University upon the trusts provided for in the grant founding the university, and amendments thereof, and grants, bequests, and devises supplementary thereto. The legislature, by special act, may grant to the trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University corporate powers and privileges, but it shall not thereby alter their tenure, or limit their powers or obligations as trustees. All property now or hereafter held in trust for the founding, maintenance, or benefit of the Leland Stanford Junior University, or of any department thereof, may be exempted by special act from state taxation, and all personal property so held, the Palo Alto farm as described in the endowment grant to the trustees of the university, and all other real property so held and used by the university for educational purposes exclusively, may be similarly exempted from county and municipal taxation; provided, that residents of California shall be charged no fees for tuition unless such fees be authorized by act of the legislature. [New section adopted November 6, 1900.] Sec. 11. All property now or hereafter belonging to "The California School of Mechanical Arts," an institution founded and endowed by the late James Lick to educate males and females in the practical arts of life, and incorporated under the laws of the state of California, November twenty-third, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, having its school buildings located in the city and county of San Francisco, shall be exempt from taxation. The trustees of said institution must annually report their proceedings and financial accounts to the governor. The legislature may modify, suspend, and revive at will the exemption from taxation herein given. [New section adopted November 6, 1900.] Sec. 12. All property now or hereafter belonging to the "California Academy of Sciences," an institution for the advancement of science and maintenance of a free museum, and chiefly endowed by the late James Lick, and incorporated under the laws of the state of California, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, having its buildings located in the city and county of San Francisco, shall be exempt from taxation. The trustees of said institution must annually report their proceedings and financial accounts to the governor. The legislature may modify, suspend, and revive at will the exemption from taxation herein given. [New section adopted November 8, 1904.] Sec. 13. All property now or hereafter belonging to the Cogswell Polytechnical College, an institution for the advancement of learning, incorporated under the laws of the state of California, and having its buildings located in the city and county of San Francisco, shall be exempt from taxation. The trustees of said institution must annually report their proceedings and financial accounts to the goverThe legislature may modify, suspend, and revive at will the exemption from taxation herein given. tion adopted November 6, 1906.] nor. ARTICLE X. [New sec STATE INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Section 1. There shall be a state board of prison directors, to consist of five persons, to be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, who shall hold office for ten years, except that the first appointed shall, in such manner as the legislature may direct, be so classified that the term of one person so appointed shall expire at the end of each two years during the first ten years, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in like manner. The appointee to vacancy occurring before the expiration of a term shall hold office only for the unexpired term of his predecessor. The governor shall have the power to remove either of the directors for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty, after an opportunity to be heard upon written charges. Sec. 2. The board of directors shall have the charge and superintendence of the state prisons, and shall possess such powers and perform such duties, in respect to other penal and reformatory institutions of this state, as the legislature may prescribe. Sec. 3. The board shall appoint the warden and clerk, and determine the other necessary officers of the prisons. The board shall have power to remove the wardens and clerks for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty. All other officers and employees of the prisons shall be appointed by the warden thereof, and be removed at his pleasure. Sec. 4. The members of the board shall receive no compensation, other than reasonable traveling and other expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties, to be audited as the legislature may direct. Sec. 5. The legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to further define and regulate the powers and duties of the board, wardens, and clerks, and to carry into effect the provisions of this article. Sec. 6. After the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, the labor of convicts shall not be let out by contract to any person, copartnership, company, or corporation, and the legislature shall, by law, provide for the working of convicts for the benefit of the state. ARTICLE XI. COUNTIES, CITIES, AND TOWNS. Section 1. The several counties, as they now exist, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of this state. Sec. 2. No county seat shall be removed unless two-thirds of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. A proposition of removal shall not be submitted in the same county more than once in four years. Sec. 3. The legislature, by general and uniform laws, may provide for the alteration of county boundary lines, and for the formation of new counties; provided, however, that no new county shall be established which shall reduce any county to a population of less than twenty thousand; nor shall a new county be formed containing a less popula tion than eight thousand; nor shall any line thereof pass within five miles of the exterior boundary of the city or town in which the county seat of any county proposed to be divided is situated. Every county which shall be enlarged or created from territory taken from any other county or counties, shall be liable for a just proportion of the existing debts and liabilities of the county or counties from which such territory shall be taken. [Amendment adopted No vember 8, 1910.] Sec. 4. The legislature shall establish a system of county governments, which shall be uniform throughout the state; and by general laws shall provide for township organizations, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the qualified electors of such county, voting at a general election, shall so determine; and whenever a county shall adopt township organization, the assessment and collection of the revenue shall be made, and the business of such county and the local affairs of the several townships therein shall be managed and transacted, in the manner prescribed by such general laws. Sec. 5. The legislature, by general and uniform laws, shall provide for the election or appointment, in the several counties, of boards of supervisors, sheriffs, county clerks, district attorneys, and such other county, township, and municipal officers as public convenience may require, and shall prescribe their duties and fix their terms of office. It shall regulate the compensation of all such officers, in proportion to duties, and may also establish fees to be charged and collected by such officers for services performed in their respective offices, in the manner and for the uses provided by law, and for this purpose may classify the counties by population; and it shall provide for the strict accountability of county and township officers for all fees which may be collected by them, and for all public and municipal moneys which may be paid to them, or officially come into their possession. It may regulate the compensation of grand and trial jurors in all courts within the classes of counties herein permitted to be made; such compensation, however, shall not, in any class, exceed the sum of three dollars per day and mileage. [Amendment adopted November 3, 1908.] Sec. 6. Corporations for municipal purposes shall not be created by special laws; but the legislature shall, by general laws, provide for the incorporation, organization, and classification, in proportion to population, of cities and towns, 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 authorized 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. [Amendment adopted November 3, 1914.] Sec. 7. City and county governments may be merged and consolidated into one municipal government, with one set of officers, and may be incorporated under general laws providing for the incorporation and organization of corpora |