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It shall be the duty of said board of freeholders, within one hundred and twenty days after the result of such election shall have been declared by said board of supervisors, to prepare and propose a charter for said county, which shall be signed in duplicate by the members of said board of freeholders, or a majority of them, and be filed, one copy in the office of the county clerk of said county and the other in the office of the county recorder thereof. Said board of supervisors shall thereupon cause said proposed charter to be published for at least ten times in a daily newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated in said county; provided, that in any county where no such daily newspaper is printed, published and circulated, such proposed charter shall be published for at least three times in at least one weekly newspaper, of general circulation, printed, published and circulated in such county; and provided, that in any county where neither such daily nor such weekly newspaper is printed, published and circulated, a copy of such proposed charter shall be posted by the county clerk in three public places in said county, and on or near the entrance to at least one public schoolhouse in each school district in said county, and the first publication or the posting of such proposed charter shall be made within fifteen days after the filing of a copy thereof, as aforesaid, in the office of the county clerk. Said proposed charter shall be submitted by said board of supervisors to the qualified electors of said county at a special election held not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the completion of such publication, or after such posting; provided, that if a general election shall occur in said county not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the completion of 0 such publication, or after such posting, then such proposed charter may be so submitted at such general election. If a majority of said qualified electors, voting thereon at such general or special election, shall vote in favor of such proposed charter, it shall be deemed to be ratified, and shall be forthwith submitted to the legislature, if te it be in regular session, otherwise at its next regular session, or it may be submitted to the legislature in extraordinary session, for its approval or rejection as a whole, without power of alteration or amendment. Such approval may be made by concurrent resolution, and if approved by a majority vote of the members elected to each house, such charter shall become the charter of such county and shall become the organic law thereof relative to the matters therein provided, and supersede any existing charter framed under the provisions of this section, and all amendments thereof, and shall supersede all laws inconsistent with such charter relative to the matters provided in such charter. A copy of such charter, certified and authenticated by the chairman and clerk of the board of supervisors under the seal of said board and attested by the county clerk of said county, setting forth the submission of such charter to the electors of said county, and its ratification by them, shall, after the approval of such charter by the legislature, be made in duplicate, and filed, one in the office of the secretary of state and the other, after being recorded in the office of the recorder of said county, shall be filed in the office of the county clerk thereof, and thereafter all courts shall take judicial notice of said charter.

The charter, so ratified, may be amended by proposals therefor submitted by the board of supervisors of the county to the qualified electors thereof at a general or special election held_not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the publication of such proposals for ten times in a daily newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated in said county; provided, that in any county where no such daily newspaper is printed, published and circulated, such proposed charter shall be published for at least three times in at least one weekly newspaper, of general circulation, printed, published and circulated in such county; provided, that in any county where neither such daily nor such weekly newspaper is printed, published and circulated, a copy of such proposed charter shall be posted by the county clerk in three public places in said county, and on or near the entrance to at least one public schoolhouse in each school dis

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trict in said county. If a majority of such qualified electors voting thereon, at such general or special election, shall vote in favor of any such proposed amendment or amendments, or any amendment or amendments proposed by petition as hereinafter provided, such amendment or amendments shall be deemed to be ratified, and shall be forthwith submitted to the legislature, if it be in regular session, otherwise at its next regular session, or may be submitted to the legislature in extraordinary session, for approval or rejection as a whole, without power of alteration or amendment, and if approved by the legislature, as herein provided for the approval of the charter, such charter shall be amended accordingly. A copy of such amendment or amendments shall, after the approval thereof by the legislature, be made in duplicate, and shall be authenticated, certified, recorded and filed as herein provided for the charter, and with like force and effect. Whenever a petition signed by ten per centum of the qualified electors of any county, computed upon the total number of votes cast in said county for all candidates for governor at the last general election, at which a governor was elected, is filed in the office of the county clerk of said county, petitioning the board of supervisors thereof to submit any proposed amendment or amendments to the charter of such county, which amendment or amendments shall be set forth in full in such petition, to the qualified electors thereof, such petition shall forthwith be examined and certified by the county clerk, and if signed by the requisite number of qualified electors of such county, shall be presented to the said board of supervisors, by the said county clerk, as hereinbefore provided for petitions for the election of boards of freeholders. Upon the presentation of said petition to said board of supervisors, said board must submit the amendment or amendments set forth therein to the qualified electors of said county at a general or special election held not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the publication or posting of such proposed amendment or amendments in the same manner as herein before provided in the case of the submission of any proposed amendment or amendments to such charter, proposed and submitted by the board of supervisors. In submitting any such charter, or amendments thereto, any alternative article or proposition may be presented for the choice of the electors, and may be voted on separately without prejudice to others.

