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Poll tax.

SEC. 12. The Legislature shall provide for the levy and collection of an annual poll tax, of not less than two dollars, on every male inhabitant of this State over twenty-one and under sixty years of age, except paupers, idiots, insane persons, and Indians not taxed. Said tax shall be paid into the State school fund.

104 Cal. 63; 135 Cal. 517; 148 Cal. 248.

Fruit and nut-bearing trees exempt from taxation.

SEC. 12. Fruit and nut-bearing trees under the age of four years from the time of planting in orchard form, and grapevines under the age of three years from the time of planting in vineyard form, shall be exempt from taxation, and nothing in this article shall be construed as subjecting such trees and grapevines to taxation. [New section; adopted November 6, 1894.]

Legislature to pass laws to enforce taxation.

SEC. 13. The Legislature shall pass all laws necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.

48 Cal. 493; 55 Cal. 489; 68 Cal. 142; 83 Cal. 393.

ARTICLE XIV.

WATER AND WATER RIGHTS.

Subject to control of State.

SECTION 1. The use of all water now appropriated, or that may hereafter be appropriated, for sale, rental, or distribution, is hereby declared to be a public use, and subject to the regulation and control of the State, in the manner to be prescribed by law; provided, that the rates or compensation to be collected by any person, company, or corporation in this State for the use of water supplied to any city and county, or city, or town, or the inhabitants thereof, shall be fixed, annually, by the Board of Supervisors, or City and County, or City, or Town Council, or other governing body of such city and county, or city, or town, by ordinance or otherwise, in the manner that other ordinances or legislative acts or resolutions are passed by such body, and shall continue in force for one year and no longer. Such ordinances or resolutions shall be passed in the month of February of each year, and take effect on the first day of July thereafter. Any board or body failing to pass the necessary ordinances or resolutions fixing water rates,

where necessary, within such time, shall be subject to peremptory process to compel action, at the suit of any party interested, and shall be liable to such further processes and penalties as the Legislature may prescribe. Any person, company, or corporation collecting water rates in any city and county, or city, or town in this State, otherwise than as so established, shall forfeit the franchises and waterworks of such person, company, or corporation to the city and county, or city, or town, where the same are collected, for the public use.

56 Cal. 596; 60 Cal. 170; 61 Cal. 4, 36; 62 Cal. 209, 232; 67 Cal. 121; 69 Cal. 255, 309; 74 Cal. 573; 76 Cal. 370; 82 Cal. 286, 302, 331, 337; 90 Cal. 640; 98 Cal. 183; 100 Cal. 121; 105 Cal. 91; 107 Cal. 225; 108 Cal. 90, 560; 112 Cal. 432; 118 Cal. 479, 565, 579; 122 Cal. 286; 129 Cal. 441; 130 Cal. 313; 139 Cal. 28, 434, 441, 442; 143 Cal. 252; 144 Cal. 593. App. R. 2, 187, 413, 417.

Right to collect rates is a franchise.

SEC. 2. The right to collect rates or compensation for the use of waters supplied to any county, city and county, or town, or the inhabitants thereof, is a franchise, and can not be exercised except by authority of and in the manner prescribed by law.

56 Cal. 593; 60 Cal. 170; 61 Cal. 3, 38; 62 Cal. 108, 209, 233; 76 Cal. 369; 82 Cal. 304; 92 Cal. 324; 117 Cal. 389. App. R. 2, 600.

ARTICLE XV.

HARBOR FRontage, etc.

Right of the State to frontage.

SECTION 1. The right of eminent domain is hereby declared to exist in the State to all frontages on the navigable waters of this State.

Access to navigable waters.

SEC. 2. No individual, partnership, or corporation, claiming or possessing the frontage of tidal lands of a harbor, bay, inlet, estuary, or other navigable water in this State, shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water whenever it is required for any public purpose, nor to destroy or obstruct the free navigation of such water; and the Legislature shall enact such laws as will give the most liberal construction to this provision, so that

access to the navigable waters of this State shall be always attainable for the people thereof.

123 Cal. 320; 132 Cal. 106; 139 Cal. 578.

Tide lands.

SEC. 3. All tide lands within two miles of any incorporated city or town of this State, and fronting on the waters of any harbor, estuary, bay, or inlet, used for the purposes of navigation, shall be withheld from grant or sale to private persons, partnerships, or corporations.

123 Cal. 320.

ARTICLE XVI.

STATE INDEBTEDNESS.

Liability exceeding $300,000, how created.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall not, in any manner, create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, which shall, singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by law for some single object or work to be distinctly specified therein, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such debt or liability as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or liability within twenty years of the time of the contracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until the principal and interest thereon shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take effect until, at a general election, it shall have been submitted to the people and shall have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election; and all moneys raised by authority of such law shall be applied only to the specific object therein stated, or to the payment of the debt thereby created, and such law shall be published in at least one newspaper in each county, or city and county, if one be published therein, throughout the State, for three months next preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people. The Legislature may, at any time after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same. [Constitution of 1849, Art. VIII, § 1.]

144 Cal. 694; 146 Cal. 543; 148 Cal. 502, 503.

ARTICLE XVII.

LAND AND HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION.

Homestead exemption.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall protect, by law, from forced sale, a certain portion of the homestead and other property of all heads of families..

[Constitution of 1849, Art. XI, § 15.]

54 Cal. 616; 62 Cal. 125, 138; 77 Cal. 54; 82 Cal. 228; 99 Cal. 39, 48; 111 Cal. 487; 119 Cal. 374; 139 Cal. 578, 579; 140 Cal. 621.

Large land holdings discouraged.

SEC. 2. The holding of large tracts of land, uncultivated and unimproved, by individuals or corporations, is against the public interest, and should be discouraged by all means not inconsistent with the rights of private property.

88 Cal. 455; 96 Cal. 118; 111 Cal. 400; 139 Cal. 578, 579. App. R. 1, 150.

State lands granted only to actual settlers.

SEC. 3. Lands belonging to this State, which are suitable for cultivation, shall be granted only to actual settlers, and in quantities not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres to each settler, under such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

55 Cal. 105; 57 Cal. 76; 65 Cal. 13; 68 Cal. 270, 508; 71 Cal. 321; 72 Cal. 240; 77 Cal. 535; 82 Cal. 141, 649; 88 Cal. 275, 455; 89 Cal. 44; 90 Cal. 47; 96 Cal. 118; 106 Cal. 490; 111 Cal. 400; 139 Cal. 578, 579; 148 Cal. 496, 714. App. R. 1, 150.

ARTICLE XVIII.

AMENDING AND REVISING THE CONSTITUTION.

Amendments, how made.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or Assembly, and if two thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses shall vote in favor thereof, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered in their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such proposed

amendment or amendments to the people in such manner, and at such time, and after such publication as may be deemed expedient. Should more amendments than one be submitted at the same election, they shall be so prepared and distinguished, by numbers or otherwise, that each can be voted on separately. If the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, or any of them, by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution.

[Constitution of 1849, Art. X, § 1.]

66 Cal. 633; 69 Cal. 468, 481; 72 Cal. 6; 80 Cal. 213; 102 Cal. 117, 120; 130 Cal. 91. App. R. 1, 677.

In an opinion rendered to Hon. A. B. Nye, State Controller, under date of January 2, 1907, Hon. U. S. Webb, Attorney-General, has this to say relating to the time when amendments to the Constitution take effect:

* * * "I am clearly of the view that this amendment became effective as a provision of the Constitution upon the date of its adoption by the people, to wit: November 6, 1906. This view is further supported by: Harrison vs. Colgan, 82 Pac. Rept. 674; 8 Cyc. 744; 6 Am. & Eng. Ency. 900." Harrison vs. Colgan is also reported in 148 Cal. 69.

Convention for revision.

SEC. 2. Whenever two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature shall deem it necessary to revise this Constitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote, at the next general election, for or against a convention for that purpose, and if a majority of the electors voting at such election on the proposition for a convention shall vote in favor thereof, the Legislature shall, at its next session, provide by law for calling the same. The convention shall consist of a number of delegates not to exceed that of both branches of the Legislature, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and have the same qualifications, as members of the Legislature. The delegates so elected shall meet within three months after their election, at such place as the Legislature may direct. At a special election to be provided for by law, the Constitution that may be agreed upon by such convention shall be submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection, in such manner as the convention may determine. The returns of such election shall, in such manner as the convention shall direct, be certified to the Executive of the State, who shall call to his assistance the Controller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, and compare the returns so certified to him; and it shall be

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