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state purposes, until and including the first day of January, nineteen hundred thirty-five.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF SENATE CONSTI-
TUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 17.

Considering the many handicaps under which American shipping is now laboring, and considering also the unjust discrimination now existing under our revenue laws against any owner of a vessel loyal enough to register said vessel at some port in California, this amendment should have the hearty co-operation of all California citizens.

Under the now existing revenue laws, any vessel registered from a port outside of California is exempt from taxation in this state; but if the owner of any vessel, either an individual or corporation, is patriotic enough to register said vessel from a California port, along comes the assessor and taxes him for his loyalty.

This matter of exempting shipping from taxation is not a new nor an untried measure. The great State of New York has already exempted vessels from taxation for a period of 20 years, and the State of Washington now has a revenue law exempting all vessels registered from Washington ports from taxation. This Washington law goes even further in this matter, and exempts from taxation vessels under construction and all materials used therein while said vessel is in process of building.

The amount of revenue which might be lost by

the adoption of this amendment is very nomina!, and should not be considered in the comparison with the great and immense benefit which will accrue to this state in the way of advertisement, by having all vessels registered from California ports with the name of "San Francisco," "Los Angeles," "Oakland," "San Diego," "Eureka,' etc., painted on the stern of the vessel.

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Foreign vessels, while they now pay no taxes, are entitled to and receive equal benefits to all domestic vessels, in the matter of police protection, fire protection, and also in respect to federal, state and county fees, for pilotage, dockage, etc.

Outside of the matter of advertising, it is advisable to have all vessels plying along the Pacific Coast registered from some port in California. It is impossible to estimate the indirect benefit this state will derive in the matter of rentals, purchases of supplies and similar items.

By the adoption of this amendment, many vessels which are now registered from New York, Seattle and other ports foreign to California, will, as a matter of convenience, return and register from California.

The experiment is certainly worth the trial, for after twenty years, the law, if unsatisfactory, automatically repeals itself. If this amendment is passed, it will be a great stimulus in the upbuilding of our harbors and river ports as well as the expansion of a large local merchant marine. THOS. F. FINN, State Senator Twenty-third District.

CONDEMNATION FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 16 adding section 20 to article XI of constitution. Authorizes state, county or municipality to condemn neighboring property within its limits additional to that actually intended for proposed improvement; declares same taken for public use; defines estate therein and manner of dealing therewith to further such improvement; permits county or municipality to condemn lands within ten miles beyond its boundaries for certain public purposes, with consent of other county or municipality if such lands lie therein; requires terms of condemnation, lease or disposal of such additional property to be prescribed by law.

Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 16, a resolution proposing to the people of the State of California, an amendment to the Constitution of the State of California, by adding a new section to article XI thereof, to be designated as section twenty, of said article XI, of the Constitution of the State of California, relating to the taking of property for public use and additional property in excess thereof, and for the payment therefor.

Resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That the legislature of the State of California, at its regular session, commencing on the sixth day of January, nineteen hundred thirteen, two thirds of all the members elected to each of the houses of said legislature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes to the qualified electors of the State of California, that a new section be added to article XI of the Constitution of the State of California, to be known and designated as section twenty of article XI of the Constitution of the State of California, and to read as follows:

PROPOSED LAW.

Section 20. The state, or any county, city and county, or incorporated city or town, taking or appropriating property within the limits thereof for public use for any proposed public improvement, may also take and appropriate, under the powers of eminent domain, additional adjoining or neighboring property within the limits thereof, in excess of that actually to be devoted to or occupied by the proposed improvement, and such additional property so taken shall be deemed to be taken for public use. The estate in such additional property so taken shall be a fee simple

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estate, and such additional property may be sold,
leased or otherwise disposed of, in whole or in
part, under such terms and restrictions as may be
appropriate to preserve or further the improve-
ment made or proposed to be made. For the pur-
pose of acquiring, constructing, enlarging or im-
proving a public park, playground, boulevard,
street, building or grounds therefor, any county,
city and county, incorporated city or town may
condemn lands outside of its boundaries and
within the distance of ten miles therefrom, pro-
vided that no lands within any other county, city
and county, incorporated city or town shall be
taken without its consent, to be given in any
manner that may be provided by law. The con-
ditions under which such additional property may
be taken or appropriated, the manner and method
of providing payment therefor and the terms and
restrictions under which such property may be
sold, leased or otherwise disposed of, shall be
prescribed by general law.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF SENATE CONSTI.
TUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 16.

This amendment proposes a new section to the constitution, giving the state, county and city the right to take for public purposes not only such property as may be necessary for immediate and present need, but also such as may be required for future use. Under the law as it stands to-day only such property can be taken as is required for present use, but not such as may be needed for future use.

The amendment is designed to enable the state, county or city to plan and carry out public improvements on a comprehensive scale. In the

establishing and laying out of public improvements and public institutions, far-sightedness demands the planning on broad enough a scale to permit of expansion and additions in the future. The need may not exist at the time property is first obtained for public use, but future growth often requires additional land. A state university when first established does not have all the departments, nor need the various buildings, that are later required. An asylum or industrial institution when first founded, and with a small number of inmates, does not need the land for buildings or for agricultural or dairy purposes that is needed later on when the institution becomes much larger. A city may plan a civic center on a far-reaching scale, with use at the present time for only a few buildings, intending in the future, as the need arises, and as the expenses can be met, to add libraries, art galleries, athletic fields, and other extensions.

At the present time, the state, or county or city, in taking property can not take such as may be required for future use. The public not being able to procure adjacent and surrounding property for future needs, this adjacent property is bought by private individuals. In many instances it is taken up by speculators in the anticipation of a demand for it in the future for public purposes. When the need for it in the future .does come, the additions and extensions to public institutions have to be made elsewhere, in remote and inconvenient places, or the public required to pay unreasonable and exorbitant prices.

Much of the increased value of the adjoining property arises from the very fact that the state, the county or the city has taken over the original property for public purposes, and erected public buildings on it. The instant that the state, or county or city, erects its buildings, the adjacent and surrounding property is enhanced in value, which very increase in value that it has produced the public has to pay for, if later it buys this adjoining and surrounding property. Under this amendment, the public is enabled to retain this increased value or increment itself, and is not compelled to pay for the value that it itself has caused to accrue.

Both to save the public from this additional cost, and to prevent the state, or county, or city from having its plans frustrated and defeated by its inability to obtain adjoining and surrounding property for future development and expansion of its parks, playgrounds and public institutions, this amendment is designed.

Now that the function of government is coming to be recognized in providing for the welfare of its citizens in the broadest sense-their recreation and health, as well as their education and protection-this duty dictates the adoption of this amendment whereby far-sighted and comprehensive provision can be made in the way of public improvements, that shall be adequate for the future as well as the immediate present. HERBERT C. JONES, State Senator Twenty-eighth District.

EXPOSITION CONTRIBUTION BY ALAMEDA COUNTY. Senate Constitutional Amendment 34 amending section 18 of article XI of constitution. Present section unchanged but proviso added authorizing Alameda county, at election therefor, to incur bonded indebtedness not exceeding $1.000.000, bearing interest not exceeding five per cent, bonds redeemable within forty years and salable at not less than par, proceeds payable on terms fixed by supervisors to Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company for exposition in San Francisco; authorizing special tax upon all taxable property in Alameda county to pay interest and create sinking fund for payment of said bonds. Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 34, resolution to propose to the people of the State of California, an amendment to the Constitution of the State of California, by amending section eighteen of article eleven thereof relating to restrictions on the power of counties, cities and other subdivisions of the state to incur indebtedness.

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Section 18. No county, city, town, township, board of education, or school district, shall incur any indebtedness or liability in any manner or for any purpose exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for such year, without the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors thereof, 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 provision to constitute 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 the same; provided, however, that the city and County of San Francisco may at any time pay the unpaid claims, with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum, for materials furnished to and work done for said city and county during the forty-first, forty-second, fortythird, forty-fourth, and fiftieth fiscal years, and for unpaid teachers' salaries for the fiftieth fiscal year, out of the income and revenue of any succeeding year or years, the amount to be paid in full of said claims not to exceed in the aggregate the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, and that no statute of limitations shall apply in any manner to these claims; and provided, further, that the city of Vallejo, of Solano county, may pay its existing indebtedness, incurred in the construction of its waterworks, whenever two thirds of the electors thereof. voting at an election held for that purpose, shall so decide, and that no statute of limitations shall apply in any manner. Any indebtedness or liability incurred contrary to this provision. with the exceptions hereinbefore recited, shall be void. The city and county of San Francisco, the city of San Jose, and the town of Santa Clara may make provision for a sinking fund, to pay the principal of any indebtedness incurred, or to be hereafter incurred by it. to commence at a time after the incurring of such indebtedness of no more than a period of one fourth of the time of maturity of such indebtedness, which shall not exceed seventy-five years from the time of contracting the same. Any indebtedness incurred contrary to any provision of