Every special election held under the provisions of this section, for the election of boards of freeholders or for the submission of proposed charters, or any amendment or amendments thereto, shall be called by the board of supervisors, by ordinance, which shall specify the purpose and time of such election and shall establish the election precincts and designate the polling places therein, and the names of the election officers for each such precinct. Such ordinance, prior to such election shall be published five times in a daily newspaper, or twice in a weekly newspaper, if there be no such daily newspaper, printed, published and circulated in said county; provided, that if no such daily or weekly newspaper be printed or published in such county, then a copy of such ordinance shall be posted by the county clerk in three public places in such county and in or near the entrance to at least one public schoolhouse in each school district therein. In all other respects, every such election shall be held and conducted, the returns thereof canvassed and the result thereof declared by the board of supervisors in the same manner as provided by law for general elections. Whenever boards of freeholders shall be elected, or any such proposed charter, or amendment or amendments thereto, submitted, at a general election, the general laws applicable to the election of county officers and the submission of propositions to the vote or electors, shall be followed in so far as the same may be applicable thereto.

It shall be competent, in all charters, framed under the authority given by this section to provide, in addition to any other provisions allowable by this constitution, and the same shall provide, for the following matters:

1. For boards of supervisors and for the constitution, regulation and government thereof, for

the times at which and the terms for which the members of said board shall be elected, for the number of members, not less than three, that shall constitute such boards, for their compensation and for their election, either by the electors of the counties at large or by districts; provided, that in any event said board shal consist of one member for each district, who must be a qualified elector thereof; and

2. For sheriffs, county clerks, treasurers, recorders, license collectors, tax collectors, public administrators, coroners, surveyors, district attorneys, auditors, assessors and superintendents of schools, for the election or appointment of said officers, or any of them, for the times at which and the terms for which, said officers shall be elected or appointed, and for their compensation, or for the fixing of such compensation by boa: ds of supervisors, and, if appointed, for the manner of their appointment; and

3. For the number of justices of the peace and constables for each township, or for the number of such judges and other officers of such inferior courts as may be provided by the constitution or general law, for the election or appointment of said officers, for the times at which and the terms for which said officers shall be elected or appointed, and for their compensation, or for the fixing of such compensation by boards of supervisors, and if appointed, for the manner of their appointment; and

4. For the powers and duties of boards of supervisors and all other county officers, for their removal and for the consoli lation and segregation of county offices, and for the manner of filling all vacancies occurring therein; provided, that the provisions of such charters relating to the powers and duties of boards of supervisors and all other county officers shall be subject to and controlled by general laws; and

5. For the fixing and regulation by boards of supervisors, by ordinance, of the appointment and number of assistants, deputies, clerks, attachés and other persons to be employed, from time to time, in the several offices of the county, and for the prescribing and regulating by such boards of the powers, duties, qualifications and compensation of such persons, the times at which, and terms for which they shall be appointed, and the manner of their appointment and removal; and

6. For the compensation of such fish and game wardens, probation and other officers as may be provided by general law. or for the fixing of such compensation by boards of supervisors.

All elective officers of counties, and of townships, of road districts and of highway construction divisions therein shall be nominated and elected in the manner provided by general laws for the nomination and election of such officers.

All charters framed under the authority given by this section, in addition to the matters herein above specified, may provide as follows:

For offices other than those required by the constitution and laws of the state, or for the creation of any or all of such offices by boards of supervisors, for the election or appointment of persons to fill such offices, for the manner of such appointment, for the times at which and the terms for which such persons shall be so elected or appointed, and for their compensation, or for the fixing of such compensation by boards of supervisors.

For offices hereafter created by this constitution or by general law, for the election or anpointment of persons to fill such offices, for the manner of such appointment. for the times at which and the terms for which such persons shall be so elected or appointed, and for their compensation, or for the fixing of such compensation by boards of supervisors.

