Amendments, Election of 11-7-16:

1915 SJR 140 (Article IX, Section 9) {Adopted}

1915 S/SJR 341 (Article VII, Sections 2, 3, 4) {Defeated}

1915 HJR 82 (Article VI, Section 1) {Defeated}

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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 140.

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Section 9 of Article IX of the State Constitution, Relating to Taxation and Finance.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment of Section 9 of Article IX of the Constitution of the State, relating to Taxation and Finance, is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State for adoption or rejection at the next general election hereafter; that is to say, that Section 9 of Article IX of the Constitution of the State be amended to read as follows:

Section 9. There shall be exempt from taxation property to the value of five hundred dollars to every widow that has a family dependent on her for support, and to every person who is a bona fide resident of the State and has lost a limb or been disabled in war or by misfortune.

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SUBSTITUTE TO SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 341.

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Sections 2, 3 and 4 of Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to Census and Apportionment.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendments to the Constitution of the State of Florida be, and the same are hereby agreed to, and the same shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in 1916, for ratification or rejection.

Section 2 of Article VII is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 2. The Legislatures that shall convene in the year of 1919 and thereafter shall consist of one member of the Senate from each county in the State, and one member of the House of Representatives from each county in the State for every ten thousand of population therein, or the major fraction thereof where there may be a major fraction left over after dividing the whole number of population of the county by the number ten thousand; Provided, that each county shall have at least one Representative and that no county shall have more than three Representatives in the House of Representatives. The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of two years and the members of the Senate shall be elected for a term of four years, except as hereinafter provided. The election for members for each branch shall be at the same time and places. The term of office of Senators elected in 1916 shall expire on the first Monday in April 1919. The term of office of Senators elected in 1918 from the following counties, to-wit: Escambia, Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Madison, Lafayette, Taylor, Columbia, Nassau, Duval, Marion, Sumter, Jefferson, Lee, Monroe, Putnam, Volusia, Hamilton, Alachua, Broward, Liberty, Hernando, Pinellas, Brevard, Palm Beach and Levy, shall expire on the first Monday in April 1921; all other Senators to be elected in the year 1918, their term of office shall expire on the first Monday in April, 1923. All members of the House of Representatives elected at the general election in 1918, their term of office shall expire on the first Monday in April, 1921, and thereafter the term of office of all members of the House of Representatives shall commence in the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April next succeeding the election. At the general election in 1920 and thereafter, all Senators to be elected shall be elected for a term of four years, the term to begin on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April of the following year, except that when a new county is created, the Legislature shall at that time fix the length of the term of the first Senator to be elected therefrom at two or four years with the end in view of keeping the number of old Senators in a balance with the number of the new.

Section 3 of Article VII of the Constitution is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 3. The regular session of the Legislature that shall meet in 1917 shall apportion the representation in the House of Representatives, as in this Article provided, which apportionment shall be based upon the last census taken by the State of Florida or by the United States, which ever is the last taken, in the several counties of the State, and those that shall meet every ten years thereafter shall apportion the representation in the House of Representatives in the manner in this Article provided, which apportionment shall be based upon the last census enumeration taken by the State of Florida, or by the United States, which ever is the last taken next before the Legislature so apportioning the representation shall convene.

Section 4 of Article VII of the Constitution is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Section 4. When any new county is created by the Legislature it shall be entitled to one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives, until the next enumeration provided for in Section 5 of this Article, that shall be taken after the creation of said new county, or until the next census enumeration that shall be taken by the United States of America after the creation of the said new county, whichever shall the sooner be taken after the creation of said new county, when it shall be entitled to one member of the House of Representatives for every ten thousand of population, or the major fraction thereof the same as other counties.

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 82.

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment to Section 1 of Article VI of the Constitution of the State of Florida as Amended by Joint Resolution No. 2, Acts of 1893, Relating to Suffrage and Eligibility.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to Section 1 of Article VI of the Constitution of the State of Florida be, and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the general election in 1916 for ratification or rejection:

Section 1. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards who is a citizen of the United States at the time he applies to register shall be deemed a qualified elector at all elections under the Constitution of the State of Florida, provided, that he possesses the following additional qualifications:

He shall have resided and had his permanent home and place of abode in the State of Florida for one year, and in the county wherein he applies to register for six months, previous thereto.

He must be able to read, write and interpret any Section of the Constitution of the State of Florida at the time he applies to register and vote.

He must own in his own right property to the value of not less than five hundred dollars, which fact shall be determined only by the assessment books of the county at the time he applies to register and vote.

He must not have been convicted, previous to the time he applies to register or vote, of larceny, robbery, forgery, perjury or bribery in any of the courts of any State or of the United States, or if so convicted, he must have been restored to the rights of citizenship.

Provided, however, That no person or lineal descendant of any such person who was on January first, 1867, or prior thereto, entitled to vote under the Constitutions and laws of any of the States or Territories, or entitled to vote under any form of government, or any naturalized citizen or his descendants, shall be denied the right to register and vote because he shall not be able to read, write and interpret any Section of the Constitution of the State of Florida, as above provided, or because he shall not own property of the value above specified; naturalized citizens of the United States, however, at the time they apply, and before they shall be admitted to register, shall present to the registration officer certificate of his naturalization, or a duly authenticated copy thereof.

Section 2. Upon the adoption of this amendment to the Constitution, the Legislature shall enact appropriate laws to carry the purpose of this amendment into effect.