stands in such petition. If
the general court fails to enact such law before the first Wednesday of June, and if such
petition is completed by filing with the secretary of the commonwealth, not earlier than
the first Wednesday of the following July nor later than the first Wednesday of the
following August, not less than five thousand signatures of qualified voters, in addition
to those signing such initiative petition, which signatures must have been obtained after
the first Wednesday of June aforesaid, then the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit
such proposed law to the people at the next state election. If it shall be approved by
voters equal in number to at least thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at
such state election and also by a majority of the voters voting on such law, it shall
become law, and shall take effect in thirty days after such state election or at such time
after such election as may be provided in such law.] [Section 1 superseded by section 2 of
Amendments, Art. LXXXI.]
[Section 2. Amendment by Petitioners. - If the general court fails to pass a
proposed law before the first Wednesday of June, a majority of the first ten signers of
the initiative petition therefor shall have the right, subject to certification by the
attorney-general filed as hereinafter provided, to amend the measure which is the subject
of such petition. An amendment so made shall not invalidate any signature attached to the
petition. If the measure so amended, signed by a majority of the first ten signers, is
filed with the secretary of the commonwealth before the first Wednesday of the following
July, together with a certificate signed by the attorney-general to the effect that the
amendment made by such proposers is in his opinion perfecting in its nature and does not
materially change the substance of the measure, and if such petition is completed by
filing with the secretary of the commonwealth, not earlier than the first Wednesday of the
following July nor later than the first Wednesday of the following August, not less than
five thousand signatures of qualified voters, in addition to those signing such initiative
petition, which signatures must have been obtained after the first Wednesday of June
aforesaid, then the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit the measure to the people
in its amended form.] [Section 2 superseded by section 3 of Amendments, Art. LXXXI.]
VI. Conflicting and Alternative Measures.
If in any judicial proceeding, provisions of constitutional amendments or of laws
approved by the people at the same election are held to be in conflict, then the
provisions contained in the measure that received the largest number of affirmative votes
at such election shall govern.
A constitutional amendment approved at any election shall govern any law approved at
the same election.
The general court, by resolution passed as hereinbefore set forth, may provide for
grouping and designating upon the ballot as conflicting measures or as alternative
measures, only one of which is to be adopted, any two or more proposed constitutional
amendments or laws which have been or may be passed or qualified for submission to the
people at any one election: provided, that a proposed constitutional amendment and a
proposed law shall not be so grouped, and that the ballot shall afford an opportunity to
the voter to vote for each of the measures or for only one of the measures, as may be
provided in said resolution, or against each of the measures so grouped as conflicting or
as alternative. In case more than one of the measures so grouped shall receive the vote
required for its approval as herein provided, only that one for which the largest
affirmative vote was cast shall be deemed to be approved.
The Referendum.
I. When Statutes shall take Effect.
No law passed by the general court shall take effect earlier than ninety days after it
has become a law, excepting laws declared to be emergency laws and laws which may not be
made the subject of a referendum petition, as herein provided.
II. Emergency Measures.
A law declared to be an emergency law shall contain a preamble setting forth the facts
constituting the emergency, and shall contain the statement that such law is necessary for
the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or convenience. [A separate
vote shall be taken on the preamble by call of the yeas and nays, which shall be recorded,
and unless the preamble is adopted by two-thirds of the members of each house voting
thereon, the law shall not be an emergency law; but] if the governor, at any time before
the election at which it is to be submitted to the people on referendum, files with the
secretary of the commonwealth a statement declaring that in his opinion the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, safety or convenience requires that such law
should take effect forthwith and that it is an emergency law and setting forth the facts
constituting the emergency, then such law, if not previously suspended as hereinafter
provided, shall take effect without suspension, or if such law has been so suspended such
suspension shall thereupon terminate and such law shall thereupon take effect: but no
grant of any franchise or amendment thereof, or renewal or extension thereof for more than
one year shall be declared to be an emergency law. [See Amendments, Art. LXVII.]
III. Referendum Petitions.
Section 1. Contents. - A referendum petition may ask for a referendum to the
people upon any law enacted by the general court which is not herein expressly excluded.
Section 2. Excluded Matters. - No law that relates to religion,
religious practices or religious institutions; or to the appointment,
qualification, tenure, removal or compensation of judges; or to the powers, creation or
abolition of courts; or the operation of which is restricted to a particular town, city or
other political division or to particular districts or localities of the commonwealth; or
that appropriates money for the current or ordinary expenses of the commonwealth or for
any of its departments, boards, commissions or institutions shall be the subject of a
referendum petition.
Section 3. Mode of Petitioning for the Suspension of a Law and a Referendum Thereon.
- A petition asking for a referendum on a law, and requesting that the operation of such
law be suspended, shall first be signed by ten qualified voters and shall then be filed
with the secretary of the commonwealth not later than thirty days after the law that is
the subject of the petition has become law. [The secretary of the commonwealth shall
provide blanks for the use of subsequent signers, and shall print at the top of each blank
a description of the proposed law as such description will appear on the ballot together
with the names and residences of the first ten signers. If such petition is completed by
filing with the secretary of the commonwealth not later than ninety days after the law
which is the subject of the petition has become law the signatures of not less than
fifteen thousand qualified voters of the commonwealth, then the operation of such law
shall be suspended, and the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such law to the
people at the next state election, if thirty days intervene between the date when such
petition is filed with the secretary of the commonwealth and the date for holding such
state election; if thirty days do not so intervene, then such law shall be submitted to
the people at the next following state election, unless in the meantime it shall have been
repealed; and if it shall be approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting
thereon, such law shall, subject to the provisions of the constitution, take effect in
thirty days after such election, or at such time after such election as may be provided in
such law; if not so approved such law shall be null and void; but no such law shall be
held to be disapproved if the negative vote is less than thirty per cent of the total
number of ballots cast at such state election.] [Section 3 amended by section 2 of
Amendments, Art. LXXIV and section 4 of Amendments, Art. LXXXI]
Section 4. Petitions for Referendum on an Emergency Law or a Law the Suspension of
Which is Not Asked for. - A referendum petition may ask for the repeal of an emergency
law or of a law which takes effect because the referendum petition does not contain a
request for suspension, as aforesaid. Such petition shall first be signed by ten qualified
voters of the commonwealth, and shall then be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth
not later than thirty days after the law which is the subject of the petition has become
law. [The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent
signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a description of the proposed law as
such description will appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of the
first ten signers. If such petition filed as aforesaid is completed by filing with the
secretary of the commonwealth not later than ninety days after the law which is the
subject of the petition has become law the signatures of not less than ten thousand
qualified voters of the commonwealth protesting against such law and asking for a
referendum thereon, then the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such law to the
people at the next state election, if thirty days intervene between the date when such
petition is filed with the secretary of the commonwealth and the date for holding such
state election. If thirty days do not so intervene, then it shall be submitted to the
people at the next following state election, unless in the meantime it shall have been
repealed; and if it shall not be approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting
thereon, it shall, at the expiration of thirty days after such election, be thereby
repealed; but no such law shall be held to be disapproved if the negative vote is less
than thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at such state election.] [Section
4 superseded by section 3 of Amendments, Art. LXXIV and section 5 of Amendments, Art.
LXXXI.]
General Provisions.
I. Identification and Certification of Signatures.
Provision shall be made by law for the proper identification and certification of
signatures to the petitions hereinbefore referred to, and for penalties for signing any
such petition, or refusing to sign it, for money or other valuable consideration, and for
the forgery of signatures thereto. Pending the passage of such legislation all provisions
of law relating to the identification and certification of signatures to petitions for the
nomination of candidates for state offices or to penalties for the forgery of such
signatures shall apply to the signatures to the petitions herein referred to. The general
court may provide by law that no co-partnership or corporation shall undertake for hire or
reward to circulate petitions, may require individuals who circulate petitions for hire or
reward to be licensed, and may make other reasonable regulations to prevent abuses arising
from the circulation of petitions for hire or reward.
II. Limitation on Signatures.
Not more than one-fourth of the certified signatures on any petition shall be those of
registered voters of any one county.
[III. Form of Ballot.
Each proposed amendment to the constitution, and each law submitted to the people,
shall be described on the ballots by a description to be determined by the
attorney-general, subject to such provision as may be made by law, and the secretary of
the commonwealth shall give each question a number and cause such question, except as
otherwise authorized herein, to be printed on the ballot in the following form:-
In the case of an amendment to the constitution: Shall an amendment to the constitution
(here insert description, and state, in distinctive type, whether approved or disapproved
by the general court, and by what vote thereon) be approved?
In the case of a law: Shall a law (here insert description, and state, in distinctive
type, whether approved or disapproved by the general court, and by what vote thereon) be
approved?
IV. Information for Voters.
The secretary of the commonwealth shall cause to be printed and sent to each registered
voter in the commonwealth the full text of every measure to be submitted to the people,
together with a copy of the legislative committee's majority and minority reports, if
there be such, with the names of the majority and minority members thereon, a statement of
the votes of the general court on the measure, and a description of the measure as such
description will appear on the ballot; and shall, in such manner as may be provided by
law, cause to be prepared and sent to the voters other information and arguments for and
against the measure.] [Subheadings III and IV superseded by section 4 of
Amendments, Art. LXXIV.] [Subheading IV superseded by Amendments,Art. CVIII.]
V. The Veto Power of the Governor.
The veto power of the governor shall not extend to measures approved by the people.
VI. The General Court's Power of Repeal.
Subject to the veto power of the governor and to the right of referendum by petition as
herein provided, the general court may amend or repeal a law approved by the people.
VII. Amendment Declared to be Self-executing.
This article of amendment to the constitution is self-executing, but legislation not
inconsistent with anything herein contained may be enacted to facilitate the operation of
its provisions.
VIII. Articles IX and XLII of Amendments of the Constitution Annulled.
Article IX and Article XLII of the amendments of the constitution are hereby annulled.
Article XLIX. [The conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural,
mineral, forest, water and other natural resources of the commonwealth are public uses,
and the general court shall have power to provide for the taking, upon payment of just
compensation therefor, of lands and easements or interests therein, including water and
mineral rights, for the purpose of securing and promoting the proper conservation,
development, utilization and control thereof and to enact legislation necessary or
expedient therefor.] [Superseded by Amendments, Art. XCVII.]
Article L. Advertising on public ways, in public places and on private property within
public view may be regulated and restricted by law.
Article LI. The preservation and maintenance of ancient landmarks and other property of
historical or antiquarian interest is a public use, and the commonwealth and the cities
and towns therein may, upon payment of just compensation, take such property or any
interest therein under such regulations as the general court may prescribe.
Article LII. [The general court, by concurrent vote of the two houses, may take a
recess or recesses amounting to not more than thirty days; but no such recess shall extend
beyond the sixtieth day from the date of their first assembling.] [Superseded by
Amendments, Art. CII.]
Article LIII. Article X of Section I of Chapter II of the constitution, the last two
paragraphs of Article IV of the articles of amendment, relating to the appointment of a
commissary general and the removal of militia officers, and Article V of the articles of
amendment are hereby annulled, and the following is adopted in place thereof:
Article X. All military and naval officers shall be selected and appointed and may be
removed in such manner as the general court may by law prescribe, but no such officer
shall be appointed unless he shall have passed an examination prepared by a competent
commission or shall have served one year in either the federal or state militia or in
military service. All such officers who are entitled by law to receive commissions shall
be commissioned by the governor.
Article LIV. Article VII of Section I of Chapter II of the constitution is hereby
annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:
Article VII. The general court shall provide by law for the recruitment, equipment,
organization, training and discipline of the military and naval forces. The governor shall
be the commander-in-chief thereof, and shall have power to assemble the whole or any part
of them for training, instruction or parade, and to employ them for the suppression of
rebellion, the repelling of invasion, and the enforcement of the laws. He may, as
authorized by the general court, prescribe from time to time the organization of the
military and naval forces and make regulations for their government.
Article LV. Article VI of Section III of Chapter II of the constitution is hereby
annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:
Whenever the offices of governor and lieutenant-governor shall both be vacant, by
reason of death, absence from the commonwealth, or otherwise, then one of the following
officers, in the order of succession herein named, namely, the secretary,
attorney-general, treasurer and receiver-general, and auditor, shall, during such vacancy,
have full power and authority to do and execute all and every such acts, matters and
things as the governor or the lieutenant-governor might or could lawfully do or execute,
if they, or either of them, were personally present.
Article LVI. [The governor, within five days after any bill or resolve shall have been
laid before him, shall have the right to return it to the branch of the general court in
which it originated with a recommendation that any amendment or amendments specified by
him be made therein. Such bill or resolve shall thereupon be before the general court and
subject to amendment and re-enactment. If such bill or resolve is re-enacted in any form
it shall again be laid before the governor for his action, but he shall have no right to
return the same a second time with a recommendation to amend.] [Superseded by Amendments,
Art. XC, Sec. 3.]
Article LVII. Article IV of the articles of amendment of the constitution of the
commonwealth is hereby amended by adding thereto the following words: -- Women shall be
eligible to appointment as notaries public. [Change of name shall render the commission
void, but shall not prevent reappointment under the new name.] [See Amendments, Art.
LXIX.]
Article LVIII. Article I of Chapter III of Part the Second of the constitution is
hereby amended by the addition of the following words: -- and provided also that the
governor, with the consent of the council, may after due notice and hearing retire them
because of advanced age or mental or physical disability. Such retirement shall be subject
to any provisions made by law as to pensions or allowances payable to such officers upon
their voluntary retirement. [Superseded by Amendments, Art. XCVIII.]
Article LIX. Every charter, franchise or act of incorporation shall forever remain
subject to revocation and amendment.
Article LX. The general court shall have power to limit buildings according to their
use or construction to specified districts of cities and towns.
Article LXI. The general court shall have authority to provide for compulsory voting at
elections, but the right of secret voting shall be preserved.
Article LXII. Section 1. The credit of the commonwealth shall not in any manner
be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, or of any private association, or of
any corporation which is privately owned and managed.] [Superseded by Amendments, Art.
LXXXIV.]
Section 2. The commonwealth may borrow money to repel invasion, suppress
insurrection, defend the commonwealth, or to assist the United States in case of war, and
may also borrow money in anticipation of receipts from taxes or other sources, such loan
to be paid out of the revenue of the year in which it is created.
Section 3. In addition to the loans which may be contracted as before provided,
the commonwealth may borrow money only by a vote, taken by the yeas and nays, of
two-thirds of each house of the general court present and voting thereon. The governor
shall recommend to the general court the term for which any loan shall be contracted.
Section 4. Borrowed money shall not be expended for any other purpose than that
for which it was borrowed or for the reduction or discharge of the principal of the loan.
Article LXIII. Section 1. Collection of Revenue. - All money received on
account of the commonwealth from any source whatsoever shall be paid into the treasury
thereof.
Section 2. The Budget. - Within three weeks after the convening of the
general court the governor shall recommend to the general court a budget which shall
contain a statement of all proposed expenditures of the commonwealth for the fiscal year,
including those already authorized by law, and of all taxes, revenues, loans and other
means by which such expenditures shall be defrayed. This shall be arranged in such form as
the general court may by law prescribe, or, in default thereof, as the governor shall
determine. For the purpose of preparing his budget, the governor shall have power to
require any board, commission, officer, or department to furnish him with any information
which he may deem necessary.] [See Amendments, Arts. LXXII and LXXV.] [Annulled by
Amendments, Art. CVII.]
Section 3. The General Appropriation Bill. - All appropriations based
upon the budget to be paid from taxes or revenues shall be incorporated in a single bill
which shall be called the general appropriation bill. The general court may increase,
decrease, add or omit items in the budget. The general court may provide for its salaries,
mileage, and expenses and for necessary expenditures in anticipation of appropriations,
but before final action on the general appropriation bill it shall not enact any other
appropriation bill except on recommendation of the governor. The governor may at any time
recommend to the general court supplementary budgets which shall be subject to the same
procedures as the original budget.
Section 4. Special Appropriation Bills. - After final action on the
general appropriation bill or on recommendation of the governor, special appropriation
bills may be enacted. Such bills shall provide the specific means for defraying the
appropriations therein contained.
Section 5. [Submission to the Governor. - The governor may disapprove or
reduce items or parts of items in any bill appropriating money. So much of such bill as he
approves shall upon his signing the same become law. As to each item disapproved or
reduced, he shall transmit to the house in which the bill originated his reason for such
disapproval or reduction, and the procedure shall then be the same as in the case of a
bill disapproved as a whole. In case he shall fail so to transmit his reasons for such
disapproval or reduction within five days after the bill shall have been presented to him,
such items shall have the force of law unless the general court by adjournment shall
prevent such transmission, in which case they shall not be law.] [See Amendments, Art. XC,
Sec. 4..]
Article LXIV. [Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, councillors,
secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general, auditor, senators and
representatives, shall be elected biennially. The governor, lieutenant-governor and
councillors shall hold their respective offices from the first Wednesday in January
succeeding their election to and including the first Wednesday in January in the third
year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The
terms of senators and representatives shall begin with the first Wednesday in January
succeeding their election and shall extend to the first Wednesday in January in the third
year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The
terms of the secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general and auditor,
shall begin with the third Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend
to the third Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until
their successors are chosen and qualified.] [Superseded by Amendments, Art. LXXX.]
Section 2. No person shall be eligible to election to the office of treasurer
and receiver-general for more than three successive terms. [Annulled by Amendments, Art.
LXXXII.]
Section 3. The general court shall assemble every year on the first Wednesday in
January. [See Amendments, Arts. LXXII and LXXV.]
Section 4. The first election to which this article shall apply shall be held on
the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in the year nineteen hundred and
twenty, and thereafter elections for the choice of all the officers before-mentioned shall
be held biennially on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.] [Annulled and
superseded by Amendments, Art. LXXXII.]
Article LXV. No person elected to the general court shall during the term for which he
was elected be appointed to any office created or the emoluments whereof are increased
during such term, nor receive additional salary or compensation for service upon any
recess committee or commission except a committee appointed to examine a general revision
of the statutes of the commonwealth when submitted to the general court for adoption.
Article LXVI. On or before January first, nineteen hundred twenty-one, the executive
and administrative work of the commonwealth shall be organized in not more than twenty
departments, in one of which every executive and administrative office, board and
commission, except those officers serving directly under the governor or the council,
shall be placed. Such departments shall be under such supervision and regulation as the
general court may from time to time prescribe by law. [Annulled by Amendments, Art.
LXXXVII.]
Article LXVII. Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby amended
by striking out, in that part entitled "II. Emergency Measures", under
the heading "The Referendum", the words "A separate vote shall be
taken on the preamble by call of the yeas and nays, which shall be recorded, and unless
the preamble is adopted by two-thirds of the members of each House voting thereon, the law
shall not be an emergency law; but" and substituting the following: -- A separate
vote, which shall be recorded, shall be taken on the preamble, and unless the preamble is
adopted by two-thirds of the members of each House voting thereon, the law shall not be an
emergency law. Upon the request of two members of the Senate or of five members of the
House of Representatives, the vote on the preamble in such branch shall be taken by call
of the yeas and nays. But
Article LXVIII. Article III of the amendments to the constitution, as amended, is
hereby further amended by striking out, in the first line, the word "male".
Article LXIX. Section 1. No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to hold
state, county or municipal office by reason of sex.
Section 2. Article IV of the articles of amendment of the constitution of the
commonwealth, as amended by Article LVII of said amendments, is hereby further amended by
striking out the words "Change of name shall render the commission void, but shall
not prevent reappointment under the new name", and inserting in place thereof the
following words: -- Upon the change of name of any woman, she shall re-register under her
new name and shall pay such fee therefor as shall be established by the general court.
Article LXX. Article II of the articles of amendment to the constitution of the
commonwealth is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:
--
Nothing in this article shall prevent the general court from establishing in any
corporate town or towns in this commonwealth containing more than six thousand inhabitants
a form of town government providing for a town meeting limited to such inhabitants of the
town as may be elected to meet, deliberate, act and vote in the exercise of the corporate
powers of the town subject to such restrictions and regulations as the general court may
prescribe; provided, that such establishment be with the consent, and on the application
of a majority of the inhabitants of such town, present and voting thereon, pursuant to a
vote at a meeting duly warned and holden for that purpose. [Annulled by Amendments, Art.
LXXXIX.]
Article LXXI. [Article XXI of the articles of amendment is hereby annulled and the
following is adopted in place thereof:
Article XXI. In the year nineteen hundred and thirty-five and every tenth year
thereafter a census of the inhabitants of each city and town shall be taken and a special
enumeration shall be made of the legal voters therein. Said special enumeration shall also
specify the number of legal voters residing in each precinct of each town containing
twelve thousand or more inhabitants according to said census and in each ward of each
city. Each special enumeration shall be the basis for determining the representative
districts for the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the fourth January
following said special enumeration; provided, that such districts as established in the
year nineteen hundred and twenty-six shall continue in effect until the first Wednesday in
January in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.
The house of representatives shall consist of two hundred and forty members, which
shall be apportioned by the general court, at its first regular session after the return
of each special enumeration, to the several counties of the commonwealth, equally, as
nearly as may be, according to their relative numbers of legal voters, as ascertained by
said special enumeration; and the town of Cohasset, in the county of Norfolk, shall, for
this purpose, as well as in the formation of districts as hereinafter provided, be
considered a part of the county of Plymouth; and it shall be the duty of the secretary of
the commonwealth to certify, as soon as may be after it is determined by the general
court, the number of representatives to which each county shall be entitled, to the board
authorized to divide such county into representative districts. The county commissioners
or other body acting as such or, in lieu thereof, such board of special commissioners in
each county as may for that purpose be provided by law, shall, within thirty days after
such certification by the secretary of the commonwealth or within such other period as the
general court may by law provide, assemble at a shire town of their respective counties,
and proceed, as soon as may be, to divide the same into representative districts of
contiguous territory and assign representatives thereto, so that each representative in
such county will represent an equal number of legal voters, as nearly as may be; and such
districts shall be so formed that no town containing less than twelve thousand inhabitants
according to said census, no precinct of any other town and no ward of a city shall be
divided therefor, nor shall any district be made which shall be entitled to elect more
than three representatives. The general court may by law limit the time within which
judicial proceedings may be instituted calling in question any such apportionment,
division or assignment. Every representative, for one year at least immediately preceding
his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen and
shall cease to represent such district when he shall cease to be an inhabitant of the
commonwealth. The districts in each county shall be numbered by the board creating the
same, and a description of each, with the numbers thereof and the number of legal voters
therein, shall be returned by the board, to the secretary of the commonwealth, the county
treasurer of such county, and to the clerk of every city or town in such county, to be
filed and kept in their respective offices. The manner of calling and conducting the
elections for the choice of representatives, and of ascertaining their election, shall be
prescribed by law.
Article XXII of the articles of amendment is hereby annulled and the following is
adopted in place thereof:
Article XXII. Each special enumeration of legal voters required in the preceding
article of amendment shall likewise be the basis for determining the senatorial districts
and also the councillor districts for the ten year period beginning with the first
Wednesday in the fourth January following such enumeration; provided, that such districts
as established in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-six shall continue in effect until
the first Wednesday in January in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine. The senate
shall consist of forty members. The general court shall, at its first regular session
after the return of each special enumeration, divide the commonwealth into forty districts
of contiguous territory, each district to contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of
legal voters, according to said special enumeration; provided, however, that no town or
ward of a city shall be divided therefor; and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as
may be, without uniting two counties, or parts of two or more counties, into one district.
The general court may by law limit the time within which judicial proceedings may be
instituted calling in question such division. Each district shall elect one senator, who
shall have been an inhabitant of this commonwealth five years at least immediately
preceding his election, and at the time of his election shall be an inhabitant of the
district for which he is chosen; and he shall cease to represent such senatorial district
when he shall cease to be an inhabitant of the commonwealth. [Superseded by Amendments,
Arts. XCII, CI and CIX.]
Article LXXII. [Section 1. The general court shall assemble in regular session
on the first Wednesday of January in the year following the approval of this article and
biennially on said Wednesday thereafter. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the
general court from assembling at such other times as they shall judge necessary or when
called together by the governor."
Section 2. The budget required by Section 2 of Article LXIII of the amendments
to the constitution shall be for the year in which the same is adopted and for the ensuing
year."
Section 3. All provisions of this constitution and of the amendments thereto
requiring the general court to meet annually are hereby annulled."] [Annulled by
Amendments, Art. LXXV.]
Article LXXIII. Article VIII of section I of chapter II of Part the Second of the
Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby annulled and the following is adopted in place
thereof:--
Art. VIII. The power of pardoning offences, except such as persons may be
convicted of before the senate by an impeachment of the house, shall be in the governor,
by and with the advice of council, provided, that if the offence is a felony the general
court shall have power to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which a pardon may be
granted; but no charter of pardon, granted by the governor, with advice of the council
before conviction, shall avail the party pleading the same, notwithstanding any general or
particular expressions contained therein, descriptive of the offence or offences intended
to be pardoned.
Article LXXIV. Section 1. Article XLVIII of the amendments to the constitution
is hereby amended by striking out section three, under the heading "THE INITIATIVE.
III. Initiative Petitions.", and inserting in place thereof the following: -
Section 3. Mode of Originating. - Such petition shall first be signed by
ten qualified voters of the commonwealth and shall be submitted to the attorney-general
not later than the first Wednesday of the August before the assembling of the general
court into which it is to be introduced, and if he shall certify that the measure and the
title thereof are in proper form for submission to the people, and that the measure is
not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any measure which has
been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at either of the two preceding
biennial state elections, and that it contains only subjects not excluded from the popular
initiative and which are related or which are mutually dependent, it may then be filed
with the secretary of the commonwealth. The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide
blanks for the use of subsequent signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a fair,
concise summary, as determined by the attorney-general, of the proposed measure as such
summary will appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of the first ten
signers. All initiative petitions, with the first ten signatures attached, shall be filed
with the secretary of the commonwealth not earlier than the first Wednesday of the
September before the assembling of the general court into which they are to be introduced,
and the remainder of the required signatures shall be filed not later than the first
Wednesday of the following December.
Section 2. Section three of that part of said Article XLVIII, under the heading
"THE REFERENDUM. III. Referendum Petitions.", is hereby amended by
striking out the words "The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide blanks for
the use of subsequent signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a description of
the proposed law as such description will appear on the ballot together with the names and
residences of the first ten signers.", and inserting in place thereof the words
"The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent
signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed
law as such summary will appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of
the first ten signers."
Section 3. Section four of that part of said Article XLVIII under the heading
"THE REFERENDUM. III. Referendum Petitions.", is hereby amended by
striking out the words "The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide blanks for
the use of subsequent signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a description of
the proposed law as such description will appear on the ballot together with the names and
residences of the first ten signers.", and inserting in place thereof the words
"The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent
signers, and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed
law as such summary will appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of
the first ten signers."
Section 4. Said Article XLVIII is hereby further amended by striking out, under
the heading "GENERAL PROVISIONS", all of subheading "III. Form of
Ballot." and all of subheading "IV. Information for Voters.",
and inserting in place thereof the following:--
III. Form of Ballot.
A fair, concise summary, as determined by the attorney general, subject to such
provision as may be made by law, of each proposed amendment to the constitution, and each
law submitted to the people, shall be printed on the ballot, and the secretary of the
commonwealth shall give each question a number and cause such question, except as
otherwise authorized herein, to be printed on the ballot in the following form:--
In the case of an amendment to the constitution: Do you approve of the adoption of an
amendment to the constitution summarized below, (here state, in distinctive type, whether
approved or disapproved by the general court, and by what vote thereon)?
[Set forth summary here]
In the case of a law: Do you approve of a law summarized below, (here state, in
distinctive type, whether approved or disapproved by the general court, and by what vote
thereon)?
[Set forth summary here]
IV. Information for Voters.
The secretary of the commonwealth shall cause to be printed and sent to each registered
voter in the commonwealth the full text of every measure to be submitted to the people,
together with a copy of the legislative committee's majority and minority reports, if
there be such, with the names of the majority and minority members thereon, a statement of
the votes of the general court on the measure, and a fair, concise summary of the measure
as such summary will appear on the ballot; and shall, in such manner as may be provided by
law, cause to be prepared and sent to the voters other information and arguments for and
against the measure.] [See Amendments, Art. CVIII.]
Article LXXV. Article LXXII of the amendments to the constitution providing for
biennial sessions of the general court and a biennial budget is hereby annulled, and all
provisions of this constitution and of the amendments thereto which were annulled or
affected by said Article shall have the same force and effect as though said Article had
not been adopted.
Article LXXVI. Article XLV of the articles of amendment is hereby annulled and the
following is adopted in place thereof:--
Article XLV. The general court shall have power to provide by law for voting, in
the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question submitted at an election, by
qualified voters of the commonwealth who, at the time of such an election, are absent from
the city or town of which they are inhabitants or are unable by reason of physical
disability to cast their votes in person at the polling places. [Superseded by Amendments,
Art. CV.]
Article LXXVII. Article XVI of Part the First is hereby annulled and the following is
adopted in place thereof:
Article XVI. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in
a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth. The right of free
speech shall not be abridged.
Article LXXVIII. No revenue from fees, duties, excises or license taxes relating to
registration, operation or use of vehicles on public highways, or to fuels used for
propelling such vehicles, shall be expended for other than cost of administration of laws
providing for such revenue, making of refunds and adjustments in relation thereto, payment
of highway obligations, or cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of
public highways and bridges and of the enforcement of state traffic laws; and such revenue
shall be expended by the commonwealth or its counties, cities and towns for said highway
purposes only and in such manner as the general court may direct; provided, that this
amendment shall not apply to revenue from any excise tax imposed in lieu of local property
taxes for the privilege of registering such vehicles. [Annulled by Amendments, Art. CIV.]
Article LXXIX. Article XVII of the amendments of the constitution, as amended, is
hereby further amended by striking out, in the third sentence, the words "two persons
who had the highest number of votes for said offices on the day in November
aforesaid" and inserting in place thereof the words: - people at large, - so that
said sentence will read as follows: - In case of a failure to elect either of said
officers on the day in November aforesaid, or in case of the decease, in the meantime, of
the person elected as such, such officer shall be chosen on or before the third Wednesday
in January next thereafter, from the people at large, by joint ballot of the senators and
representatives, in one room; and in case the office of secretary, or treasurer and
receiver-general, or auditor, or attorney-general, shall become vacant, from any cause,
during an annual or special session of the general court, such vacancy shall in like
manner be filled by choice from the people at large; but if such vacancy shall occur at
any other time, it shall be supplied by the governor by appointment, with the advice and
consent of the council.
Article LXXX. [Article LXIV of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby amended by
striking out section 1 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, councillors, secretary, treasurer
and receiver-general, attorney-general, auditor, senators and representatives shall be
elected biennially. The terms of the governor, lieutenant-governor and councillors shall
begin at noon on the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in January succeeding
their election and shall end at noon on the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in
January in the third year following their election. If the governor elect shall have died
before the qualification of the lieutenant-governor elect, the lieutenant-governor elect
upon qualification shall become governor. If both the governor elect and the
lieutenant-governor elect shall have died both said offices shall be deemed to be vacant
and the provisions of Article LV of the Amendments to the Constitution shall apply. The
terms of senators and representatives shall begin with the first Wednesday in January
succeeding their election and shall extend to the first Wednesday in January in the third
year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The
terms of the secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general and auditor,
shall begin with the third Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend
to the third Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until
their successors are chosen and qualified.] [Annulled and superseded by Amendments, Art.
LXXXII.]
Article LXXXI. Section 1. Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution is
hereby amended by striking out section 2, under the heading "THE INITIATIVE. IV.
Legislative Action on Proposed Constitutional Amendments.", and inserting in
place thereof the following:-
Section 2. Joint Session. - If a proposal for a specific amendment of the
constitution is introduced into the general court by initiative petition signed in the
aggregate by not less than such number of voters as will equal three per cent of the
entire vote cast for governor at the preceding biennial state election, or if in case of a
proposal for amendment introduced into the general court by a member of either house,
consideration thereof in joint session is called for by vote of either house, such
proposal shall, not later than the second Wednesday in May, be laid before a joint session
of the two houses, at which the president of the senate shall preside; and if the two
houses fail to agree upon a time for holding any joint session hereby required, or fail to
continue the same from time to time until final action has been taken upon all amendments
pending, the governor shall call such joint session or continuance thereof.
Section 2. Section 1 of that part of said Article XLVIII, under the heading "THE
INITIATIVE. V. Legislative Action on Proposed Laws.", is hereby amended by
striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following:-
Section 1. Legislative Procedure. - If an initiative petition for a law is
introduced into the general court, signed in the aggregate by not less than such number of
voters as will equal three per cent of the entire vote cast for governor at the preceding
biennial state election, a vote shall be taken by yeas and nays in both houses before the
first Wednesday of May upon the enactment of such law in the form in which it stands in
such petition. If the general court fails to enact such law before the first Wednesday of
May, and if such petition is completed by filing with the secretary of the commonwealth,
not earlier than the first Wednesday of the following June nor later than the first
Wednesday of the following July, a number of signatures of qualified voters equal in
number to not less than one half of one per cent of the entire vote cast for governor at
the preceding biennial state election, in addition to those signing such initiative
petition, which signatures must have been obtained after the first Wednesday of May
aforesaid, then the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such proposed law to the
people at the next state election. If it shall be approved by voters equal in number to at
least thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at such state election and also
by a majority of the voters voting on such law, it shall become law, and shall take effect
in thirty days after such state election or at such time after such election as may be
provided in such law.
Section 3. Section 2 of that part of said Article XLVIII, under the heading "THE
INITIATIVE. V. Legislative Action on Proposed Laws.", is hereby amended by
striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following:-
Section 2. Amendment by Petitioners. - If the general court fails to pass a
proposed law before the first Wednesday of May, a majority of the first ten signers of the
initiative petition therefor shall have the right, subject to certification by the
attorney-general filed as hereinafter provided , to amend the measure which is the subject
of such petition. An amendment so made shall not invalidate any signature attached to the
petition. If the measure so amended, signed by a majority of the first ten signers, is
filed with the secretary of the commonwealth before the first Wednesday of the following
June, together with a certificate signed by the attorney-general to the effect that the
amendment made by such proposers is in his opinion perfecting in its nature and does not
materially change the substance of the measure, and if such petition is completed by
filing with the secretary of the commonwealth, not earlier than the first Wednesday of the
following June nor later than the first Wednesday of the following July, a number of
signatures of qualified voters equal in number to not less than one half of one per cent
of the entire vote cast for governor at the preceding biennial state election in addition
to those signing such initiative petition, which signatures must have been obtained after
the first Wednesday of May aforesaid, then the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit
the measure to the people in its amended form.
Section 4. Section 3 of that part of said Article XLVIII, under the heading "THE
REFERENDUM. III. Referendum Petitions.", is hereby amended by striking out the
sentence "If such petition is completed by filing with the secretary of the
commonwealth not later than ninety days after the law which is the subject of the petition
has become law the signatures of not less than fifteen thousand qualified voters of the
commonwealth, then the operation of such law shall be suspended, and the secretary of the
commonwealth shall submit such law to the people at the next state election, if thirty
days intervene between the date when such petition is filed with the secretary of the
commonwealth and the date for holding such state election; if thirty days do not so
intervene, then such law shall be submitted to the people at the next following state
election, unless in the meantime it shall have been repealed; and if it shall be approved
by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon, such law shall, subject to the
provisions of the constitution, take effect in thirty days after such election, or at such
time after such election as may be provided in such law; if not so approved such law shall
be null and void; but no such law shall be held to be disapproved if the negative vote is
less than thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at such state
election." and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-- If such petition
is completed by filing with the secretary of the commonwealth not later than ninety days
after the law which is the subject of the petition has become law a number of signatures
of qualified voters equal in number to not less than two per cent of the entire vote cast
for governor at the preceding biennial state election, then the operation of such law
shall be suspended, and the secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such law to the
people at the next state election, if sixty days intervene between the date when such
petition is filed with the secretary of the commonwealth and the date for holding such
state election; if sixty days do not so intervene, then such law shall be submitted to the
people at the next following state election, unless in the meantime it shall have been
repealed; and if it shall be approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting
thereon, such law shall, subject to the provisions of the constitution, take effect in
thirty days after such election, or at such time after such election as may be provided in
such law; if not so approved such law shall be null and void; but no such law shall be
held to be disapproved if the negative vote is less than thirty per cent of the total
number of ballots cast at such state election.
Section 5. Section 4 of that part of said Article XLVIII, under the heading "THE
REFERENDUM. III. Referendum Petitions.", is hereby amended by striking out the
words "If such petition filed as aforesaid is completed by filing with the secretary
of the commonwealth not later than ninety days after the law which is the subject of the
petition has become law the signatures of not less than ten thousand qualified voters of
the commonwealth protesting against such law and asking for a referendum thereon, then the
secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such law to the people at the next state
election, if thirty days intervene between the date when such petition is filed with the
secretary of the commonwealth and the date for holding such state election. If thirty days
do not so intervene, then it shall be submitted to the people at the next following state
election, unless in the meantime it shall have been repealed; and if it shall not be
approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon, it shall, at the expiration
of thirty days after such election, be thereby repealed; but no such law shall be held to
be disapproved if the negative vote is less than thirty per cent of the total number of
ballots cast at such state election." and inserting in place thereof the following: -
If such petition filed as aforesaid is completed by filing with the secretary of the
commonwealth not later than ninety days after the law which is the subject of the petition
has become law a number of signatures of qualified voters equal in number to not less than
one and one half per cent of the entire vote cast for governor at the preceding biennial
state election protesting against such law and asking for a referendum thereon, then the
secretary of the commonwealth shall submit such law to the people at the next state
election, if sixty days intervene between the date when such petition is filed with the
secretary of the commonwealth and the date for holding such state election. If sixty days
do not so intervene, then it shall be submitted to the people at the next following state
election, unless in the meantime it shall have been repealed; and if it shall not be
approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon, it shall, at the expiration
of thirty days after such election, be thereby repealed; but no such law shall be held to
be disapproved if the negative vote is less than thirty per cent of the total number of
ballots cast at such state election.
Article LXXXII. Article LXIV of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended by
Article LXXX of said Amendments, is hereby annulled, and the following is adopted in place
thereof:-
Article LXIV. Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary, treasurer
and receiver-general, attorney general, and auditor shall be elected quadrennially and
councillors, senators and representatives shall be elected biennially. The terms of the
governor and lieutenant-governor shall begin at noon on the Thursday next following the
first Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall end at noon on the Thursday
next following the first Wednesday in January in the fifth year following their election.
If the governor elect shall have died before the qualification of the lieutenant-governor
elect, the lieutenant-governor elect upon qualification shall become governor. If both the
governor elect and the lieutenant-governor elect shall have died both said offices shall
be deemed to be vacant and the provisions of Article LV of the Amendments to the
Constitution shall apply. The terms of the secretary, treasurer and receiver-general,
attorney general, and auditor shall begin with the third Wednesday in January succeeding
their election and shall extend to the third Wednesday in January in the fifth year
following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The terms of
the councillors shall begin at noon on the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in
January succeeding their election and shall end at noon on the Thursday next following the
first Wednesday in January in the third year following their election. The terms of
senators and representatives shall begin with the first Wednesday in January succeeding
their election and shall extend to the first Wednesday in January in the third year
following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified.
Section 2. The general court shall assemble every year on the first Wednesday in
January.
Section 3. The first election to which this article shall apply shall be held on
the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in the year nineteen hundred and
sixty-six, and thereafter elections for the choice of a governor, lieutenant-governor,
secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney general, and auditor shall be held
quadrennially on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November and elections for the
choice of councillors, senators and representatives shall be held biennially on the
Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.
Article LXXXIII. The general court shall have full power and authority to provide for
prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices, of whatever
nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents of which may become
unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such offices in periods of emergency
resulting from disaster caused by enemy attack, and to adopt such other measures as may be
necessary and proper for insuring continuity of the government of the commonwealth and the
governments of its political subdivisions.
Article LXXXIV. Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby amended by
striking out section 1 and inserting in place thereof the following section: -
Section 1. The commonwealth may give, loan or pledge its credit only by a vote,
taken by the yeas and nays, of two-thirds of each house of the general court present and
voting thereon. The credit of the commonwealth shall not in any manner be given or loaned
to or in aid of any individual, or of any private association, or of any corporation which
is privately owned and managed.
Article LXXXV. Article II of Chapter III of the constitution of the commonwealth is
hereby annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:--
Article II. Each branch of the legislature, as well as the governor or the
council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the supreme
judicial court, upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions.
Article LXXXVI. Names of candidates of political parties for the offices of governor
and lieutenant-governor shall be grouped on the official ballot for use at state elections
according to the parties they represent, and the voter may cast a single vote for any such
group, which shall count as a vote for each candidate in such group, but may not cast a
vote for only one of the candidates in such group.
Article LXXXVII. Section 1. For the purpose of transferring, abolishing,
consolidating or co-ordinating the whole or any part of any agency, or the functions
thereof, within the executive department of the government of the commonwealth, or for the
purpose of authorizing any officer of any agency within the executive department of the
government of the commonwealth to delegate any of his functions, the governor may prepare
one or more reorganization plans, each bearing an identifying number and may present such
plan or plans to the general court, together with a message in explanation thereof.
Section 2. (a) Every such reorganization plan shall be referred to an
appropriate committee, to be determined by the Clerks of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, with the approval of the President and Speaker, which committee shall not
later than thirty days after the date of the Governor's presentation of said plan hold a
public hearing thereon and shall not later than ten days after such hearing report that it
approves or disapproves such plan and such reorganization plan shall have the force of law
upon expiration of the sixty calendar days next following its presentation by the governor
to the general court, unless disapproved by a majority vote of the members of either of
the two branches of the general court present and voting, the general court not having
been prorogued within such sixty days.
(b) After its presentation by the governor to the general court, no such
reorganization plan shall be subject to amendment by the general court before expiration
of such sixty days.
(c) Any such reorganization plan may provide for its taking effect on any date
after expiration of such sixty days and every such reorganization plan shall comply with
such conditions as the general court may from time to time prescribe by statute regarding
the civil service status, seniority, retirement and other rights of any employee to be
affected by such plan.
Section 3. Article LXVI of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby
annulled.
Article LXXXVIII. The industrial development of cities and towns is a public function
and the commonwealth and the cities and towns therein may provide for the same in such
manner as the general court may determine.
Article LXXXIX. Article II of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution of the
Commonwealth, as amended by Article LXX of said Articles of Amendment, is hereby annulled
and the following is adopted in place thereof:
Article II. Section 1. Right of Local Self-Government. - It is the intention of
this article to reaffirm the customary and traditional liberties of the people with
respect to the conduct of their local government, and to grant and confirm to the people
of every city and town the right of self-government in local matters, subject to the
provisions of this article and to such standards and requirements as the general court may
establish by law in accordance with the provisions of this article.
Section 2. Local Power to adopt, revise or amend Charters. - Any city or town
shall have the power to adopt or revise a charter or to amend its existing charter through
the procedures set forth in sections three and four. The provisions of any adopted or
revised charter or any charter amendment shall not be inconsistent with the constitution
or any laws enacted by the general court in conformity with the powers reserved to the
general court by section eight.
