Sec. 2. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet biennially on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January next after their election; and, when assembled, shall be denominated the General Assembly. Neither House shall proceed upon public business unless a majority of all the members are actually present.
Number of senators.
Sec. 3. The Senate shall be composed of fifty Senators, biennially chosen by ballot.
Regulations in relation to districting the State for senators.
Sec. 4. The Senate Districts shall be so altered by the General Assembly, at the first session after the return of every enumeration by order of Congress, that each Senate District shall contain, as near as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and Indians not taxed, and shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory; and no county shall be divided in the formation of a Senate District, unless such county shall be equitably entitled to two or more Senators.
Regulations in relation to apportionment of representatives.
Sec. 5. The House of Representatives shall be composed of one hundred and twenty Representatives, biennially chosen by ballot, to be elected by the counties respectively, according to their population, and each county shall have at least one Representative in the House of Representatives, although it may not contain the requisite ratio of representation; this apportionment shall be made by the General Assembly at the respective times and periods when the districts of the Senate are hereinbefore directed to be laid off.
Ratio of representation.
Sec. 6. In making the apportionment in the House of Representatives, the ratio of representation shall be ascertained by dividing the amount of the population of the State, exclusive of that comprehended within those counties which do not severally contain the one hundred and twentieth part of the population of the State, by the number of Representatives, less the number assigned to such counties; and in ascertaining the number of the population of the State, aliens and Indians not taxed shall not be included. To each county containing the said ratio and not twice the said ratio, there shall be assigned one Representative; to each county containing two but not three times the said ratio, there shall be assigned two Representatives, and so on progressively, and then the remaining representatives shall be assigned severally to the counties having the largest fractions.
Qualifications for senators.