For the formation, in such counties. of road districts for the care, maintenance, repair, inspection and supervision only of roads, highways and bridges and for the formation. in such counties, of highway construction divisions for the construction only of roads, highways and bridges; for the inclusion in any such district or division, of the whole or any part of any incorporated city or town, upon ordinance passed by such incorporated city or town authorizing the same, and upon the assent to such inclusion by a majority of the qualified electors of such incorpo

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rated city or town, or portion thereof, proposed to be so included, at an election held for that purpose; for the organization, government, powers and jurisdiction of such districts and divisions, and for raising revenue therein, for such purposes, by taxation, upon the assent of a majority of the qualified electors of such districts or divisions, voting at an election to be held for that purpose; for the incurring of indebtedness therefor by such counties, districts or divisions for such purposes respectively, by the issuance and sale, by the counties, of bonds of such counties. districts or divisions, and the expen iture of the proceeds of the sale of such bonds, and for levying and collecting taxes against the property of the counties, districts or divisions, as the case may be, for the payment of the principal and interest of such indebtedness at maturity; provided, that any such indebtedness shall not be incurred without the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors of the county, district or division, as the case may be, voting at an election to be held for that purpose, nor unless before or at the time of incurring such indebtedness provision shall be made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, and also for a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof on or before maturity, which shall not exceed forty years from the time of contracting same, and the procedure for voting, issuing and selling such bonds shall, except in so far as the same shall be prescribed in such charters, conform to general laws for the authorizing and incurring by counties of bonded indebtedness, so far as applicable; provided, further, that provisions in such charters for the construction, care, maintenance, repair, inspection and supervision of roads, highways and bridges for which aid from the state is granted, shall be subject to such regulations and conditions as may be imposed by the legislature.

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Whenever any county has framed and adopted a charter, and the same shall have been approved by the legislature, as herein provided, the general laws adopted by the legislature in pursuance of sections four and five of this article, shall, as to such county, be superseded by said charter as to matters for which, under this section it is competent to make provision in such charter, and for which provision is made therein, except as herein otherwise expressly provided, and except that any such charter shall not affect the tenure of office of the elective officers of the county, or of any district, township or division thereof, in office at the time such charter goes into effect, and such officers shall continue to hold their respective offices until the expiration of the term for which they shall have been elected, unless sooner removed in the manner provided by law.

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The charter of any county, adopted under the authority of this section, may be surrendered and annulled with the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors of such county, voting at a special election, held for that purpose, and to ordered and called by the board of supervisors of the county unon receiving a written petition, signed and certified as hereinabove provided for the purposes of the adoption of charters, requesting said board to submit the question of the surrender and annulment of such charter to the qualified electors of such county, and, in the event of the surrender and annulment of any such charter, such county shall thereafter be governed under general laws in force for the government of counties.

The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any county that is consolidated with any city.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF ASSEMBLY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 60. The change here proposed is slight but highly important. Section 7 of article XI of the constitution, making provision for county charters, was adopted by the people in 1911. Two counties, Los Angeles and San Bernardino, availed themselves of its authorization. The gen. eral principle of the section is so sound and has been indorsed so recently by the people of the state, that no argument in its favor is necessary.

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But, to make the section available to counties composed of a mixed urban and rural population, especially counties containing several incorporated municipalities, slight changes in its provisions seem indispensable.

The change here contemplated is contained in the paragraph numbered 4, which reads follows:

"Section 4.

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For the assumption and discharge by county officers of certain of the municipal functions of the cities and towns within the county, whenever, in the case of cities and towns incorporated under general laws, the discharge by county officers of such municipal functions is authorized by general law, or whenever, in the case of cities and towns organized under section eight of this article, the discharge by county officers of such municipal functions is authorized by provisions of the charters, or by amendments thereto, of such cities or towns."

The counterpart of this provision is to be found in Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 81, where cities are authorized to delegate certain of their functions to county officers. There are two classes of cities in California: (1) those organized under general laws, and (2) those operating under freeholders' charters. For the discharge of any municipal functions by county officials, the provisions of this amendment, as well as those of Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 81, authorize the legislature to take action with reference to the former class of cities, and for

the local communities themselves to take action in the case of the latter class.

The adoption of the change here proposed will permit the welding together of all the people of the county in carrying out such matters as are of common interest. In counties containing but one or two or three municipalities, it will work towards economy in the administration of public affairs. In a county where there are a number of municipalities and where a large proportion of the population is urban, the proposed change opens the door to practical consolidation of a county and the cities within its borders in the administration of their common business, while leaving each city as an entirely distinct and independent political unit.

There is nothing in this amendment which trenches upon the county's position as a political division of the state. The state's interests in the administration of its affairs, through counties, are left unimpaired. The whole aim and purpose of the change proposed is to allow the people of the several counties to organize their government, whether of the county type or of the city type, in the interest of the most efficient and economical administration. At the same time, there is nothing compulsory on any municipality to surrender to a county official the discharge of any function except upon its most deliberate determination. WM. C. CLARK,

Assemblyman Thirty-seventh District.
HERBERT W. SLATER,
Assemblyman Thirteenth District.

REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 62 amending section 23 of article XII of constitution. Present section unchanged except in following particulars: Railroad commission given exclusive power to fix public utility rates in all incorporated municipalities; such municipalities, by vote of electors thereof, may retain that control over public utilities which relates to local, police, sanitary, and other regulations only, or surrender same to railroad commission; omits provision authorizing such municipalities to reinvest themselves with powers so surrendered; declares right of incorporated municipalities to grant public utility franchises not affected by section.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 62, a resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State of California by amending section 23 of article XII, relating to public utilities, their supervision and regulation. The legislature of the State of California at its regular session commencing on the 6th day of January, in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, two thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses of said legislature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes to the qualified electors of the State of California, the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of California so that section 23 of article XII of said Constitution shall read as follows:

PROPOSED LAW.

Section 23. Every private corporation, and every individual or association of individuals, owning, operating, managing, or controlling any commercial railroad, interburban railroad, street railroad, canal, pipe line, plant, or equipment, or any part of such railroad, canal, pipe line, plant or equipment within this state, for the transportation or conveyance of passengers, or express matter, or freight of any kind, including crude oil, or for the transmission of telephone or telegraph messages, or for the production, generation, transmission, delivery or furnishing of heat. light, water or power or for the furnishing of storage or wharfage facilities, either directly or indirectly, to or for the public, and every common carrier, is hereby declared to be a public utility subject to such control and regulation by the railroad commission as may be provided by the legislature, and every class of private corporations, individuals, or associations of indi

viduals hereafter declared by the legislature to be public utilities shall likewise be subject to such control and regulation. The railroad commission shall have and exercise such power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate public utilities, in the State of California, and to fix the rates to be charged for commodities furnished, or services rendered by public utilities as shall be conferred upon it by the legislature, and the right of the legislature to confer powers upon the railroad commission respecting public utilities is hereby declared to be plenary and to be unlimited by any provision of this constitution. From and after the passage by the legislature of laws conferring powers upon the railroad commission respecting public utilities, all powers respecting such public utilities vested in boards of supervisors, or municipal councils, or other governing bodies of the several counties, cities and counties, cities and towns, in this state, or in any commission created by law and existing at the time of the passage of such laws, shall cease so far as such powers shall conflict with the powers so conferred upon the railroad commission: provided, however, that this section shall not affect such powers of control over public utilities as relate to the making and enforcement of local, police, sanitary and other regulations, other than the fixing of rates, vested in any city and county or incorporated city or town as, at an election to be held pursuant to law, a majority of the qualified electors of such city and county, or incorporated city or town, voting thereon. shall vote to retain, and until such election such powers shall continue unimpaired; but if the vote so taken shall not favor the continuation of such powers they shall thereafter vest in the railroad commission as provided by law and provided. further, that where any such city and county or incorporated city or town shall have elected to continue any of its powers to

make and enforce such local, police, sanitary and other regulations, other than the fixing of rates, it may, by vote of a majority of its qualified electors voting thereon, thereafter surrender such powers to the railroad commission in the manner prescribed by the legislature; and provided, further, that this section shall not affect the right of any city and county or incorporated city or town to grant franchises for public utilities upon the terms and conditions and in the manner prescribed by law. Nothing in this section shall be construed as a limitation upon any power conferred upon the railroad commission by any provision of this constitution now existing or adopted concurrently herewith.

Section 23, article XII, proposed to be amended, now reads as follows:

EXISTING LAW.

Section 23. Every private corporation, and every individual or association of individuals, owning, operating, managing, or controlling any commercial railroad, interurban railroad, street railroad, canal, pipe line, plant, or equipment, or any part of such railroad, canal, pipe line, plant or equipment within this state, for the transportation or conveyance of passengers, or express matter, or freight of any kind, including crude oil, or for the transmission of telephone or telegraph messages, or for the production, generation, transmission, delivery or furnishing of heat, light, water or power, or for the furnishing of storage or wharfage facilities, either directly or indirectly, to or for the public, and every common carrier, is hereby declared to be a public utility subject to such control and regulation by the railroad commission as may be provided by the legislature, and every class of private corporations, individuals, or associations of individuals hereafter declared by the legislature to be public utilities shall likewise be subject to such control and regulation. The railroad commission shall have and exercise such power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate public utilities, in the State of California, and to fix the rates to be charged for commodities furnished, or services rendered by public utilities as shall be conferred upon it by the legislature, and the right of the legislature to confer powers upon the railroad commission respecting public utilities is hereby declared to be plenary and to be unlimited by any provision of this constitution.