No town of fewer than twelve thousand inhabitants shall adopt a city form of
government, and no town of fewer than six thousand inhabitants shall adopt a form of
government providing for a town meeting limited to such inhabitants of the town as may be
elected to meet, deliberate, act and vote in the exercise of the corporate powers of the
town.
Section 3. Procedure for Adoption or Revision of a Charter by a City or Town. -
Every city and town shall have the power to adopt or revise a charter in the following
manner: A petition for the adoption or revision of a charter shall be signed by at least
fifteen per cent of the number of legal voters residing in such city or town at the
preceding state election. Whenever such a petition is filed with the board of registrars
of voters of any city or town, the board shall within ten days of its receipt determine
the sufficiency and validity of the signatures and certify the results to the city council
of the city or board of selectmen of the town, as the case may be. As used in this
section, the phrase "board of registrars of voters" shall include any local
authority of different designation which performs the duties of such registrars, and the
phrase "city council of the city or board of selectmen of the town" shall
include local authorities of different designation performing the duties of such council
or board. Objections to the sufficiency and validity of the signatures on any such
petition as certified by the board of registrars of voters shall be made in the same
manner as provided by law for objections to nominations for city or town offices, as the
case may be.
Within thirty days of receipt of certification of the board of registrars of voters
that a petition contains sufficient valid signatures, the city council of the city or
board of selectmen of the town shall by order provide for submitting to the voters of the
city or town the question of adopting or revising a charter, and for the nomination and
election of a charter commission.
If the city or town has not previously adopted a charter pursuant to this section, the
question submitted to the voters shall be: "Shall a commission be elected to frame a
charter for (name of city or town)?" If the city or town has previously adopted a
charter pursuant to this section, the question submitted to the voters shall be:
"Shall a commission be elected to revise the charter of (name of city or town)?"
The charter commission shall consist of nine voters of the city or town, who shall be
elected at large without party or political designation at the city or town election next
held at least sixty days after the order of the city council of the city or board of
selectmen of the town. The names of candidates for such commission shall be listed
alphabetically on the ballot used at such election. Each voter may vote for nine
candidates.
The vote on the question submitted and the election of the charter commission shall
take place at the same time. If the vote on the question submitted is in the affirmative,
the nine candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected.
Within [ten months] after the election of the members of the charter commission, said
commission shall submit the charter or revised charter to the city council of the city or
the board of selectmen of the town, and such council or board shall provide for
publication of the charter and for its submission to the voters of the city or town at the
next city or town election held at least two months after such submission by the charter
commission. If the charter or revised charter is approved by a majority of the voters of
the city or town voting thereon, it shall become effective upon the date fixed in the
charter. [See Amendments, Art. CXIII.]
Section 4. Procedure for Amendment of a Charter by a City or Town. - Every city
and town shall have the power to amend its charter in the following manner: The
legislative body of a city or town may, by a two-thirds vote, propose amendments to the
charter of the city or town; provided, that [1] amendments of a city charter may be
proposed only with the concurrence of the mayor in every city that has a mayor, and [2]
any change in a charter relating in any way to the composition, mode of election or
appointment, or terms of office of the legislative body, the mayor or city manager or the
board of selectmen or town manager shall be made only by the procedure of charter revision
set forth in section three.
All proposed charter amendments shall be published and submitted for approval in the
same manner as provided for adoption or revision of a charter.
Section 5. Recording of Charters and Charter Amendments. - Duplicate
certificates shall be prepared setting forth any charter that has been adopted or revised
and any charter amendments approved, and shall be signed by the city or town clerk. One
such certificate shall be deposited in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth and
the other shall be recorded in the records of the city or town and deposited among its
archives. All courts may take judicial notice of charters and charter amendments of cities
and towns.
Section 6. Governmental Powers of Cities and Towns. - Any city or town may, by
the adoption, amendment, or repeal of local ordinances or by-laws, exercise any power or
function which the general court has power to confer upon it, which is not inconsistent
with the constitution or laws enacted by the general court in conformity with powers
reserved to the general court in conformity with powers reserved to the general court by
section eight, and which is not denied, either expressly or by clear implication, to the
city or town by its charter. This section shall apply to every city and town, whether or
not it has adopted a charter pursuant to section three.
Section 7. Limitations on Local Powers. - Nothing in this article shall be
deemed to grant to any city or town the power to (1) regulate elections other than those
prescribed by sections three and four; (2) to levy, assess and collect taxes; (3) to
borrow money or pledge the credit of the city or town; (4) to dispose of park land; (5) to
enact private or civil law governing civil relationships except as an incident to an
exercise of an independent municipal power; or (6) to define and provide for the
punishment of a felony or to impose imprisonment as a punishment for any violation of law;
provided, however, that the foregoing enumerated powers may be granted by the general
court in conformity with the constitution and with the powers reserved to the general
court by section eight; nor shall the provisions of this article be deemed to diminish the
powers of the judicial department of the commonwealth.
Section 8. Powers of the General Court. - The general court shall have the power
to act in relation to cities and towns, but only by general laws which apply alike to all
cities or to all towns, or to all cities and towns, or to a class of not fewer than two,
and by special laws enacted (1) on petition filed or approved by the voters of a city or
town, or the mayor and city council, or other legislative body, of a city, or the town
meeting of a town, with respect to a law relating to that city or town; (2) by a
two-thirds vote of each branch of the general court following a recommendation by the
governor; (3) to erect and constitute metropolitan or regional entities, embracing any two
or more cities or towns or cities and towns, or established with other than existing city
or town boundaries, for any general or special public purpose or purposes, and to grant to
these entities such powers, privileges and immunities as the general court shall deem
necessary or expedient for the regulation and government thereof; or (4) solely for the
incorporation or dissolution of cities or towns as corporate entities, alteration of city
or town boundaries, and merger or consolidation of cities and towns, or any of these
matters.
Subject to the foregoing requirements, the general court may provide optional plans of
city or town organization and government under which an optional plan may be adopted or
abandoned by majority vote of the voters of the city or town voting thereon at a city or
town election; provided, that no town of fewer than twelve thousand inhabitants may be
authorized to adopt a city form of government, and no town of fewer than six thousand
inhabitants may be authorized to adopt a form of town government providing for town
meeting limited to such inhabitants of the town as may be elected to meet, deliberate, act
and vote in the exercise of the corporate powers of the town.
This section shall apply to every city and town whether or not it has adopted a charter
pursuant to section three.
Section 9. Existing Special Laws. - All special laws relating to individual
cities or towns shall remain in effect and have the force of an existing city or town
charter, but shall be subject to amendment or repeal through the adoption, revision or
amendment of a charter by a city or town in accordance with the provisions of sections
three and four and shall be subject to amendment or repeal by laws enacted by the general
court in conformity with the powers reserved to the general court by section eight.
Article XC. Section 1. Article II of section I of Chapter I of Part the Second
of the constitution is hereby amended by striking out the second paragraph and inserting
in place thereof the following paragraph:-
And in order to prevent unnecessary delays, if any bill or resolve shall not be
returned by the governor within ten days after it shall have been presented, the same
shall have the force of a law.
Section 2. Article I of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution is hereby
annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:--
Article I. If any bill or resolve shall be objected to, and not approved by the
governor, and if the general court shall adjourn within ten days after the same shall have
been laid before the governor for his approbation, and thereby prevent his returning it
with his objections, as provided by the constitution, such bill or resolve shall not
become a law, nor have force as such.
Section 3. Article LVI of the Articles of Amendments to the Constitution is
hereby annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:--
Article LVI. The governor, within ten days after any bill or resolve shall have
been laid before him, shall have the right to return it to the branch of the general court
in which it originated with a recommendation that any amendment or amendments specified by
him be made therein. Such bill or resolve shall thereupon be before the general court and
subject to amendment and re-enactment. If such bill or resolve is re-enacted in any form
it shall again be laid before the governor for his action, but he shall have no right to
return the same a second time with a recommendation to amend.
Section 4. Article LXIII of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution is
hereby amended by striking out Section 5 and inserting in place thereof the following
section:--
Section 5. Submission to the Governor. - The governor may disapprove or reduce
items or parts of items in any bill appropriating money. So much of such bill as he
approves shall upon his signing the same become law. As to each item disapproved or
reduced he shall transmit to the house in which the bill originated his reason for such
disapproval or reduction, and the procedure shall then be the same as in the case of a
bill disapproved as a whole. In case he shall fail so to transmit his reasons for such
disapproval or reduction within ten days after the bill shall have been presented to him,
such items shall have the force of law unless the general court by adjournment shall
prevent such transmission, in which case they shall not be law.
Article XCI. Whenever the governor transmits to the president of the senate and the
speaker of the house his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, the office of governor shall be deemed to be vacant within the
meaning of this Constitution.
Whenever the chief justice and a majority of the associate justices of the supreme
judicial court, or such other body as the general court may by law provide, transmit to
the president of the senate and the speaker of the house their written declaration that
the governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the office of
governor shall be deemed to be vacant within the meaning of this Constitution.
Thereafter, in either of the above cases, whenever the governor transmits to the
president of the senate and the speaker of the house his written declaration that no
inability exists such vacancy shall be deemed to have terminated four days thereafter and
the governor shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the chief justice and
a majority of the associate justices of the supreme judicial court, or such other body as
the general court may by law provide, transmit within said four days to the president of
the senate and the speaker of the house their written declaration that the governor is
unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon the general court shall
decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session.
If the general court within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written
declaration, or, if the general court is not in session, within twenty-one days after the
general court is required to assemble, determine by a vote, taken by yeas and nays, of two
thirds of each house present and voting thereon, that the governor is unable to discharge
the powers and duties of his office, the office of governor shall continue to be deemed to
be vacant; otherwise such vacancy shall be deemed to have terminated and the governor
shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
The above provisions shall be applicable to the lieutenant governor when the lieutenant
governor in case of a vacancy is performing all the duties incumbent upon the governor as
provided in this Constitution.
If a vacancy in the office of governor, as described in this Article, continues for six
months and if such six-month period expires more than five months prior to a biennial
state election other than an election for governor, there shall be an election of governor
at such biennial state election for the balance of the unexpired four-year term.
Article XCII. [Section 1. In the year nineteen hundred and seventy-one and every
tenth year thereafter a census of the inhabitants of each city and town shall be taken.
Said census shall specify the number of inhabitants residing in each precinct of each town
and in each precinct and ward of each city. Said census shall be the basis for determining
the representative districts for the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in
the fourth January following the taking of said census; provided that such districts as
established in the year nineteen hundred and sixty-eight shall continue until the first
Wednesday in January in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-five.
The house of representatives shall consist of two hundred and forty members. The
general court shall, at its first regular session after the year in which said census was
taken, divide the commonwealth into two hundred and forty representative districts of
contiguous territory so that each representative will represent an equal number of
inhabitants, as nearly as may be; and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be,
without uniting two counties or parts of two or more counties, two towns or parts of two
or more towns, two cities or parts of two or more cities, or a city and a town, or parts
of cities and towns, into one district; provided, however, that the county of Dukes county
and Nantucket county shall each be a representative district. Such districts shall also be
so formed that no town containing less than six thousand inhabitants according to said
census shall be divided. The general court may by law limit the time within which judicial
proceedings may be instituted calling in question any such division. Every representative,
for one year at least immediately preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of
the district for which he is chosen, and shall cease to represent such district when he
shall cease to be an inhabitant of the commonwealth. The manner of calling and conducting
the elections for the choice of representatives, and of ascertaining their election, shall
be prescribed by law.
Section 2. Each census of inhabitants required in section one shall likewise be
the basis for determining the senatorial districts and also the councillor districts for
the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the fourth January following the
taking of such census; provided that such districts as established prior to the year
nineteen hundred and seventy-one shall continue until the first Wednesday in January in
the year nineteen hundred and seventy-five. The senate shall consist of forty members. The
general court shall, at its first regular session after the year in which said census is
taken, divide the commonwealth into forty districts of contiguous territory, each district
to contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants according to said census;
and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be, without uniting two counties, or
parts of two or more counties into one district. The general court may by law limit the
time within which judicial proceedings may be instituted calling in question such
division. Each district shall elect one senator, who shall have been an inhabitant of this
commonwealth five years at least immediately preceding his election, and at the time of
his election shall be an inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen; and he shall
cease to represent such senatorial district when he shall cease to be an inhabitant of the
commonwealth.
Section 3. Articles XXI and XXII of the Amendments to the Constitution, as
appearing in Article LXXI of said Amendments, are hereby annulled.] [Annulled by
Amendments, Art. CI.]
Article XCIII. Article III of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended, is hereby
further amended by striking out the words "within the commonwealth one year,
and".
Article XCIV. Article III of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended, is hereby
further amended by striking out the word "twenty-one" and inserting in place
thereof the word: -- nineteen.
Article XCV. Article III of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended, is hereby
further amended by striking out the words "pauper and".
Article XCVI. The general court shall have power to authorize the commonwealth to make
loans, on such terms as it may deem reasonable, to any residents of the commonwealth for
tuition and board at any college, university or other institution of higher learning.
Article XCVII. Article XLIX of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby annulled
and the following is adopted in place thereof: - The people shall have the right to clean
air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic,
historic, and esthetic qualities of their environment; and the protection of the people in
their right to the conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural, mineral,
forest, water, air and other natural resources is hereby declared to be a public purpose.
The general court shall have the power to enact legislation necessary or expedient to
protect such rights.
In the furtherance of the foregoing powers, the general court shall have the power to
provide for the taking, upon payment of just compensation therefor, or for the acquisition
by purchase or otherwise, of lands and easements or such other interests therein as may be
deemed necessary to accomplish these purposes.
Lands and easements taken or acquired for such purposes shall not be used for other
purposes or otherwise disposed of except by laws enacted by a two thirds vote, taken by
yeas and nays, of each branch of the general court.
Article XCVIII. Article I of Chapter III of Part the Second of the Constitution, as
amended by Article LVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution, is hereby annulled and the
following Article is adopted in place thereof:-
Article I. The tenure, that all commissioned officers shall by law have in their
offices, shall be expressed in their respective commissions. All judicial officers, duly
appointed, commissioned and sworn, shall hold their offices during good behavior,
excepting such concerning whom there is different provision made in this Constitution;
provided, nevertheless, the governor, with the consent of the council, may remove them
upon the address of both houses of the legislature; and provided, also, that the governor,
with the consent of the council, may after due notice and hearing retire them because of
advanced age or mental or physical disability; and provided further, that upon attaining
seventy years of age said judges shall be retired. Such retirement shall be subject to any
provisions made by law as to pensions or allowances payable to such officers upon their
voluntary retirement.
Article XCIX. Full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the general
court to prescribe, for the purpose of developing and conserving agricultural or
horticultural lands, that such lands shall be valued, for the purpose of taxation,
according to their agricultural or horticultural uses; provided, however, that no parcel
of land which is less than five acres in area or which has not been actively devoted to
agricultural or horticultural uses for the two years preceding the tax year shall be
valued at less than fair market value under this article.
Article C. Article III of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended, is hereby
further amended by striking out the word indicating the age at which a citizen shall have
a right to vote in an election of Governor and other public officers and inserting in
place thereof the following word: -- eighteen.
Article CI. Section 1. In the year nineteen hundred and seventy-five and every tenth
year thereafter a census of the inhabitants of each city and town shall be taken. Said
census shall specify the number of inhabitants residing in each precinct of each town and
in each precinct and ward of each city. Said census shall be the basis for determining the
representative districts for the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the
fourth January following the taking of said census; provided that such districts as
established based on the census in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-one shall
terminate on the first Wednesday in January in the year nineteen hundred and
seventy-nine.] [See Amendments, Arts. CIX and CXVII.]
The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and sixty members. The
General Court shall, at its first regular session after the year in which said census was
taken, divide the Commonwealth into one hundred and sixty representative districts of
contiguous territory so that each representative will represent an equal number of
inhabitants, as nearly as may be; and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be,
without uniting two counties or parts of two or more counties, two towns or parts of two
or more towns, two cities or parts of two or more cities, or a city and a town, or parts
of cities and towns, into one district. Such districts shall also be so formed that no
town containing less than twenty-five hundred inhabitants according to said census shall
be divided. The General Court may by law limit the time within which judicial proceedings
may be instituted calling in question any such division. Every representative, for one
year at least immediately preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the
district for which he is chosen and shall cease to represent such district when he shall
cease to be an inhabitant of the Commonwealth. The manner of calling and conducting the
elections for the choice of representatives, and of ascertaining their election, shall be
prescribed by law.
Section 2. [Each such census of inhabitants required in section one shall likewise be
the basis for determining the senatorial districts and also the councillor districts for
the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the fourth January following the
taking of such census; provided that such districts as established based on the census in
the year nineteen hundred and seventy-one shall terminate on the first Wednesday in
January in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-nine.] The Senate shall consist of forty
members. The General Court shall, at its first regular session after the year in which
said census is taken, divide the Commonwealth into forty districts of contiguous
territory, each district to contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants
according to said census; and such districts shall be formed, as nearly as may be, without
uniting two counties, or parts of two or more counties, into one district. The General
Court may by law limit the time within which judicial proceedings may be instituted
calling in question such division. Each district shall elect one senator, who shall have
been an inhabitant of this Commonwealth five years at least immediately preceding his
election and at the time of his election shall be an inhabitant of the district for which
he is chosen; and he shall cease to represent such senatorial district when he shall cease
to be an inhabitant of the Commonwealth. The manner of calling and conducting the
elections for the choice of senators and councillors, and of ascertaining their election,
shall be prescribed by law.
Section 3. Original jurisdiction is hereby vested in the supreme judicial court upon
the petition of any voter of the Commonwealth, filed with the clerk of the supreme
judicial court for the Commonwealth, for judicial relief relative to the establishment of
House of Representatives, councillor and senatorial districts.
Section 4. Article XCII of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby annulled.
Article CII. Article LII of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution is hereby
annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:-
Article LII. The General Court, by concurrent vote of the two houses, may take a
recess or recesses amounting to not more than thirty days.
Article CIII. Article XLVI of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution of the
Commonwealth is hereby amended by striking out section 2 and inserting in place thereof
the following section:-
Section 2. No grant, appropriation or use of public money or property or loan of
credit shall be made or authorized by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision
thereof for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any infirmary, hospital,
institution, primary or secondary school, or charitable or religious undertaking which is
not publicly owned and under the exclusive control, order and supervision of public
officers or public agents authorized by the Commonwealth or federal authority or both,
except that appropriations may be made for the maintenance and support of the Soldiers'
Home in Massachusetts and for free public libraries in any city or town and to carry out
legal obligations, if any, already entered into; and no such grant, appropriation or use
of public money or property or loan of public credit shall be made or authorized for the
purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any church, religious denomination or society.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the Commonwealth from making
grants-in-aid to private higher educational institutions or to students or parents or
guardians of students attending such institutions.
Article CIV. Article LXXVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby annulled
and the following is adopted in place thereof:-
Art. LXXVIII. No revenue from fees, duties, excises or license taxes relating to
registration, operation or use of vehicle on public highways, or to fuels used for
propelling such vehicles, shall be expended for other than cost of administration of laws
providing for such revenue, making of refunds and adjustments in relation thereto, payment
of highway obligations, or cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of
public highways and bridges, and mass transportation lines and of the enforcement of state
traffic laws, and for other mass transportation purposes; and such revenue shall be
expended by the commonwealth or its counties, cities and towns for said highway and mass
transportation purposes only and in such manner as the general court may direct; provided,
that this amendment shall not apply to revenue from any excise tax imposed in lieu of
local property taxes for the privilege of registering such vehicles.
Article CV. Article XLV of the articles of amendment to the constitution, as amended by
Article LXXVI of said articles of amendment, is hereby annulled and the following is
adopted in place thereof:-
Article XLV. The general court shall have power to provide by law for voting, in
the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question submitted at an election, by
qualified voters of the commonwealth who, at the time of such an election, are absent from
the city or town of which they are inhabitants or are unable by reason of physical
disability to cast their votes in person at the polling places or who hold religious
beliefs in conflict with the act of voting on the day on which such an election
is to be held.
Article CVI. Article I of Part the First of the Constitution is hereby annulled and the
following is adopted:-
All people are born free and equal and have certain natural, essential and unalienable
rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and
liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking
and obtaining their safety and happiness. Equality under the law shall not be denied or
abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin.
Article CVII. Section 2 of Article LXIII of the Articles of Amendment to the
Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby annulled and the following is adopted in place
thereof:-
Section 2. The Budget. - Within three weeks after the convening of the general
court the governor shall recommend to the general court a budget which shall contain a
statement of all proposed expenditures of the commonwealth for the fiscal year, including
those already authorized by law, and of all taxes, revenues, loans and other means by
which such expenditures shall be defrayed. In the first year of the term of office of a
governor who has not served in the preceding year said governor shall recommend such
budget within eight weeks after the convening of the general court. The budget shall be
arranged in such form as the general court may by law prescribe, or, in default thereof,
as the governor shall determine. For the purpose of preparing his budget, the governor
shall have the power to require any board, commission, officer or department to furnish
him with any information which he may deem necessary.
Article CVIII. Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
is hereby amended by striking out, under the heading "GENERAL PROVISION", all of
subheading "IV. Information for Voters.", as amended by section 4 of
Article LXXIV of said Amendments, and inserting in place thereof the following subheading:
IV. Information for Voters.
The secretary of the commonwealth shall cause to be printed and sent to each person
eligible to vote in the commonwealth or to each residence of one or more persons eligible
to vote in the commonwealth the full text of every measure to be submitted to the people,
together with a copy of the legislative committee's majority reports, if there be such,
with the names of the majority and minority members thereon, a statement of the votes of
the general court on the measure, and a fair, concise summary of the measure as such
summary will appear on the ballot; and shall, in such manner as may be provided by law,
cause to be prepared and sent other information and arguments for and against the measure.