this section shall be void; and provided, further, that the county of Alameda may, upon the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors thereof voting at an election to be held for that purpose, incur a bonded indebtedness of not to exceed one million dollars, and the legislative authority of said county of Alameda shall issue bonds therefor and grant and turn over to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of California, March 22, 1910, the proceeds of said bonds for stock in said company or under such other terms and conditions as said legislative authority may determine, the same to be used and disbursed by said exposition company for the purposes of an exposition to be held in the city and county of San Francisco to celebrate the completion of the Panama canal; said bonds, so issued, to be of such form and to be redeemable, registered and converted in such manner and amounts, and at such times not later than forty years from the date of their issue as the legislative authority of said county of Alameda shall determine; the interest on said bonds not to exceed five per centum per annum, and said bonds to be exempt from all taxes for state, county and municipal purposes, and to be sold for not less than par at such times and places, and in such manner, as shall be determined by said legislative authority; the proceeds of said bonds, when sold, to be payable immediately upon such terms or conditions as said legislative body may determine, to the treasurer of said Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company, upon demands of said treasurer of said exposition company, without the necessity of the approval of such demands by other authority, than said legislative authority of Alameda county, the same to be used and disbursed by said Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company for the purposes of such exposition, under the direction and control of said exposition company; and, the legislative authority of said county of Alameda is hereby empowered and directed to levy a special tax on all taxable property in said county each year after the issue of said bonds to raise an amount to pay the interest on said bonds as the same become due, and to create a sinking fund to pay the principal thereof when the same shall become due.

Section 18, article XI, proposed to be amended, now reads as follows:

EXISTING LAW.

Section 18. No county, city, town, township, board of education, or school districts, shall incur any indebtedness or liability in any manner or for any purpose exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for such year, without the assent of two thirds of the qualified electors thereof, 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 provision to constitute 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 the same; provided, however, that the city and county of San Francisco may at any time pay the unpaid claims, with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum, for materials furnished to and work done for said city and county during the forty-first, forty-second, fortythird, forty-fourth, and fiftieth fiscal years, and for unpaid teachers' salaries for the fiftieth fiscal year, out of the income and revenue of any succeeding year or years, the amount to be paid in full of said claims not to exceed in the aggregate

the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, and that no statute of limitations shall apply in any manner to these claims; and provided, further, that the city of Vallejo, of Solano county, may pay its existing indebtedness incurred in the construction of its waterworks whenever two thirds of the electors thereof voting at an election held for that purpose shall so decide, and that no statute of limitations shall apply in any manner. Any indebtedness or liability incurred contrary to this provision, with the exceptions herein before recited, shall be void.

The city and county of San Francisco, the city of San Jose and the town of Santa Clara may make provision for a sinking fund, to pay the principal of any indebtedness incurred, or to be hereafter incurred, by it, to commence at a time after the incurring of such indebtedness of not more than a period of one fourth of the time of maturity of such indebtedness, which shall not exceed seventy-five years from the time of contracting the same. Any indebtedness incurred contrary to any provision of this section shall be void.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF SENATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 34.

The new portion of this amendment is that part of it which refers to Alameda county, and is designed to allow Alameda county, and that county only, to call an election within that county, and submit to its voters the question whether Alameda county should levy a tax, not to exceed one million dollars, and invest the funds so derived in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

This is in accordance with the pledges made by prominent Alameda county citizens that that county would contribute towards financing the exposition. It was later found that the constitution did not contain any provision which would enable any county to raise money by taxation for such purposes.

This constitutional amendment would so change the constitution that Alameda county can, if two thirds of its voters vote in favor of such a tax, levy a tax upon itself for this specific purpose.

It applies to no other county. It requiring a two-thirds vote to levy the tax, everybody is safeguarded. The amendment should be adopted. GEO. J. HANS,

State Senator Fourteenth District.

This proposed amendment is an amendment to section 18, article XI, of the Constitution of the State of California, and affects no other section of the state than Alameda county. It is in the nature of an enabling act by which Alameda county may incur a bonded indebtedness, not to exceed one million dollars, for the purchase of stock in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company. The amendment should be adopted by the people of the state for the reason that it will enable the voters of Alameda county to pass upon the question of investment in the exposition.

In view of the fact that the operation of the amendment would be confined entirely to Alameda county, it is clear that the voters of the state at large should permit this county to have the power to vote upon the question of bonding.

EDWARD J. TYRRELL,

State Senator Sixteenth District.

PUBLIC UTILITIES IN MUNICIPALITIES.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 53 amending section 19 of article XI of constitution. Authorizes any municipal corporation to acquire and operate public utilities; to grant franchises to operate same under regulations prescribed by its organic law or otherwise by law; but eliminates from present section provisions authorizing municipal government to regulate charges for services under such franchises; and authorizes municipal corporation to furnish the product or service of public utility operated by it to users beyond its limits, to other municipalities, and to inhabitants thereof without consent of such municipalities.

Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 53-A

resolution proposing to the people of the State of California an amendment to section nineteen of article XI of the Constitution of the State of California, relating to the operation of public utilities by municipal corporations. The legislature of the State of California, at its regular session commencing on the sixth day of January, 1913, two thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses of said legislature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes that section 19 of article XI of the Constitution of the State of California be amended to read

follows:

PROPOSED LAW.

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Section 19. Any municipal corporation shall have power to acquire by purchase, lease, condemnation or otherwise, in whole or in part, or to construct, and to own, maintain, equip and operate public utilities; and to grant franchises to persons, firms or private corporations to establish, equip, maintain and operate public utilities, upon such conditions and under such regulations as may be prescribed under the organic law of such municipality or otherwise by law. Any municipal corporation may furnish the product or service of any public utility conducted or operated by it to other municipal corporations and the inhabitants thereof, and to consumers and users outside of its limits.

Section 19, article XI, proposed to be amended, now reads as follows:

EXISTING LAW.

Section 19. Any municipal corporation may establish and operate public works for supplying its inhabitants with light, water, power, heat, transportation, telephone service or other means of communication. Such works may be acquired

by original construction or by the purchase of existing works, including their franchises, or both. Persons or corporations may establish and operate works for supplying the inhabitants with such services upon such conditions and under such regulations as the municipality may prescribe under its organic law, on condition that the municipal government shall have the right to regulate the charges thereof. A municipal corporation may furnish such services to inhabitants outside its boundaries; provided, that it shall not furnish any service to the inhabitants of any other municipality owning or operating works supplying the same service to such inhabitants, without the consent of such other municipality, expressed by ordinance.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF SENATE CONSTI-
TUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 53.

This amendment to article XI of the state constitution simply enlarges the powers of municipal corporations respecting their ownership of public utilities. This amendment extends their powers, permitting them to acquire any public utility or service instead of limiting the right to acquire a few specified kinds of service. Under the proposed amendment, municipalities can acquire, by original construction, purchase, lease or condemnation, works or plants supplying water, gas, electricity, heat, illumination, power, refrigeration, with transportation, telephone service, or any other public utility.

The old section was too limited in its powers, and therefore should be broadened, which the proposed amendment contemplates.

A. H. BREED,

State Senator Fifteenth District.

TAXATION OF PUBLIC PROPERTY.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6 amending section 1 of article XIII of constitution. Present section unchanged but proviso added declaring taxable all lands and improvements thereon owned beyond its limits by a county or municipal corporation, if taxable at the time acquired by it; exempting improvements constructed by such owner upon any of its lands; and declaring all such taxable property assessable by assessor of county or municipal corporation where situated, subject to review and adjustment by state board of equalization.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 6, a resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment of the constitution of the state by amending section one of article thirteen thereof relating to revenue and taxation.

The legislature of the State of California at its fortieth regular session, commencing on the sixth day of January, nineteen hundred thirteen, two thirds of all the members elected to each of the houses of said legislature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes to the qualified electors of the State of California that section one of article thirteen of the Constitution of the State of California be amended to read as follows:

PROPOSED LAW.

Section 1. All property in the state except as otherwise in this constitution provided, not exempt under the laws of the United States, shall be taxed' in proportion to its value, to be ascer

tained as provided by law, or as hereinafter provided. The word "property," as used in this article and section, is hereby declared to include moneys, credits, bonds, stocks, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership; provided, that a mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured when land is pledged as security for the payment thereof, together with the money represented by such debt, shall not be considered property subject to taxation; and further provided, that property used for free public libraries and free museums, growing crops, property used exclusively for public schools, and such as may belong to the United States, this state, or to any county, city and county, or municipal corporation within this state shall be exempt from taxation, except such lands and the improvements thereon located outside of the county, city and county or munic

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ipal corporation owning the same as were subject to taxation at the time of the acquisition of the same by said county, city and county or municipal corporation; provided, that no improvements of any character whatever constructed by any county, city and county or municipal corporation shall be subject to taxation. lands or improvements thereon, belonging to any county, city and county or municipal corporation, not exempt from taxation, shall be assessed by the assessor of the county, city and county or municipal corporation in which said lands or improvements are located, and said assessment shall be subject to review, equalization and adjustment by the state board of equalization. The legislature may provide, except in the case of credits secured by mortgage or trust deed, for a deduction from credits of debts due to bona fide residents of this state.

Section 1, article XIII, proposed to be amended, now reads as follows:

EXISTING LAW.

Section 1. All property in the state except as otherwise in this constitution provided, not exempt under the laws of the United States, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as provided by law, or as hereinafter provided. The word "property," as used in this article and section, is hereby declared to include moneys, credits, bonds, stocks, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership; provided, that a mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured when land is pledged as security for the payment thereof, together with the money represented by such debt, shall not be considered property subject to taxation; and further provided, that property used for free public libraries and free museums, growing crops, property used exclusively for public schools, and such as may belong to the United States, this state, or to any county or municipal corporation within this state shall be exempt from taxation. The legislature may provide, except in the case of credits secured by mortgage or trust deed, for a deduction from credits of debts due to bona fide residents of this state.

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ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF ASSEMBLY CON

STITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 6.

It provides for the taxation of such lands and the improvements thereon located outside the county, city and county or municipal corporation owning the same, as were subject to taxation at the time of the acquisition of the same by said county, city and county or municipal corporation; provided, that no improvements of any character whatever constructed by any county, city and county or municipal corporation shall be subject to taxation. All lands or improvements thereon, belonging to any county, city and county or municipal corporation, not exempt from taxation, shall be assessed by the assessor of the county, city and county or municipal corporation in which said lands or improvements are located, and said assessment shall be subject to review, equalization and adjustment by the state board of equalization.

This amendment does not seek to hinder in any way the development of enterprises by and for the benefit of counties or municipalities, in any part of the state, but to protect from loss those

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counties into which they may enter for such purposes. A concrete illustration is afforded by the counties of Tuolumne, Mono and Inyo. In furtherance of obtaining a large water supply, for municipal and other uses, the purchase by San Francisco in Tuolumne county aggregated over $1,000,000.00 worth of property. Los Angeles, in Owens river valley, acquired by purchase over 75,000 acres of land, amounting to over one sixth of the assessed value, and more than one fourth of the located agricultural land of the county. The city of Los Angeles has acquired large holdings in Mono county. Before such acquisition the area was tax-paying property. Since the acquisition in Inyo county the city of Los Angeles has continued to pay taxes, as a matter of justice, but its payments are accompanied by protests, in order to preserve t it the right of refusal to pay which many contend that it has under the constitutional provision as it stands at present, and that it might sustain in case of legal contest. While not abandoning any right from a technical standpoint, the city recognizes the justice of the contention upon which this amendment is based.

The city of San Francisco refuses absolutely to pay one dollar in taxes in Tuolumne county on their $1,000,000.00 worth of property, contending they are exempt from such a tax by a constitutional provision.

The proposed amendment does not penalize improvements that the invading corporation may make. On the contrary, it expressly limits taxation to the property as acquired and excludes any improvements thereafter made.

It further gives to the owning municipality or county, assessed under its authority, the same protection against unjust assessment that other taxpayers enjoy, by making such assessments subject to competent official review.

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It would be possible for an acquiring city or county to virtually destroy the government of a small county by acquiring, for one purpose another, for municipal use, the substance of its revenue-yielding property. That such a result would be improbable and extreme does not alter the fact of its possibility. In the Inyo county instance, refusal by the city of Los Angeles to pay taxes upon real estate which has heretofore borne its due share of the expense of the county government would be a serious matter, either curtailing the county's welfare or imposing a heavier burden on other property. With such a result possible to a fractional extent, it would be equally possible to the fullest extent that the investing city might see fit to go.

It is to remedy such a condition that this amendment was proposed. Uncertainty on the matter should be removed by a legal assurance that while natural resources with in one county may be directly used for the upbuilding of another, lands or other property already upon the invaded county's tax roll shall continue to bear its share of maintaining the local government.

It is hoped, therefore, that the justice of this amendment will insure for it the approval of the people of the state.

GEO. A. CLARKE,
Assemblyman Forty-seventh District.

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