From and after the passage by the legislature of laws conferring powers upon the railroad commission respecting public utilities, all powers respecting such public utilities vested in boards of supervisors, or municipal councils, or other governing bodies of the several counties, cities and counties, cities and towns, in this state, or in any commission created by law and existing at the time of the passage of such laws, shall cease so far as such powers shall conflict with the powers so conferred upon the railroad commission; provided, however, that this section shall not affect such powers of control over any public utility vested in any city and county, or incorporated city or town as, at an election to be held pursuant to laws to be passed hereafter by the legislature, a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon of such city and county, or incorporated city or town, shall vote to retain, and until such election such powers shall continue unimpaired; but if the vote so taken shall not favor the continuation of such powers they shall thereafter vest in the railroad commission as provided by law; and provided, further, that where any such city and county or incorporated city or town shall have elected to continue any powers respecting public utilities, it may, by vote of a majority of its qualified electors voting thereon, thereafter surrender such powers to the railroad commission in the manner to be prescribed by the legislature; or if such municipal corporation shall have surrendered any powers to the railroad commission, it may, by like vote, thereafter reinvest itself with such power. Nothing in this section shall be

construed as a limitation upon any power conferred upon the railroad commission by any provision of this constitution now existing or adopted concurrently herewith.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF ASSEMBLY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 62.

At the special election held on October 10, 1911, the people voted almost unanimously to give to the railroad commission control over all public service corporations in the state, except in certain matters within incorporated cities. That action has been fully justified by the results attained in less than three years. Intelligent investigation and action by the commission has brought about reductions in rates and improvements in service rendered by all classes of public utilities.

The system is still imperfect, however, in that it leaves certain powers to be exercised by incorporated cities which can better be exercised by the commission. The result has been confusion and uncertainty as to where the commission's jurisdiction ends and a city's jurisdiction begins. It happens more often than otherwise that a publice utility, for example, a gas company, will serve patrons inside and outside an incorporated city. The lines serving the suburban population constitute a part of the city plant, and while there is but one public utility and but one plant, under our present system of regulation there are two rate-making powers, the legislative body of the city, fixing rates as to the portion of the plant within the city limits, and the railroad commission, fixing rates as to the portion outside the city limits. Wholly unnecessary confusion is the inevitable result.

It is proposed by this amendment to at once vest in the railroad commission all of the ratefixing powers now exercised by incorporated cities. There can be absolutely no sound argument against the policy of statewide control of public service corporations; the polity is uniformly considered to be a wise one and has justified itself in every state where it has been tested. Nowhere has this been so convincingly demonstrated as in California. Since the commission has been vested with the power it now has outside of incorporated cities, it has decided hundreds of cases and in less than half a dozen have its decisions been questioned, while, upon the other hand, it rarely happens that a rate fixed by a local body is not attacked in court and in perhaps the majority of cases successfully.

Experience in other states has shown that the engineering force and the corps of experts required to ascertain the facts necessary for intelligent action on the part of the regulating body, are more efficient if they have to deal with every public utility in the state, regardless of its size or the size of the city in which it operates. There is also economy in the system proposed, since the same experts who serve one city will serve every city in the state, and the cities will thus be relieved of the necessity of employing highsalaried experts and assistants. Furthermore, the system will remove public utilities from the sphere of local politics. Again, the action of an impartial central body is more intelligent and just than the actions of the governing bodies of the cities concerned.

It is believed by the proponents of this amendment that it will bring about scientific regulation of public utilities throughout the state, and it should be adopted.

W. A. SUTHERLAND, Assemblyman Fifty-first District.

ALFRED MORGENSTERN,

Assemblyman Thirty-fifth District,

INCORPORATION OF MUNICIPALITIES.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 81 amending section 6 of article XI of constitution. Present section unchanged except in following particulars: Legislature may provide that county officers shall perform municipal functions of munipalities incorporated under general laws when electors thereof so determine; municipalities hereafter organized under charters, and those heretofore so organized, when empowered by charter amendment, may legislate respecting municipal affairs, subject only to charter restrictions; in other matters they are subject to general laws; municipal charters may require county officers to perform municipal functions whenever general laws or county charter authorize such performance. Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 81, a resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to section six of article eleven of the Constitution of the State of California relating to municipal corporations.

The legislature of the State of California, at Eits regular session commencing on the sixth day I of January, 1913, two thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses of said legisElature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes that section six of article XI of the Constitution of the State of California be amended to read as follows:

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PROPOSED LAW.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF ASSEMBLY CON-
STITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 81.

The purpose of this amendment is to make effective section 6 of article XI of the constitution as amended in 1896. Section 6 as originally adopted in 1879, while purporting to secure municipal home rule, provided that all city charters should be subject to and controlled by general laws. The supreme court pointed out that local government was being constantly "frittered away" by laws enacted by the legislature, so that freeholders' charters were giving only the semblance and not the substance of self-government. Accordingly, the words "except in municipal affairs," were inserted by amendment in 1896, with the intent and purpose to exempt municipalities the operation of general legislation in strictly municipal matters. But the revision was so ill-phrased that the supreme court was compelled to hold that the only way for a city to gain the advantage intended by the amendment of 1896 was to incorporate each and every possible municipal affair in its charter. An illogical and impracticable task was set before the cities of the state, and the attempt to work it out has resulted in long and cumbersome charters.

The amendment now submitted proposes to relieve this situation and to apply a just and logical remedy. While reserving to the state legislature exclusive control over matters of general concern, it grants to cities and towns jurisdiction in all municipal affairs without need of specifying them in the charter. Of course, if a city should attempt to transcend the limits of a "municipal affair," its act will be declared void, for the determination of what are "municipal affairs" and what are "state affairs" will remain, as now, a matter for judicial construction.

Section 6. Corporations for municipal purposes shall not be created by special laws; but from the legislature shall, by general laws, provide for the incorporation, organization, and classification, in proportion to population, of cities and towns, é which laws may be altered, amended, or repealed; and the legislature may, by general laws, provide for the performance by county officers of certain of the municipal functions of cities and towns so incorporated, whenever a majority of the electors of any such city or town voting at a general or special election shall so determine. Cities and towns heretofore organized or incorporated may become organized under the general laws passed for that purpose, whenever a majority of the electors voting at a general election shall so determine, and shall organize in conformity therewith. Cities and towns hereafter organized under charters framed and adopted by authority of this constitution are hereby empowered, and cities and towns heretofore organized by authority of this constitution may amend their charters in the manner author. ized by this constitution so as to become likewise empowered hereunder, to make and enforce all laws and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to the restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters, and in respect to other matters they shall be subject to and controlled by general laws. Cities and towns heretofore or hereafter organized by authority of this constitution may, by charter provision or amendment, provide for the performance by county officers of certain of their municipal functions, whenever the discharge of such municipal functions by county officers is authorized by general laws or by the provisions of a county charter framed and adopted by authority of this constitution.

Section 6, article XI, proposed to be amended, now reads as follows:

EXISTING LAW.

Section 6. Corporations for municipal purposes shall not be created by special laws; but the legislature, by general laws, shall provide for the incorporation, organization, and classification, in proportion to population, of cities and towns, which laws may be altered, amended, or repealed. Cities and towns heretofore organized or incorporated may become organized under such general laws whenever a majority of the electors voting at a general election shall so determine, and shall organize in conformity therewith; and cities and towns heretofore or hereafter organized, and all charters thereof framed or adopted by authority of this constitution, except in municipal affairs, shall be subject to and controlled by general laws.

In order to run no risk of endangering or demoralizing the present status of chartered cities, it is distinctly provided that this grant of jurisdiction in municipal affairs shall be selfexecuting only in the case of charters to be hereafter framed and adopted. With regard to existing charters, it will be necessary for them to be expressly revised in order to come under the operation of this amendment.

Another feature of the proposed amendment, conceived in the interest of efficiency and economy, is to make possible a general law or county charter which will authorize the performance of certain municipal functions by county officers, whenever the electors of the city concerned shall duly and properly register their desire to that effect. It is intended that this shall work in with the provisions of section 7 of article XI relating to county charters.

The amendment as a whole is designed, in accordance with the best thought and practice of the day, to encourage municipalities to proceed unhampered in the development of measures of local and municipal concern. The sovereignty and integrity of the state, acting through the legislature and by direct legislation on the part of the people, is rigidly safeguarded, while local enterprise and initiative in local matters is directly authorized. WM. C. CLARK, Assemblyman Thirty-seventh District. W. A. JOHNSTONE,

Assemblyman Sixty-eighth District.

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