Article CIX. The first paragraph of Section 1 oF Article CI of the Amendments to the
Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and
inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:-
For purposes of said census every person shall be considered an inhabitant of the city
or town of his usual place of residence in accordance with standards used by the United
States from time to time in conducting the federal census required by Section 2 of Article
I of the Constitution of the United States subject to such exceptions as the general court
may provide by law. Said census shall specify the number of inhabitants of each precinct
of each town and of each precinct and ward of each city.
Article CX. Article XLI of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby annulled and
the following Article is adopted in place thereof:-
Full power and authority are hereby given and granted to the general court to prescribe
for wild or forest lands retained in a natural state for the preservation of wildlife and
other natural resources and lands for recreational uses, such methods of taxation as will
develop and conserve the forest resources, wildlife and other natural resources and the
environmental benefits of recreational lands within the commonwealth.
Article CXI. No student shall be assigned to or denied admittance to a public school on
the basis of race, color, national origin or creed.
Article CXII. Article IV of chapter 1 of Part the Second of the Constitution is hereby
amended by inserting after the words "and to impose and levy proportional and
reasonable assessments, rates and taxes, upon all the inhabitants of, and persons
resident, and estates lying, within said Commonwealth" the words: -, except that, in
addition to the powers conferred under Articles XLI and XCIX of the Amendments, the
general court may classify real property according to its use in no more than four classes
and to assess, rate and tax such property differently in the classes so established, but
proportionately in the same class, and except that reasonable exemptions may be granted.
Article CXIII. The first sentence of the sixth paragraph of Section 3 of Article II of
the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, as appearing in Article LXXXIX of
said Amendments, is hereby amended by striking out the words "ten months" and
inserting in place thereof the words: -- eighteen months.
Article CXIV. No otherwise qualified handicapped individual shall, solely by reason of
his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subject
to discrimination under any program or activity within the commonwealth.
Article CXV. No law imposing additional costs upon two or more cities or towns by the
regulation of the compensation, hours, status, conditions or benefits of municipal
employment shall be effective in any city or town until such law is accepted by vote or by
the appropriation of money for such purposes, in the case of a city, by the city council
in accordance with its charter, and in the case of a town, by a town meeting or town
council, unless such law has been enacted by a two-thirds vote of each house of the
general court present and voting thereon, or unless the general court, at the same session
in which such law is enacted, has provided for the assumption by the commonwealth of such
additional cost.
Article CXVI. Article XXVI of part 1 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby
amended by adding the following two sentences: No provision of the Constitution, however,
shall be construed as prohibiting the imposition of the punishment of death. The general
court may, for the purpose of protecting the general welfare of the citizens, authorize
the imposition of the punishment of death by the courts of law having jurisdiction of
crimes subject to the punishment of death.
Art. CXVII. Section 1. Section 1 of Article CI of the Articles of Amendment to the
Constitution is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph, as amended by Article
CIX of said Articles of Amendment, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:
- The federal census shall be the basis for determining the representative districts for
the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the [fifth] January following
the taking of said census. [Amended by Amendments, Art. CXIX, sect. 1.]
Section 2. Section 2 of said Article CI of said Articles of Amendment is hereby amended
by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:
- Said federal census shall likewise be the basis for determining the senatorial districts
and also the councillor districts for the ten year period beginning with the first
Wednesday in the [fifth] January following the taking of such census. [Amended by
Amendments, Art. CXIX, sect. 2.]
Art. CXVIII. The base compensation as of January first, nineteen hundred and
ninety-six, of members of the general court shall not be changed except as provided in
this article. As of the first Wednesday in January of the year two thousand and one and
every second year thereafter, such base compensation shall be increased or decreased at
the same rate as increases or decreases in the median household income for the
commonwealth for the preceding two year period, as ascertained by the governor.
Art. CXIX. Section 1. Section 1 of Article CI of the Articles of Amendment to the
Constitution is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph, as appearing in
section 1 of CXVII of said Articles of Amendment, and inserting in place thereof the
following paragraph:--
The federal census shall be the basis for determining the representative districts for
the ten year period beginning with the first Wednesday in the third January following the
taking of said census.
Section 2. Section 2 of said Article CI is hereby amended by striking out the first
sentence, as appearing in section 2 of said Article CXVII, and inserting in place thereof
the following sentence:-- Said federal census shall likewise be the basis for determining
the senatorial districts and also the councillor districts for the ten year period
beginning with the first Wednesday in the third January following the taking of said
census.
Art. CXX. Article III of the Amendments to the Constitution, as amended, is hereby
further amended by inserting after the word "upwards" the following words:-- ,
excepting persons who are incarcerated in a correctional facility due to a felony
conviction, and.
[Note. — Soon after the Declaration of Independence, steps were taken in
Massachusetts toward framing a Constitution or Form of Government. The Council and House
of Representatives, or the General Court of 1777-78, in accordance with a recommendation
of the General Court, of the previous year, met together as a Convention, and adopted a
form of Constitution “for the State of Massachusetts Bay.” which was submitted
to the people, and by them rejected. This attempt to form a Constitution having proved
unsuccessful, the General Court on the 20th of February, 1779, passed a Resolve calling
upon the qualified voters to give in their votes upon the questions — Whether they
chose to have a new Constitution or Form of Government made, and, Whether they will
empower their representatives to vote for calling a State Convention for that purpose. A
large majority of the inhabitants having voted in the affirmative to both these questions,
the General Court, on the 17th of June, 1779, passed a Resolve calling upon the
inhabitants to meet and choose delegates to a Constitutional Convention, to be held at
Cambridge, on the 1st of September, 1779. The Convention met at time and place appointed,
and organized by choosing James Bowdoin, President, and Samuel Barrett, Secretary. On the
11th of November the Convention adjourned, to meet at the Representatives’ Chamber,
in Boston, January 5th, 1780. On the 2d of March, of the same year, a form of Constitution
having been agreed upon, a Resolve was passed by which the same was submitted to the
people, and the Convention adjourned to meet at the Brattle Street Church, in Boston, June
the 7th. At that time and place the Convention again met, and appointed a Committee to
examine the returns of votes from the several towns. On the 14th of June the Committee
reported, and on the 15th the Convention resolved, “That the people of the State of
Massachusetts Bay have accepted the Constitution as it stands, in the printed form
submitted to their revision.” A Resolve providing for carrying the new Constitution
into effect was passed; and the Convention then, on the 16th of June, 1780, was finally
dissolved. In accordance with the Resolves referred to, elections immediately took place
in the several towns; and the first General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts met at the State
House, in Boston, on Wednesday, October 25th, 1780.
The Constitution contained a provision providing for taking, in 1795, the sense of the
people as to the expediency or necessity of revising the original instrument. But no such
revision was deemed necessary at that time. On the 16th of June, 1820, an Act was passed
by the General Court, calling upon the people to meet in their several towns, and give in
their votes upon the question, “Is it expedient that delegates should be chosen to
meet in Convention for the purpose of revising or altering the Constitution of Government
of this Commonwealth?” A large majority of the people of the State having voted in
favor of revision, the Governor issued a proclamation announcing the fact, and calling
upon the people to vote, in accordance with the provisions of the aforesaid Act, for
delegates to the proposed Convention. The delegates met at the State House, in Boston,
November 15th, 1820, and organized by choosing John Adams, President, and Benjamin
Pollard, Secretary. Mr. Adams, however, declined the appointment, and Isaac Parker was
chosen in his stead. On the 9th of January, 1821, the Convention agreed to fourteen
Articles of Amendment, and after passing a Resolve providing for submitting the same to
the people, and appointing a committee to meet to count the votes upon the subject, was
dissolved. The people voted on Monday, April 9th, 1821, and the Committee of the
Convention met at the State House to count the votes, on Wednesday, May 24th. They made
their return to the General Court; and at the request of the latter the Governor issued
his proclamation on the 5th of June, 1821, announcing that nine of the fourteen Articles
of Amendment had been adopted. These articles were numbered in the preceding pages from one
to nine inclusive. The first Article was annulled by the ninetieth
Article, the second Article by the eighty-ninth Article, the fifth
Article by the fifty-third Article and the ninth Article by the forty-eighth
Article.
The tenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the political years 1829-30, and 1830-31, and was approved and ratified by the
people May 11th, 1831.
The eleventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1832 and 1833, and was approved and ratified by the people November
11th, 1833.
The twelfth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1835 and 1836, and was approved and ratified by the people November
14th, 1836.
The thirteenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1839 and 1840, and was approved and ratified by the people April
6th, 1840.
The General Court of the year 1851 passed an Act calling a third Convention to revise
the Constitution. The Act was submitted to the people, and a majority voted against the
proposed Convention. In 1852, on the 7th of May, another Act was passed calling upon the
people to vote upon the question of calling a Constitutional Convention. A majority of the
people having voted in favor of the proposed Convention, election for delegates thereto
took place in March, 1853. The Convention met in the State House, in Boston, on the 4th
day of May, 1853, and organized by choosing Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr., President, and
William S. Robinson and James T. Robinson, Secretaries. On the 1st of August, this
Convention agreed to a form of Constitution, and on the same day was dissolved, after
having provided for submitting the same to the people, and appointed a committee to meet
to count the votes, and to make a return thereof to the General Court. The Committee met
at the time and place agreed upon, and found that the proposed Constitution had been
rejected.
The fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
Articles of Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years
1854 and 1855, and were approved and ratified by the people May 23d, 1855. The eighteenth
Article was superseded by the forty-sixth Article.
The twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second Articles of Amendment were
adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1856 and 1857, and were
approved and ratified by the people May 1st, 1857. The twenty-first and twenty-second
Articles were annulled and superseded by the seventy-first Article, which was
subsequently annulled by the ninety-second Article.
The twenty-third Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1858 and 1859, and was approved and ratified by the people May
9th, 1859, and was annulled by the twenty-sixth Article.
The twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth Articles of Amendment were adopted by
the General Court during the sessions of the years 1859 and 1860, and were approved and
ratified by the people May 7th, 1860.
The twenty-sixth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1862 and 1863, and was approved and ratified by the people April
6th, 1863.
The twenty-seventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1876 and 1877, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 6th day of November, 1877.
The twenty-eighth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1880 and 1881, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 8th day of November, 1881.
The twenty-ninth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1884 and 1885, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 3d day of November, 1885.
The thirtieth and thirty-first Articles of Amendment were adopted by the
General Court during the sessions of the years 1889 and 1890, and were approved and
ratified by the people on the 4th day of November, 1890.
The thirty-second and thirty-third Articles of Amendment were adopted by
the General Court during the sessions of the years 1890 and 1891, and were approved and
ratified by the people on the 3d day of November, 1891.
The thirty-fourth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1891 and 1892, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 8th day of November, 1892.
The thirty-fifth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1892 and 1893, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 7th day of November, 1893.
The thirty-sixth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1893 and 1894, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 6th day of November, 1894.
The thirty-seventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1906 and 1907, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 5th day of November, 1907.
The thirty-eighth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1909 and 1910, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 7th day of November, 1911.
The thirty-ninth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1910 and 1911, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 7th day of November, 1911.
The fortieth and forty-first Articles of Amendment were adopted by the
General Court during the sessions of the years 1911 and 1912, and were approved and
ratified by the people on the 5th day of November, 1912. The forty-first Article
was annulled by the one hundred and tenth Article.
The forty-second Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1912 and 1913, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 4th day of November, 1913, and was annulled by the forty-eighth Article.
The forty-third and forty-fourth Articles of Amendment were adopted by
the General Court during the sessions of the years 1914 and 1915, and were approved and
ratified by the people on the 2d day of November, 1915.
In his inaugural address to the General Court of 1916, Governor McCall recommended that
the question of revising the Constitution, through a Constitutional Convention, be
submitted to the people; and the General Court passed a law (chapter 98 of the General
Acts of 1916) to ascertain and carry out the will of the people relative thereto, the
question to be submitted being “Shall there be a convention to revise, alter or amend
the constitution of the Commonwealth?” The people voted on this question at the
annual election, held on November 7, casting 217,293 votes in the affirmative and 120,979
votes in the negative; and accordingly the Governor on Dec. 19, 1916, made proclamation to
that effect, and, by virtue of authority contained in the act, called upon the people to
elect delegates at a special election to be held on the first Tuesday in May, 1917. The
election was on May 1. In accordance with the provisions of the act, the delegates met at
the State House on June 6, 1917, and organized by choosing John L. Bates, president, and
James W. Kimball, secretary. After considering and acting adversely on numerous measures
that had been brought before it, and after providing for submitting to the people the forty-fifth,
forty-sixth, and forty-seventh Articles, at the state election of 1917, and the
Article relative to the establishment of the popular initiative and referendum and the
legislative initiative of specific amendments of the Constitution (Article forty-eight) at
the state election of 1918, the Convention adjourned on November 28 “until called by
the President or Secretary to meet not later than within ten days after the prorogation of
the General Court of 1918.”
The forty-fifth, forty-sixth and forty-seventh Articles of Amendment,
ordered by the convention to be submitted to the people, were so submitted and were
approved and ratified on the 6th day of November, 1917. The forty-fifth Article was
annulled and superseded by the seventy-sixth and one hundred and fifth Articles.
On Wednesday, June 12, 1918, the convention reassembled and resumed its work. Eighteen
more articles (Articles forty-nine to sixty-six, inclusive) were approved by the
convention and were ordered to be submitted to the people. On Wednesday, August 21, 1918,
the convention adjourned, “to meet, subject to call by the President or Secretary,
not later than within twenty days after the prorogation of the General Court of 1919, for
the purpose of taking action on the report of the special committee on Rearrangement of
the Constitution.”
The forty-eighth to the sixty-sixth (inclusive) Articles of Amendment,
ordered by the convention to be submitted to the people, were so submitted and were
approved and ratified on the 5th day of November, 1918. The forty-ninth Article was
annulled by the ninety-seventh Article, the fifty-second Article by the one
hundred and second Article, the fifty-sixth Article by the ninetieth
Article, the fifty-eighth Article by the ninety-eighth Article, the sixty-fourth
Article by the eighty-second Article and the sixty-sixth Article by the eighty-seventh
Article. Section 2 of the sixty-third Article was annulled by the one hundred
and eighth Article.
On Tuesday, August 12, 1919, pursuant to a call of its President, the Convention again
convened. A rearrangement of the Constitution was adopted, and was ordered to be submitted
to the people for their ratification. On the following day, a subcommittee of the Special
Committee on Rearrangement of the Constitution was “empowered to correct clerical and
typographical errors and establish the text of the rearrangement of the Constitution to be
submitted to the people, in conformity with that adopted by the Convention.” On
Wednesday, August 13, 1919, the Convention adjourned, sine die. On Tuesday,
November 4, 1919, the rearrangement was approved and ratified by the people; but, as to
the effect thereof, see Opinion of the Justices, 233 Mass. 603; and Loring v.
Young, decided August 8, 1921 [see 239 Mass. 349]. [For text of the Rearrangement,
see Manuals for the years 1920 to 1932, inclusive.]
The sixty-seventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1920 and 1921, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 7th day of November, 1922.
The sixty-eighth and sixty-ninth Articles of Amendment were adopted by
the General Court during the sessions of the years 1921 and 1923, and were approved and
ratified by the people on the 4th day of November, 1924.
The seventieth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1924 and 1925, and was approved and ratified by the people on the 2d
day of November, 1926.
The seventy-first Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1928 and 1930, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 4th day of November, 1930. The seventy-first Article was annulled by the ninety-second
Article.
The seventy-second Article of Amendment (introduced by initiative petition) was
approved by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1936 and 1937, and by the
people on the 8th day of November, 1938, and was annulled by the seventy-fifth
Article.
The seventy-third, seventy-fourth, seventy-fifth and seventy-sixth
Articles of Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years
1941 and 1943, and were approved and ratified by the people on the 7th day of November,
1944. The seventy-sixth Article was annulled by the one hundred and fifth
Article.
The seventy-seventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1945 and 1947, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 2d day of November, 1948.
The seventy-eighth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1946 and 1947, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 2d day of November, 1948. The seventy-eighth Article was annulled by the one
hundred and fourth Article.
The seventy-ninth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1946 and 1948, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 2d day of November, 1948.
The eightieth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1947 and 1949, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
7th day of November, 1950.
The eighty-first Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of the years 1948 and 1949, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the 7th day of November, 1950.
The eighty-second Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of 1961 and 1963, and was approved and ratified by the people on the 3d day
of November, 1964.
The eighty-third Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of 1962 and 1963, and was approved and ratified by the people on the 3d day
of November, 1964.
The eighty-fourth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of 1961 and 1963, and was approved and ratified by the people on the 3d day
of November, 1964.
The eighty-fifth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during
the sessions of 1962 and 1963, and was approved and ratified by the people on the 3d day
of November, 1964.
The eighty-sixth, eighty-seventh, eighty-eighth and eighty-ninth Articles
of Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of 1963 and 1965, and
were approved and ratified by the people on the 8th day of November, 1966.
The ninetieth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of 1965 and 1967; the ninety-first Article of Amendment was adopted by the
General Court during the sessions of 1966 and 1967; and both Articles were approved and
ratified by the people on the 5th day of November, 1968.
The ninety-second Article of Amendment was approved by the General Court during
the sessions of 1968 and 1969; the ninety-third and ninety-fourth Articles
of Amendment were approved by the General Court during the sessions of 1967 and 1969; and
all three Articles were approved and ratified by the people on the 3d day of November,
1970. The ninety-second Article was annulled by the one hundred and first
Article.
The ninety-fifth, ninety-sixth, ninety-seventh, ninety-eighth, ninety-ninth and one
hundredth Articles of Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions
of 1969 and 1971, and all six Articles were approved and ratified by the people on the
seventh day of November, 1972.
The one hundred and first and one hundred and second Articles of
Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions 1971 and 1973, and both
Articles were approved and ratified by the people on the fifth day of November, 1974.
The one hundred and third Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of 1972 and 1973, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
fifth day of November, 1974.
The one hundred and fourth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of 1972 and 1974, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
fifth day of November, 1974.
The one hundred and fifth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of 1973 and 1976, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
second day of November, 1976.
The one hundred and sixth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of 1973 and 1975, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
second day of November, 1976.
The one hundred and seventh Article of Amendment was adopted by the General
Court during the sessions of 1975 and 1977, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the seventh day of November, 1978.
The one hundred and eighth and one hundred and ninth Articles of
Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of 1976 and 1977, and were
approved and ratified by the people on the seventh day of November, 1978.
The one hundred and tenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of 1976 and 1978, and was approved and ratified by the people on the
seventh day of November, 1978.
The one hundred and eleventh and one hundred and twelfth Articles of
Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of 1975 and 1977, and were
approved and ratified by the people on the seventh day of November, 1978.
The one hundred and thirteenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General
Court during the sessions of 1976 and 1977, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the seventh day of November, 1978.
The one hundred and fourteenth and one hundred and fifteenth Articles of
Amendment were adopted by the General Court during the sessions of 1977 and 1980, and were
approved and ratified by the people on the fourth day of November, 1980.
The one hundred and sixteenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General
Court during the sessions of 1980 and 1982, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the second day of November, 1982.
The one hundred and seventeenth Article of Amendment was adopted by the General
Court during the sessions of 1987 and 1990, and was approved and ratified by the people on
the sixth day of November, 1990.
AMENDMENTS REJECTED BY THE PEOPLE.
[A proposed Article of Amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of Intoxicating
Liquor as a beverage, adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1888
and 1889, was rejected by the people on the twenty-second day of April, 1889.]
[Proposed Articles of Amendment, (1) Establishing biennial elections of state officers,
and (2) Establishing biennial elections of members of the General Court; adopted by the
General Court during the sessions of the years 1895 and 1896, were rejected by the people
at the annual election held on the third day of November, 1896.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment to make Women eligible to appointment as Notaries
Public, adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1912 and 1913, was
rejected by the people on the fourth day of November, 1913.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment enabling Women to vote, adopted by the General Court
during the sessions of the years 1914 and 1915, was rejected by the people on the second
day of November, 1915.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment to give the General Court the power to pass an income
tax at graduated or proportioned rates, adopted by the General Court during the sessions
of the years 1959 and 1961 was rejected by the people on the sixth day of November, 1962;
and similar Articles of Amendment adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the
years 1966 and 1967, 1973 and 1975, and 1992 and 1994 were rejected by the people on the
fifth day of November, 1968, the second day of November, 1976, and the eighth day of
November, 1994.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment authorizing the Legislature to classify real property
according to uses, and authorizing the assessment, rating and taxation of real property at
different rates in the different classes so established, but proportionately in the same
classes while granting reasonable exemptions and abatements, approved by the General Court
during the sessions of the years of 1968 and 1969, was rejected by the people on the third
day of November, 1970.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment authorizing the General Court to impose and levy a
graduated income tax and to base such tax upon the federal income tax, adopted by the
General Court during the sessions of the years 1969 and 1971, was rejected by the people
on the seventh day of November, 1972.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment changing the procedure by which the Legislature
declares a measure to be an emergency law, adopted by the General Court during the
sessions of the years 1977 and 1980, was rejected by the people on the fourth day of
November, 1980.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment permitting the Commonwealth or its political
subdivisions to extend aid to non-public schools students within the limits of the United
States Constitution, adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1980
and 1982, was rejected by the people on the second day of November, 1982; and a similar
Article of Amendment adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1984
and 1986, was rejected by the people on the fourth day of November, 1986.]
[A proposed Article of Amendment relative to allowing the General Court to regulate the
practice and public funding of abortions consistent with the United States Constitution,
adopted by the General Court during the sessions of the years 1984 and 1986, was rejected
by the people on the fourth day of November, 1986.]
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