CHAPTER 81.
(Public Laws, Extra Session, 1913)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That the Constitution of the State of North Carolina be and the same is hereby amended in manner and form as follows:
Substituting words "war between the States" for the words "insurrection or rebellion against the United States."
I. By striking out of article one, section six, the words "insurrection or rebellion against the United States," and inserting to lieu thereof the following words: "the War Between the States," and by striking out the word "rebellion" in section thirteen of article seven and inserting in lieu thereof the words "War Between the States."
II. By striking out section twenty-eight of article two, and substituting in lieu thereof the following:
Increasing per diem and reducing mileage of members of the general assembly.
"Sec. 28. The members of the General Assembly for the term for which they have been elected shall receive as compensation for their services the sum of six dollars per day for each day of their session, for a period not exceeding sixty days; and should they remain longer in session they shall serve without compensation. They shall also be entitled to receive five cents per mile both while coming to the seat of government and while returning home, the said distance to be computed by the nearest line or route of public travel. The compensation of the presiding officers of the two houses shall be eight dollars per day and mileage. Should an extra session of the General Assembly be called, the members and presiding officers shall receive a like rate of compensation for a period not exceeding twenty days."
III. By adding at the end of article two a new section, to wit:
Restricting local, private, and special legislation.
"Sec. 29. The General Assembly shall not pass any local, private, or special act or resolution:
"Relating to the establishment of courts inferior to the Superior Court;
"Relating to the appointment of justices of the peace;
"Relating to health, sanitation, and abatement of nuisances;
"Changing the names of cities, towns, and townships;
"Authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, maintaining, or discontinuing highways, streets, or alleys;
"Relating to ferries or bridges;
"Relating to game or hunting;
"Relating to nonnavigable streams;
"Relating to cemeteries;
"Relating to the pay of jurors;
"Erecting new townships, or changing township lines, or establishing or changing the lines of school districts;
"Remitting fines, penalties, and forfeitures, or refunding moneys legally paid into the public treasury;
"Regulating labor, trade, mining, or manufacturing;
"Extending the time for the assessment or collection of taxes or otherwise relieving any collector of taxes from the due performance of his official duties or his sureties from liability;
"Giving effect to informal wills and deeds.
"Nor shall the General Assembly enact any such local, private, or special act by the partial repeal of a general law; but the General Assembly may at any time repeal local, private, or special laws enacted by it.
"Any local, private, or special act or resolution passed in violation of the provisions of this section shall be void.
"The General Assembly shall have power to pass general laws regulating the matters set out in this section."
Fixing the beginning of the term of officers of the executive department.
IV. By striking out the words "first day of," in section one of article three and inserting in lieu thereof the words "second Wednesday after the first Monday in."
Providing for special emergency judges.
V. By adding at the end of section eleven of article four the following: "and the General Assembly may by general law provide for the selection of special or emergency judges to hold the Superior Courts of any county or district, when the judge assigned thereto, by reason of sickness, disability, or other cause, is unable to attend and hold said Courts, and when no other judge is available to hold the same. Such special or emergency judges shall have the power and authority of regular judges of the Superior Courts, in the courts which they are so appointed to hold; and the General Assembly shall provide for their reasonable compensation."
Elimination of obsolete sections.
VI. By striking out sections twenty, twenty-six, and thirty-three of article four.
VII. By abrogating and striking out all the sections of article five and section nine of article seven, and inserting in lieu of said article five the following:
ARTICLE V.
Revenue and Taxation.
Taxes imposed only for public purposes. Consent of people or representatives.
Section 1. Taxes shall be imposed only for public purposes, by and with the consent of the people or their representatives in the General Assembly.
Subjects may by classified. Uniformity of taxes.
Proviso: income from property already taxed.
Separation of subjects.
Sec. 2. The General Assembly may, consistent with natural justice and equity, classify subjects of taxation; and all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax: Provided, that no income shall be taxed when the property from which the income is derived is taxed; and, consistent with natural justice and equity, the General Assembly may separate subjects of taxation for State and local purposes.
State tax on real estate if subjects be separate.
Sec. 3. If the subjects of taxation be separated for State and local purposes, in a manner not allowed by law immediately prior to the adoption of this amendment, no part of the ad valorem tax on real estate, except the real estate of public service corporations, shall be applied to State purposes.
Power to tax not surrendered. Property exempted.
Property which may be exempted.
Sec. 4. The power to tax shall not be surrendered, suspended, or contracted away, but property belonging to the State, a county, or a municipality shall be exempt from taxation; and the General Assembly may exempt cemeteries, property held and used for educational, scientific, literary, charitable, or religious purposes; and also personal property of a natural person of a value not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300).
Limit of rate for State and county purposes.
Limit of rate by cities and towns.
Proviso: debts heretofore contracted and taxes heretofore authorized.
Sec. 5. The ad valorem taxes on real estate and personal property shall not exceed for all State and county purposes sixty-six and two-thirds (66-2/3) cents per annum on the one hundred dollars ($100) assessed valuation of such property, unless a greater rate be approved by a majority of those who shall vote at an election held thereon. The ad valorem taxes collected on real estate and personal property by cities and towns shall not exceed, for all purposes, seventy-five cents (75c.) per annum on the one hundred dollars ($100) assessed valuation, unless a greater rate be approved by a majority of those who shall vote at an election held thereon: Provided, that these limitations on the rate of taxation shall not apply to taxes necessary to pay debts contracted prior to the adoption of this amendment, nor to taxes heretofore authorized by an act of the General Assembly, or by vote of the people.
Caption tax.
Application of State and county capitation tax.
Exemption from capitation tax.
Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall provide for a capitation tax on every male inhabitant of the State over twenty-one and under fifty years of age, but not exceeding two dollars ($2) per annum for all State and county purposes, and municipalities may be authorized by the General Assembly to levy a capitation tax, but not exceeding the amount hereinbefore authorized for State and county purposes. The proceeds collected from State and county capitation taxes shall be applied to the purposes of education and the support of the poor in such proportions as the General Assembly may direct. The General Assembly may also provide by general law for the exemption from payment of said capitation tax in special cases on account of poverty and infirmity.
Limitation of power to contract debt.
Credit of State not to be given or lent.
Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall have no power to contract any new debt or pecuniary obligation in behalf of the State, except to supply a casual deficit, or for suppressing invasions or insurrections, unless it shall in the same bill levy a special tax to pay interest annually, and provide therein for the levying of tax for the payment of the principal by the date such debt matures. The General Assembly shall have no power to give or lend the credit of the State in aid of any person, association, or corporation, municipal or otherwise, unless the subject be submitted to a direct vote of the people of the State and be approved by a majority of those who shall vote thereon.
VIII. By striking out section one of article eight and substituting therefor the following:
Corporations not created by special act.
Exceptions.
General laws.
Alteration and repeal of general laws and special acts.
Repeal of charters.
"Section 1. No corporation shall be created nor shall its charter be extended, altered, or amended by special act, except corporations for charitable, educational, penal, or reformatory purposes that are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the State; but the General Assembly shall provide by general laws for the chartering and organization of all corporations, and for amending, extending, and forfeiture of all charters, except those above permitted by special act. All such general laws and special acts may be altered from time to time or repealed; and the General Assembly may at any time by special act repeal the charter of any corporation."
IX. By striking out section four of article eight, and substituting therefor the following:
General laws for organization of cities, towns, and incorporated villages.
"It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide by general laws for the organization of cities, towns, and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessment and in contracting debts by such municipal corporations."
School term.
X. By striking out the words "four months" in section three of article nine, and inserting in lieu thereof the words "six months."
Amendments to be submitted to qualified voters of State.
Sec. 2. That the several amendments to the Constitution hereinbefore set forth as numbered from I to X, inclusive, respectively, shall be and are hereby submitted to the qualified voters of the whole State at the next general election as separate amendments to the Constitution, all amendments proposed under each number respectively being regarded as one amendment.
Ballots.
Sec. 3. That the said several proposed amendments shall be designated on one ballot by their appropriate article and section numbers, and also by their appropriate descriptive titles, and as so designated on said ballot shall be consecutively numbered in the manner and form hereinafter set forth.
Effect of adoption of any amendment.
Effect of rejection of any amendment.
Sec. 4. That the adoption of any amendment by its title by marking the said ballot as hereinafter indicated shall have the effect of adopting the amendment in full as agreed upon by the General Assembly; and the rejection of any amendment by its title, by marking the said ballot as hereinafter indicated, shall have the effect of rejecting said amendment as a whole, but shall not affect any other amendment.
Form of ballot.
Sec. 5. The said ballots shall be in form substantially as follows: