Oklahoma Constitution.

              Oklahoma Constitution
Preamble
Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessing of liberty; to secure just and rightful government; to promote our mutual welfare and happiness, we, the people of the State of Oklahoma, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
Article 1
§ 1. Supreme law of land.
The State of Oklahoma is an inseparable part of the Federal Union, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.
§ 2. Religious liberty - Polygamous or plural marriages.
Perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of the State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; and no religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. Polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited.
§ 3. Unappropriated public lands - Indian lands - Jurisdiction of United States.
The people inhabiting the State do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title in or to any unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian, tribe, or nation; and that until the title to any such public land shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the jurisdiction, disposal, and control of the United States. Land belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the limits of the State shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the land belonging to residents thereof. No taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property belonging to or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States or reserved for its use.
§ 4. Territorial debts and liabilities.
The debts and liabilities of the Territory of Oklahoma are hereby assumed, and shall be paid by the State.
§ 5. Public schools - Separate schools.
Provisions shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of the state and free from sectarian control; and said schools shall always be conducted in English: Provided, that nothing herein shall preclude the teaching of other languages in said public schools.
§ 6. Right of suffrage.
The State shall never enact any law restricting or abridging the right of suffrage on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
§ 7- Repealed by State Question No. 386, Ref. Petition No. 121, adopted at election held April 7, 1959.
Article 2
§ 1. Political power - Purpose of government - Alteration or reformation.
All political power is inherent in the people; and government is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit, and to promote their general welfare; and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it: Provided, such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.
§ 2. Inherent rights.
All persons have the inherent right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry.
§ 3. Right of Assembly and Petition.
The people have the right peaceably to assemble for their own good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances by petition, address, or remonstrance.
§ 4. Interference with Right of Suffrage.
No power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage by those entitled to such right.
§ 5. Public money or property - Use for sectarian purposes.
No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.
§ 6. Courts of Justice open - Remedies for wrongs - Sale, denial or delay.
The courts of justice of the State shall be open to every person, and speedy and certain remedy afforded for every wrong and for every injury to person, property, or reputation; and right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, delay, or prejudice.
§ 7. Due process of law.
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
§ 8.
A. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except that bail may be denied for: 1. capital offenses when the proof of guilt is evident, or the presumption thereof is great; 2. violent offenses; 3. offenses where the maximum sentence may be life imprisonment or life imprisonment without parole; 4. felony offenses where the person charged with the offense has been convicted of two or more felony offenses arising out of different transactions; and 5. controlled dangerous substances offenses where the maximum sentence may be at least ten (10) years imprisonment. On all offenses specified in paragraphs 2 through 5 of this section, the proof of guilt must be evident, or the presumption must be great, and it must be on the grounds that no condition of release would assure the safety of the community or any person. B. The provisions of this resolution shall become effective on July 1, 1989.
§ 9. Excessive bail or fines - Cruel or unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted. § 10. Habeas corpus - Suspension.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended by the authorities of this State.
§ 11. Officers - Personal attention to duties - Intoxication.
Every person elected or appointed to any office or employment of trust or profit under the laws of the State, or under any ordinance of any municipality thereof, shall give personal attention to the duties of the office to which he is elected or appointed. Drunkenness and the excessive use of intoxicating liquors while in office shall constitute sufficient cause for impeachment or removal therefrom.
§ 12. Officers of United States or other states - Ineligibility to office.
No member of Congress from this State, or person holding any office of trust or profit under the laws of any other State, or of the United States, shall hold any office of trust or profit under the laws of this State.
§ 12A. Candidacy as United States Representative or Senator - Term Limits - Write-ins.
Beginning January 1, 1995, persons wanting to become a candidate for election to the United States Congress from this State for a term beginning on or after January 1, 1995, shall be subject to the following provisions:
A. Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the ballot for election to the United States House of Representatives shall be eligible if, by the end of the then current term of office, that person has served in that office for three (3) two-year terms.
B. Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the ballot for election to the United States Senate shall be ineligible if, by the end of the then current term of office, that person has served in that office for two (2) six-year terms.
C. A person elected to serve as member of the United States Congress shall be eligible to serve as a Representative for a total of six (6) years and as a Senator for a total of twelve (12) years for a maximum total of eighteen (18) years as a member of Congress from this State.
D. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to or include:
1. The years served by any person as a member of the United States House of Representatives or as a member of the United States Senate which began prior to the election at which this measure was enacted. 2. The years served by a person who has been appointed to complete the remainder of a vacated term.
E. The provisions of this Section shall not be construed so as to prevent casting a ballot for any person regardless of the number of years previously served in the United States Congress by writing the name of that person on the ballot, or from having such ballot counted or to prevent a person from campaigning by means of a "write-in" campaign if that procedure is otherwise authorized in this Constitution or by law.
§ 13. Imprisonment for debt.
Imprisonment for debt is prohibited, except for the non-payment of fines and penalties imposed for the violation of law.
§ 14. Military subordinate to civil authorities - Quartering without owner's consent.
The military shall be held in strict subordination to the civil authorities. No soldier shall be quartered in any house, in time of peace, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except in a manner to be prescribed by law.
§ 15. Bills of attainder - Ex post facto laws - Obligation of contracts - Forfeitures.
No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed. No conviction shall work a corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate: Provided, that this provision shall not prohibit the imposition of pecuniary penalties.
§ 16. Treason.
Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
§ 17. Indictment or information - Preliminary examination - Prosecutions in courts not of record.
No person shall be prosecuted criminally in courts of record for felony or misdemeanor otherwise than by presentment or indictment or by information. No person shall be prosecuted for a felony by information without having had a preliminary examination before an examining magistrate, or having waived such preliminary examination. Prosecutions may be instituted in courts not of record upon a duly verified complaint. § 18. Grand jury.
A grand jury shall be composed of twelve (12) persons, any nine (9) of whom concurring may find an indictment or true bill. A grand jury shall be convened upon the order of a district judge upon his own motion; or such grand jury shall be ordered by a district judge upon the filing of a petition therefor signed by qualified electors of the county equal to the number of signatures required to propose legislation by a county by initiative petition as provided in Section 5 of Article V of the Oklahoma Constitution, with the minimum number of required signatures being five hundred (500) and the maximum being five thousand (5000); and further providing that in any calendar year in which a grand jury has been convened pursuant to a petition therefor, then any subsequent petition filed during the same calendar year shall require double the minimum number of signatures as were required hereunder for the first petition; or such grand jury shall be ordered convened upon the filing of a verified application by the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma who shall have authority to conduct the grand jury in investigating crimes which are alleged to have been committed in said county or involving multicounty criminal activities; when so assembled such grand jury shall have power to inquire into and return indictments for all character and grades of crime. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws of this state in conflict with the provisions of this constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
The legislature shall enact laws to prevent corruption in making, filing, circulating, and submitting petitions calling for convening a grand jury.
§ 19. Trial by jury.
The right of trial by jury shall be and remain inviolate, except in civil cases wherein the amount in controversy does not exceed One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00), or in criminal cases wherein punishment for the offense charged is by fine only, not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00). Provided, however, that the Legislature may provide for jury trial in cases involving lesser amounts. Juries for the trial of civil cases, involving more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), and felony criminal cases shall consist of twelve (12) persons. All other juries shall consist of six (6) persons. However, in all cases the parties may agree on a lesser number of jurors than provided herein.
In all criminal cases where imprisonment for more than six (6) months is authorized the entire number of jurors must concur to render a verdict. In all other cases three-fourths (3/4) of the whole number of jurors concurring shall have power to render a verdict. When a verdict is rendered by less than the whole number of jurors, the verdict shall be signed by each juror concurring therein.
§ 20. Rights of accused in criminal cases.
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county in which the crime shall have been committed or, where uncertainty exists as to the county in which the crime was committed, the accused may be tried in any county in which the evidence indicates the crime might have been committed. Provided, that the venue may be changed to some other county of the state, on the application of the accused, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. He shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him and have a copy thereof, and be confronted with the witnesses against him, and have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his behalf. He shall have the right to be heard by himself and counsel; and in capital cases, at least two days before the case is called for trial, he shall be furnished with a list of the witnesses that will be called in chief, to prove the allegations of the indictment or information, together with their postoffice addresses.
§ 21. Self-incrimination - Double jeopardy.
No person shall be compelled to give evidence which will tend to incriminate him, except as in this Constitution specifically provided; nor shall any person, after having been once acquitted by a jury, be again put in jeopardy of life or liberty for that of which he has been acquitted. Nor shall any person be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense.
§ 22. Liberty of speech and press - Truth as evidence in prosecution for libel.
Every person may freely speak, write, or publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth of the matter alleged to be libelous may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous be true, and was written or published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.
§ 23. Private property - Taking or damaging for private use.
No private property shall be taken or damaged for private use, with or without compensation, unless by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity, or for drains and ditches across lands of others for agricultural, mining, or sanitary purposes, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
§ 24. Private property - Public use - Character of use a judicial question.
Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation. Just compensation shall mean the value of the property taken, and in addition, any injury to any part of the property not taken. Any special and direct benefits to the part of the property not taken may be offset only against any injury to the property not taken. Such compensation shall be ascertained by a board of commissioners of not less than three freeholders, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. Provided however, in no case shall the owner be required to make any payments should the benefits be judged to exceed damages. The commissioners shall not be appointed by any judge or court without reasonable notice having been served upon all parties in interest. The commissioners shall be selected from the regular jury list of names prepared and made as the Legislature shall provide. Any party aggrieved shall have the right of appeal, without bond, and trial by jury in a court of record. Until the compensation shall be paid to the owner, or into court for the owner, the property shall not be disturbed, or the proprietary rights of the owner divested. When possession is taken of property condemned for any public use, the owner shall be entitled to the immediate receipt of the compensation awarded, without prejudice to the right of either party to prosecute further proceedings for the judicial determination of the sufficiency or insufficiency of such compensation. The fee of land taken by common carriers for right of way, without the consent of the owner, shall remain in such owner subject only to the use for which it is taken. In all cases of condemnation of private property for public or private use, the determination of the character of the use shall be a judicial question.
§ 25. Contempt - Definition - Jury trial - Hearing.
The legislature shall pass laws defining contempts and regulating the proceedings and punishment in matters of contempt: Provided, that any person accused of violating or disobeying, when not in the presence or hearing of the court, or judge sitting as such, any order of injunction, or restraint, made or entered by any court or judge of the State shall, before penalty or punishment is imposed, be entitled to a trial by jury as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. In no case shall a penalty or punishment be imposed for contempt, until an opportunity to be heard is given.
§ 26. Bearing arms - Carrying weapons.
The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the carrying of weapons.
§ 27. Witnesses not excused from testifying - Immunity from prosecution.
Any person having knowledge or possession of facts that tend to establish the guilt of any other person or corporation under the laws of the state shall not be excused from giving testimony or producing evidence, when legally called upon so to do, on the ground that it may tend to incriminate him under the laws of the state; but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he may so testify or produce evidence. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws of this state in conflict with the provisions of this constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
§ 28. Corporate records, books and files.
The records, books, and files of all corporations shall be, at all times, liable and subject to the full visitorial and inquisitorial powers of the State, notwithstanding the immunities and privileges in this Bill of Rights secured to the persons, inhabitants, and citizens thereof.
§ 29. Transportation Out of State.
No person shall be transported out of the State for any offense committed within the State, nor shall any person be transported out of the State for any purpose, without his consent, except by due process of law; but nothing in this provision shall prevent the operation of extradition laws, or the transporting of persons sentenced for crime, to other states for the purpose of incarceration.
§ 30. Unreasonable Searches or Seizures - Warrants, Issuance of.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches or seizures shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, describing as particularly as may be the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized.
§ 31. State - Engagement in Occupation or Business.
The right of the State to engage in any occupation or business for public purposes shall not be denied nor prohibited, except that the State shall not engage in agriculture for any other than educational and scientific purposes and for the support of its penal, charitable, and educational institutions.
§ 32. Perpetuities - Monopolies - Primogeniture – Entailments.
Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free government, and shall never be allowed, nor shall the law of primogeniture or entailments ever be in force in this State.
§ 33. Effect of Enumeration of Rights.
The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny, impair, or disparage others retained by the people.
§ 34. Rights of Victims.
A. To preserve and protect the rights of victims to justice and due process, and ensure that victims are treated with fairness, respect and dignity, and are free from intimidation, harassment, or abuse, throughout the criminal justice process, any victim or family member of a victim of a crime has the right to know the status of the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case, including all proceedings wherein a disposition of a case is likely to occur, and where plea negotiations may occur. The victim or family member of a victim of a crime has the right to know the location of the defendant following an arrest, during a prosecution of the criminal case, during a sentence to probation or confinement, and when there is any release or escape of the defendant from confinement. The victim or family member of a victim of a crime has a right to be present at any proceeding where the defendant has a right to be present, to be heard at any sentencing or parole hearing, to be awarded restitution by the convicted person for damages or losses as determined and ordered by the court, and to be informed by the state of the constitutional rights of the victim.
B. An exercise of any right by a victim or family member of a victim or the failure to provide a victim or family member of a victim any right granted by this section shall not be grounds for dismissing any criminal proceeding or setting aside any conviction or sentence.
C. The Legislature, or the people by initiative or referendum, has the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define, implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by this section, including the authority to extend any of these rights to juvenile proceedings and if enacted by the Legislature, youthful offender proceedings.
D. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights for victims shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights granted by the Legislature or retained by victims.
§ 35. "Marriage" Defined - Marriage Between Persons of Same Gender Not Valid or Recognized.
A. Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. Neither this Constitution nor any other provision of law shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.
B. A marriage between persons of the same gender performed in another state shall not be recognized as valid and binding in this state as of the date of the marriage.
C. Any person knowingly issuing a marriage license in violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. § 36. Right to hunt, fish, trap and harvest game and fish.
All citizens of this state shall have a right to hunt, fish, trap, and harvest game and fish, subject only to reasonable regulation as prescribed by the Legislature and the Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Wildlife Conservation Commission shall have the power and authority to approve methods, practices and procedures for hunting, trapping, fishing and the taking of game and fish. Traditional methods, practices and procedures shall be allowed for taking game and fish that are not identified as threatened by law or by the Commission. Hunting, fishing, and trapping shall be the preferred means of managing game and fish that are not identified as threatened by law or by the Commission. Nothing in this section shall be construed to modify any provision of common law or statutes relating to trespass, eminent domain, or any other property rights.
§ 37. Health care systems - Payment and participation.
A. For purposes of this section:
1. "Compel" shall include penalties or fines;
2. "Direct payment or pay directly" means payment for lawful health care services without a public or private third party, not including an employer, paying for any portion of the service;
3. "Health care system" means any public or private entity whose function or purpose is the management of, processing of, enrollment of individuals for or payment for, in full or in part, health care services or health care data or health care information for its participants;
4. "Lawful health care services" means any health-related service or treatment to the extent that the service or treatment is permitted or not prohibited by law or regulation that may be provided by persons or businesses otherwise permitted to offer such services; and
5. "Penalties or fines" means any civil or criminal penalty or fine, tax, salary or wage withholding or surcharge or any named fee with a similar effect established by law or rule by a government-established, -created or -controlled agency that is used to punish or discourage the exercise of rights protected under this section.
B. To preserve the freedom of Oklahomans to provide for their health care:
1. A law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system; and
2. A person or employer may pay directly for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for paying directly for lawful health care services. A health care provider may accept direct payment for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for accepting direct payment from a person or employer for lawful health care services.
C. Subject to reasonable and necessary rules that do not substantially limit a person’s options, the purchase or sale of health insurance in private health care systems shall not be prohibited by law or rule.
D. This section shall not:
1. Affect which health care services a health care provider or hospital is required to perform or provide;
2. Affect which health care services are permitted by law;
3. Prohibit care related to workers’ compensation;
4. Affect laws or rules in effect as of January 1, 2010; or
5. Affect the terms or conditions of any health care system to the extent that those terms and conditions do not have the effect of punishing a person or employer for paying directly for lawful health care services or a health care provider or hospital for accepting direct payment from a person or employer for lawful health care services.
Article 3
§ 1. Qualifications of electors.
Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all citizens of the United States, over the age of eighteen (18) years, who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of this state.
§ 2. State Election Board - Creation - Membership.
The Legislature shall create a State Election Board to be charged with the supervision of such elections as the Legislature shall direct. Not more than a majority of the members of said Board shall be selected from the same political party.
§ 3. Mandatory primary system - Nomination of candidates.
The Legislature may enact laws providing for a mandatory primary system which shall provide for the nomination of all candidates in all elections for federal, state, county and municipal offices, for all political parties, except for the office of Presidential Elector, the candidates for which shall be nominated by the recognized political parties at their conventions. The Legislature also shall enact laws providing that citizens may, by petition, place on the ballot the names of independent, nonpartisan candidates for office, including the office of Presidential Elector.
§ 4. Manner of holding and conducting elections - Registration of electors.
The Legislature shall prescribe the time and manner of holding and conducting all elections, and enact such laws as may be necessary to detect and punish fraud in such elections. The Legislature may provide by law for the registration of electors throughout the state and, when it is so provided, no person shall vote at any election unless he shall have registered according to law.
§ 5. Free and equal elections - Interference by civil or military power - Privilege from arrest.
All elections shall be free and equal. No power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage, and electors shall, in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance on elections and while going to and from the same.
Article 4
§ 1. Departments of government - Separation and distinction.
The powers of the government of the State of Oklahoma shall be divided into three separate departments: The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial; and except as provided in this Constitution, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of government shall be separate and distinct, and neither shall exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others.
Article 5
§ 1. Legislature - Authority and composition - Powers reserved to people.
The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a Legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives; but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls independent of the Legislature, and also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act of the Legislature. § 2. Designation and definition of reserved powers - Determination of percentages.
The first power reserved by the people is the initiative, and eight per centum of the legal voters shall have the right to propose any legislative measure, and fifteen per centum of the legal voters shall have the right to propose amendments to the Constitution by petition, and every such petition shall include the full text of the measure so proposed. The second power is the referendum, and it may be ordered (except as to laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety), either by petition signed by five per centum of the legal voters or by the Legislature as other bills are enacted. The ratio and per centum of legal voters hereinbefore stated shall be based upon the total number of votes cast at the last general election for the Office of Governor.
§ 3. Initiative and Referendum.
Referendum petitions shall be filed with the Secretary of State not more than ninety (90) days after the final adjournment of the session of the Legislature which passed the bill on which the referendum is demanded. The veto power of the Governor shall not extend to measures voted on by the people. All elections on measures referred to the people of the state shall be had at the next election held throughout the state, except when the Legislature or the Governor shall order a special election for the express purpose of making such reference. Any measure referred to the people by the initiative or referendum shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise.
The style of all bills shall be: "Be it Enacted By the People of the State of Oklahoma."
Petitions and orders for the initiative and for the referendum shall be filed with the Secretary of State and addressed to the Governor of the state, who shall submit the same to the people. The Legislature shall make suitable provisions for carrying into effect the provisions of this article.
§ 4. Referendum against part of act.
The referendum may be demanded by the people against one or more items, sections, or parts of any act of the Legislature in the same manner in which such power may be exercised against a complete act. The filing of a referendum petition against one or more items, sections, or parts of an act shall not delay the remainder of such act from becoming operative. § 5. Reservation of powers to voters of counties and districts - Manner of exercising.
The powers of the initiative and referendum reserved to the people by this Constitution for the State at large, are hereby further reserved to the legal voters of every county and district therein, as to all local legislation, or action, in the administration of county and district government in and for their respective counties and districts. The manner of exercising said powers shall be prescribed by general laws, except that Boards of County Commissioners may provide for the time of exercising the initiative and referendum powers as to local legislation in their respective counties and districts.
The requisite number of petitioners for the invocation of the initiative and referendum in counties and districts shall bear twice, or double, the ratio to the whole number of legal voters in such county or district, as herein provided therefor in the State at large.
§ 5a. Township organization or government - Abolition and restoration.
Each county in the State of Oklahoma may by a majority of the legal voters of such county voting upon the proposition, abolish township organization or government. The Board of County Commissioners of such county, upon a petition signed by sixteen per centum of the total number of votes cast at the last general election for the county office receiving the highest number of votes, praying that the question of abolishing township organization or government be submitted to a vote of the county, shall within thirty days after the regular meeting of such board next convening after the filing of such petition, call a special election for such purpose, or the board may in their discretion submit such question at the next general election held after the filing of such petition. If such question shall be carried, township organization or government shall cease in such county, and all the duties theretofore performed by the township officers shall be cast upon and be performed by such county officers having like duties to perform in relation to the county at large as such township officers performed in relation to the township at large. At any general election after the abolition of township organization or government the question of returning to township government may be submitted as provided for the submission of the question of abolishing such government, and if a majority of the votes cast upon such question be in favor of township government the same shall thereupon be established, and the Board of County Commissioners shall appoint the full quota of township officers, who shall hold their offices and perform the duties thereof until their successors shall have been elected at the next general election and until they have been qualified. Except as otherwise specifically provided by this section, the law relating to carrying into effect the initiative and referendum provisions of the Constitution shall govern. § 6. Subsequent proposal of rejected measure.
Any measure rejected by the people, through the powers of the initiative and referendum, cannot be again proposed by the initiative within three years thereafter by less than twenty-five per centum of the legal voters.
§ 7. Powers of Legislature not affected.
The reservation of the powers of the initiative and referendum in this article shall not deprive the Legislature of the right to repeal any law, propose or pass any measure, which may be consistent with the Constitution of the State and the Constitution of the United States.
§ 8. Prevention of corruption.
Laws shall be provided to prevent corruption in making, procuring, and submitting initiative and referendum petitions.
§ 9- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 9a- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 9b- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 9A. Senatorial Districts - Tenure.
The state shall be apportioned into forty-eight senatorial districts in the following manner: the nineteen most populous counties, as determined by the most recent Federal Decennial Census, shall constitute nineteen senatorial districts with one senator to be nominated and elected from each district; the fifty-eight less populous counties shall be joined into twenty-nine two-county districts with one senator to be nominated and elected from each of the two-county districts. In apportioning the State Senate, consideration shall be given to population, compactness, area, political units, historical precedents, economic and political interests, contiguous territory, and other major factors, to the extent feasible.
Each senatorial district, whether single county or multi-county, shall be entitled to one senator, who shall hold office for four years; provided that any senator, serving at the time of the adoption of this amendment, shall serve the full time for which he was elected. Vitalization of senatorial districts shall provide for one-half of the senators to be elected at each general election. § 10- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 10A. House of Representatives - Number of members - Formula - Tenure.
The House of Representatives shall consist of the number of Representatives as determined by the formula and procedure set forth herein. The number of members of the House of Representatives to which each county shall be entitled shall be determined according to the following formula:
A. The total population of the state as ascertained by the most recent Federal Decennial Census shall be divided by the number one hundred and the quotient shall be the ratio of representation in the House of Representatives, except as otherwise provided in this Article.
B. Every county having a population less than one full ratio shall be assigned one Representative; every county containing an entire ratio but less than two ratios shall be assigned two Representatives; every county containing a population of two entire ratios but less than three ratios shall be assigned three Representatives; and every county containing a population of three entire ratios but less than four ratios shall be assigned four Representatives.
After the first four Representatives, a county shall qualify for additional representation on the basis of two whole ratios of population for each additional Representative.
Each Representative nominated and elected shall hold office for two years.
§ 11- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 11A. Legislature to apportion Legislature - Failure to make apportionment - Bipartisan Commission on Legislative Apportionment.
The apportionment of the Legislature shall be accomplished by the Legislature according to the provisions of this article, within ninety (90) legislative days after the convening of the first regular session of the Legislature following each Federal Decennial Census. If the Legislature shall fail or refuse to make such apportionment within the time provided herein, then such apportionment shall be accomplished by the Bipartisan Commission on Legislative Apportionment, according to the provisions of this article. The Commission shall be composed of seven (7) members as follows: the Lieutenant Governor, who shall be nonvoting and the chair of the Commission; two members, one republican and one democrat, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; two members, one republican and one democrat, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and two members, one republican and one democrat, appointed by the Governor. § 11B. Order of apportionment rendered by Commission.
Each order of apportionment rendered by the Bipartisan Commission on Legislative Apportionment shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Secretary of State and shall be signed by at least four members of the Commission.
§ 11C. Review of apportionment orders - Failure to seek review.
Any qualified elector may seek a review of any apportionment order of the Commission, or apportionment law of the legislature, within sixty days from the filing thereof, by filing in the Supreme Court of Oklahoma a petition which must set forth a proposed apportionment more nearly in accordance with this Article. Any apportionment of either the Senate or the House of Representatives, as ordered by the Commission, or apportionment law of the legislature, from which review is not sought within such time, shall become final. The court shall give all cases involving apportionment precedence over all other cases and proceedings; and if said court be not in session, it shall convene promptly for the disposal of the same.
§ 11D. Determination by Supreme Court.
Upon review, the Supreme Court shall determine whether or not the apportionment order of the Commission or act of the legislature is in compliance with the formula as set forth in this Article and, if so, it shall require the same to be filed or refiled as the case may be with the Secretary of State forthwith, and such apportionment shall become final on the date of said writ. In the event the Supreme Court shall determine that the apportionment order of said Commission or legislative act is not in compliance with the formula for either the Senate or the House of Representatives as set forth in this Article, it will remand the matter to the Commission with directions to modify its order to achieve conformity with the provisions of this Article.
§ 11E. Compelling Commission to act - Consolidation of proceedings.
The Supreme Court, upon petition of any qualified elector alleging failure of the Commission to timely act, is hereby vested with original jurisdiction to compel, and shall compel, the Commission to make the apportionment as herein provided. It shall also have exclusive jurisdiction of any review hereunder. If more than one petition be filed, the court shall consolidate such proceedings for hearing and disposition, and shall file its opinion and issue its writ within sixty days from the timely filing of such last petition. In the event any action filed hereunder shall be abandoned or dismissed, any other qualified elector shall be allowed to intervene within ten days thereof. §§ 12 to 16 -- Repealed by State Question No. 416, Leg. Ref. No. 142, adopted at election held May 26, 1964.
§ 17. Age - Qualified electors - Residents.
Members of the Senate shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and members of the House of Representatives twenty-one years of age at the time of their election. They shall be qualified electors in their respective counties or districts and shall reside in their respective counties or districts during their term of office.
§ 17A. Limitation of time served in the Legislature.
Any member of the Legislature who is elected to office after the effective date of this amendment shall be eligible to serve no more than 12 years in the Oklahoma State Legislature. Years in Legislative office need not be consecutive and years of service in both the Senate and the House of Representatives shall be added together and included in determining the total number of Legislative years in office. The years served by any member elected or appointed to serve less than a full Legislative term to fill a vacancy in office shall not be included in the 12-year limitation set forth herein; but no member who has completed 12 years in office shall thereafter be eligible to serve a partial term. Any member who is serving a Legislative term in office or who has been elected or appointed to serve a term in office on the effective date hereof shall be entitled to complete his or her term and shall be eligible to serve an additional 12 years thereafter. This amendment shall be effective on the 1st day of the year following its adoption.
§ 18. Ineligibility - Federal and state officers - Conviction of felony.
No person shall serve as a member of the Legislature who is, at the time of such service, an officer of the United States or State government, or is receiving compensation as such; nor shall any person be eligible to election to the Legislature, who has been adjudged guilty of a felony.
§ 19. Expelled member ineligible - Punishment not to bar indictment.
A member of the Legislature expelled for corruption shall not thereafter be eligible to membership in either House. Punishment for contempt or disorderly conduct, or for any other cause, shall not bar an indictment for the same offense.
§ 20. Vacancies.
The Governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in the Legislature. § 21. Conflict of interests prohibited - Board on Legislative Compensation.
A. The Legislature shall enact laws to prohibit members of the Legislature from engaging in activities or having interests which conflict with the proper discharge of their duties and responsibilities.
B. The Board on Legislative Compensation is hereby created. Said Board shall be composed of five members appointed by the Governor, two members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and two members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The members appointed by the Governor shall be from religious organizations, communications media, nonstate-supported educational institutions, labor organizations, and retail business; the members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall be from agricultural and civic organizations; and the members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be from manufacturing and from professional fields not otherwise specified. No member of the Legislature may be appointed to or serve on the Board. In addition to the members above provided for, the Chairman of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the Director of State Finance shall serve as ex officio nonvoting members of said Board. The Chairman of said Board shall be designated by the Governor. Members of the Legislature shall receive such compensation as shall be fixed by the Board on Legislative Compensation. If a member of the Legislature is incarcerated due to being charged with a criminal offense and subsequently is found guilty of the offense or pleads guilty or nolo contendere to the offense, the legislator shall return to the state any compensation the legislator received from the state while the legislator was incarcerated prior to the guilty verdict or plea or nolo contendere plea and shall not receive any compensation from the state during any incarceration following such verdict or plea. Said Board shall each two years review the compensation paid to the members of the Legislature and shall be empowered to change such compensation; such change to become effective on the fifteenth day following the succeeding general election. The members of the Board shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to receive necessary travel and subsistence expense as provided by law for other state officers.
§ 22. Privileges - Arrest - Speeches or debates.
Senators and Representatives shall, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the Legislature, and in going to and returning from the same, and, for any speech or debate in either House, shall not be questioned in any other place.
§ 23. Ineligibility to appointment to office - Interest in contracts.
No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his term of office, nor shall any member receive any appointment from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected, nor shall any member, during the term for which he shall have been elected, or within two years thereafter, be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the State, or any county or other subdivision thereof, authorized by law passed during the term for which he shall have been elected.
§ 24. Disclosure of personal or private business.
A member of the Legislature, who has a personal or private interest in any measure or bill, proposed or pending before the Legislature, shall disclose the fact to the House of which he is a member, and shall not vote thereon.
§ 25. Duration of first session.
The first session of the Legislature, held by virtue of this Constitution, shall not exceed one hundred and sixty days.
§ 26. Regular sessions.
The Legislature shall meet in regular session at the seat of government at twelve o'clock noon on the first Monday in February of each year and the regular session shall be finally adjourned sine die not later than five o'clock p.m. on the last Friday in May of each year.
The Legislature shall also meet in regular session at the seat of government on the First Tuesday after the First Monday in January of each odd numbered year, beginning at twelve o'clock noon for the purposes only of performing the duties as required by Section 5 of Article VI of the Constitution and organizing pursuant to the provisions of this Article and shall recess not later than five o'clock p.m. of that same day until the following first Monday in February of the same year, beginning at twelve o'clock noon.
§ 27. Special sessions.
The Legislature shall hold regular annual sessions as herein provided, but this shall not prevent the calling of special sessions of the Legislature by the Governor.
§ 27A. Method of calling special sessions.
(1) The Legislature may be called into special session by a written call for such purposes as may be specifically set out in the call, signed by two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the Senate and two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the House of Representatives when it is filed with the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall issue jointly an order for the convening of the special session. (2) Nothing in this section shall prevent the calling of a special session of the Legislature by the Governor, as provided by the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma.
§ 28. Senate - President pro tempore - Standing committees.
The Senate shall, at the beginning of each regular session and at such other times as may be necessary, elect one of its members President pro tempore, who shall preside over its deliberations in the absence or place of the Lieutenant Governor; and the Senate shall provide for all its standing committees and, by a majority vote, elect the members thereof.
§ 29. Speaker of House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives shall, at the beginning of each regular session and at such other times as may be necessary, elect one of its members Speaker.
§ 30. Judges of election of members - Quorum - Rules - Disorderly behavior - Journal.
Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalty as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same. The yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question, at the desire of one-fifteenth of those present shall be entered upon its journal.
Neither House, during the session of the Legislature, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
§ 31. Elections by Legislature - Voting and entry in journal.
In all elections made by the Legislature, except for officers and employees thereof, the members thereof shall vote yea or nay, and each vote shall be entered upon the journal.
§ 32. Special and local laws - Notice of intended introduction.
No special or local law shall be considered by the Legislature until notice of the intended introduction of such bill or bills shall first have been published for four consecutive weeks in some weekly newspaper published or of general circulation in the city or county affected by such law, stating in substance the contents thereof, and verified proof of such publication filed with the Secretary of State.
§ 33. Revenue bills - Origination - Amendment - Limitations on passage - Effective date - Submission to voters.
A. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives. The Senate may propose amendments to revenue bills.
B. No revenue bill shall be passed during the five last days of the session.
C. Any revenue bill originating in the House of Representatives shall not become effective until it has been referred to the people of the state at the next general election held throughout the state and shall become effective and be in force when it has been approved by a majority of the votes cast on the measure at such election and not otherwise, except as otherwise provided in subsection D of this section.
D. Any revenue bill originating in the House of Representatives may become law without being submitted to a vote of the people of the state if such bill receives the approval of three-fourths (3/4) of the membership of the House of Representatives and three-fourths (3/4) of the membership of the Senate and is submitted to the Governor for appropriate action. Any such revenue bill shall not be subject to the emergency measure provision authorized in Section 58 of this Article and shall not become effective and be in force until ninety days after it has been approved by the Legislature, and acted on by the Governor.
§ 34. Reading and passage of bills - Yeas and nays entered on journal.
Every bill shall be read on three different days in each House, and no bill shall become a law unless, on its final passage, it be read at length, and no law shall be passed unless upon a vote of a majority of all the members elected to each House in favor of such law; and the question, upon final passage, shall be taken upon its last reading, and the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journal.
§ 35. Signing bills and resolutions - Entry on journal.
The presiding officer of each House shall, in the presence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the Legislature, immediately after the same shall have been publicly read at length, and the fact of reading and signing shall be entered upon the journal, but the reading at length may be dispensed with by a two-thirds vote of a quorum present, which vote, by yeas and nays, shall also be entered upon the journal. § 36. Extent of legislative authority - Specific grants not limitations.
The authority of the Legislature shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, and any specific grant of authority in this Constitution, upon any subject whatsoever, shall not work a restriction, limitation, or exclusion of such authority upon the same or any other subject or subjects whatsoever.
§ 37. Printing plant and state printer.
The Legislature shall have the power to establish a state printing plant, and to provide for the election or appointment of a State Printer.
§ 38. Geological and Economic Survey.
The Legislature shall provide for the establishment of a State Geological and Economic Survey.
§ 39. Boards of Health, Dentistry and Pharmacy - Pure food commission - Present practitioners.
The Legislature shall create a Board of Health, Board of Dentistry, Board of Pharmacy, and Pure Food Commission, and prescribe the duties of each. All physicians, dentists and pharmacists now legally registered and practicing in Oklahoma and Indian Territory shall be eligible to registration in the State of Oklahoma without examination or cost.
§ 40. Militia.
The Legislature shall provide for organizing, disciplining, arming, maintaining, and equipping the Militia of the State.
§ 41. Firemen's pensions.
The Legislature may enact laws authorizing cities to pension meritorious and disabled firemen.
§ 42. Contempt, disobedience of process and disorderly conduct.
In any legislative investigation, either House of the Legislature, or any committee thereof, duly authorized by the House creating the same, shall have power to punish as for contempt, disobedience of process, or contumacious or disorderly conduct, and this provision shall also apply to joint sessions of the Legislature, and also to joint committees thereof, when authorized by joint resolution of both Houses. § 43. Decennial revision of laws.
The Legislature shall, in the year nineteen hundred and nine and each ten years thereafter, make provision by law for revising, digesting, and promulgating the statutes of the State.
§ 44. Unlawful restraints of trade.
The Legislature shall define what is an unlawful combination, monopoly, trust, act, or agreement, in restraint of trade, and enact laws to punish persons engaged in any unlawful combination, monopoly, trust, act, or agreement, in restraint of trade, or composing any such monopoly, trust, or combination.
§ 45. Carrying constitution into effect.
The Legislature shall pass such laws as are necessary for carrying into effect the provisions of this Constitution.
§ 46. Local and special laws on certain subjects prohibited.
The Legislature shall not, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, pass any local or special law authorizing:
The creation, extension, or impairing of liens;
Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, towns, wards, or school districts;
Changing the names of persons or places;
Authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, or maintaining of roads, highways, streets, or alleys;
Relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating ferry or bridge companies, except for the erection of bridges crossing streams which form boundaries between this and any other state;
Vacating roads, town plats, streets, or alleys;
Relating to cemeteries, graveyards, or public grounds not owned by the State;
Authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children;
Locating or changing county seats;
Incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing their charters; For the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the places of voting;
Granting divorces;
Creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers, in counties, cities, towns, election or school districts;
Changing the law of descent or succession;
Regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in judicial proceedings or inquiry before the courts, justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbitrators, or other tribunals, or providing or changing the methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcement of judgments or prescribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate;
Regulating the fees, or extending the powers and duties of aldermen, justices of the peace, or constables;
Regulating the management of public schools, the building or repairing of school houses, and the raising of money for such purposes;
Fixing the rate of interest;
Affecting the estates of minors, or persons under disability;
Remitting fines, penalties and forfeitures, and refunding moneys legally paid into the treasury;
Exempting property from taxation;
Declaring any named person of age;
Extending the time for the assessment or collection of taxes, or otherwise relieving any assessor or collector of taxes from due performance of his official duties, or his securities from liability;
Giving effect to informal or invalid wills or deeds;
Summoning or impaneling grand or petit juries;
For limitation of civil or criminal actions;
For incorporating railroads or other works of internal improvements;
Providing for change of venue in civil and criminal cases. § 47. Retirement of officers.
The Legislature shall not retire any officer on pay or part pay, or make any grant to such retiring officer.
§ 48. Bureau of immigration.
The Legislature shall have no power to appropriate any of the public money for the establishment and maintenance of a Bureau of Immigration in this State.
§ 49. Legislative employees - Number and emoluments.
The Legislature shall not increase the number or emolument of its employees, or the employees of either House, except by general law, which shall not take effect during the term at which such increase was made.
§ 50. Exemption of property from taxation.
The Legislature shall pass no law exempting any property withis this State from taxation, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.
§ 51. Exclusive rights, privileges or immunities.
The Legislature shall pass no law granting to any association, corporation, or individual any exclusive rights, privileges, or immunities within this State.
§ 52. Revival of rights or remedies - Taking away cause of action or defense.
The Legislature shall have no power to revive any right or remedy which may have become barred by lapse of time, or by any statute of this State. After suit has been commenced on any cause of action, the Legislature shall have no power to take away such cause of action, or destroy any existing defense to such suit.
§ 53. Release or extinguishment of debts or liabilities to state, county or municipality.
Except as to tax and assessment charges against real property remaining delinquent and unpaid for a period of time as long or longer than that provided by law to authorize the taking title to real property by prescription, the Legislature shall have no power to release or extinguish, or to authorize the releasing or extinguishing, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liabilities, or obligations of any corporation or individual, to this State, or any county or other municipal corporation thereof. § 54. Repeal of statute - Effect.
The repeal of a statute shall not revive a statute previously repealed by such statute, nor shall such repeal affect any accrued right, or penalty incurred, or proceedings begun by virtue of such repealed statute.
§ 55. Appropriations - Necessity and requisites.
No money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this State, nor any of its funds, nor any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law, nor unless such payments be made within two and one-half years after the passage of such appropriation act, and every such law making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.
§ 56. General appropriation bills - Salaries - Separate appropriation bills.
The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but appropriations for the expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the State, and for interest on the public debt. The salary of no officer or employee of the State, or any subdivision thereof, shall be increased in such bill, nor shall any appropriation be made therein for any such officer or employee, unless his employment and the amount of his salary, shall have been already provided for by law. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject.
§ 57. Subjects and titles - Revival or amendment by reference - Extent of invalidity.
Every act of the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, except general appropriation bills, general revenue bills, and bills adopting a code, digest, or revision of statutes; and no law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred, by reference to its title only; but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended, or conferred shall be re-enacted and published at length: Provided, That if any subject be embraced in any act contrary to the provisions of this section, such act shall be void only as to so much of the law as may not be expressed in the title thereof.
§ 58. Time of taking effect of statutes - Emergency measures.
No act shall take effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was passed, except enactments for carrying into effect provisions relating to the initiative and referendum, or a general appropriation bill, unless, in case of emergency, to be expressed in the act, the Legislature, by a vote of two-thirds of all members elected to each House, so directs. An emergency measure shall include only such measures as are immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, and shall not include the granting of franchises or license to a corporation or individual, to extend longer than one year, nor provision for the purchase or sale of real estate, nor the renting or encumbrance of real property for a longer term than one year. Emergency measures may be vetoed by the Governor, but such measures so vetoed may be passed by a three-fourths vote of each House, to be duly entered on the journal.
§ 59. Uniform operation of general laws - Special laws when general law applicable.
Laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the State, and where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.
§ 60. System of checks and balances.
The Legislature shall provide by law for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient system of checks and balances between the officers of the Executive Department, and all commissioners and superintendents, and boards of control of State institutions, and all other officers entrusted with the collection, receipt, custody, or disbursement of the revenue or moneys of the State whatsoever.
§ 61. Pensions to police officers.
The legislature may enact laws authorizing cities to pension meritorious and disabled police officers.
§ 62. Retirement benefits for teachers and school employees.
The Legislature may enact laws to provide for the retirement for meritorious service of teachers and other employees in the public schools, colleges and universities in this State supported wholly or in part by public funds, and may provide for payments to be made and accumulated from public funds, either of the State or of the several school districts. Payments from public funds shall be made in conformity to equality and uniformity within the same classifications according to duration of service and remuneration received during such service.
§ 63. Continuity of governmental operations in periods of emergency.
The Legislature, in order to insure continuity of State and local governmental operations in periods of emergency resulting from disasters caused by enemy attack or in periods of emergency resulting from the imminent threat of such disasters, shall have the power and the immediate duty (1) to provide for prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices, of whatever nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents of which may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such offices; and (2) to adopt such other measures as may be necessary and proper for so insuring the continuity of governmental operations. In the exercise of the powers hereby conferred, the Legislature shall in all respects conform to the requirements of this Constitution.
Article 6
§ 1. Executive officers enumerated - Offices and records - Duties.
A. The Executive authority of the state shall be vested in a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Labor, Commissioner of Insurance and other officers provided by law and this Constitution, each of whom shall keep his office and public records, books and papers at the seat of government, and shall perform such duties as may be designated in this Constitution or prescribed by law.
B. The Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Governor by and with the consent of the Senate for a term of four (4) years to run concurrently with the term of the Governor.
§ 2. Supreme power vested in Governor.
The Supreme Executive power shall be vested in a Chief Magistrate, who shall be styled "The Governor of the State of Oklahoma."
§ 3. Eligibility to certain state offices.
No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer or Superintendent of Public Instruction except a citizen of the United States of the age of not less than thirty-one (31) years and who shall have been ten (10) years next preceding his or her election, or appointment, a qualified elector of this state.
§ 4. Terms of office - Succession.
A. The term of office of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Labor and Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be four (4) years from the second Monday of January next after their election. The said officers shall be eligible to immediately succeed themselves except as otherwise provided in this section.
B. 1. No person shall be eligible to serve as Governor for a period of time in excess of eight (8) years. Such years need not be consecutive. Any years served by a person serving as Governor for less than a full term to fill a vacancy in such office shall not be included in the eight-year limitation set forth herein.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of this amendment, any person serving as Governor at the time of passage of this amendment shall be eligible to complete the term of office to which he or she was elected but shall not be eligible to serve as Governor for a period of time in excess of eight (8) years, excluding years served for less than a full term to fill a vacancy in such office. The provisions of this paragraph shall apply regardless of whether such years were served prior to or after passage of this amendment.
C. No person shall be eligible to serve as Lieutenant Governor, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Labor or Superintendent of Public Instruction for a period of time in excess of eight (8) years. Such years need not be consecutive. Any years served by a person elected or appointed to serve less than a full term to fill a vacancy in any such office shall not be included in the limitations set forth herein. Any person serving in such position at the time of passage of this amendment shall be eligible to complete the term for which he or she has been elected and shall be eligible to serve an additional eight (8) years thereafter, notwithstanding the provisions of this amendment.
D. The Legislature is hereby authorized to enact laws to implement the provisions of subsections B and C of this section.
§ 5. Returns of election - Tie votes.
The returns of every election for all elective state officers shall be sealed up and transmitted by the returning officers to the Secretary of State, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall, immediately after the organization of the House, and before proceeding to other business, open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of each branch of the Legislature, who shall for that purpose assemble in the hall of the House of Representatives. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for either of the said offices shall be declared duly elected; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for either of said offices, the Legislature shall, forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for said office.
§ 6. Commander-in-Chief of militia - Calling out militia.
The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the militia of the State, except when in service of the United States, and may call out the same to execute the laws, protect the public health, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion. § 7. Extraordinary sessions of Legislature.
The Governor shall have power to convoke the Legislature, or the Senate only, on extraordinary occasions. At extraordinary sessions, no subject shall be acted upon, except such as the Governor may recommend for consideration.
§ 8. Execution of laws - Intercourse with other states and United States - Conservator of peace.
The Governor shall cause the laws of the State to be faithfully executed, and shall conduct in person or in such manner as may be prescribed by law, all intercourse and business of the State with other states and with the United States, and he shall be a conservator of the peace throughout the State.
§ 9. Messages and communications to Legislature.
At every session of the Legislature, and immediately upon its organization, the Governor shall communicate by message, delivered to a joint session of the two Houses, upon the condition of the State; and shall recommend such matters to the Legislature as he shall judge expedient. He shall also transmit a copy, to each house, of the full report of each State officer and State commission. He shall communicate, from time to time, such matters as he may elect or the Legislature may require.
§ 10. Reprieves, commutations, paroles and pardons.
There is hereby created a Pardon and Parole Board to be composed of five members; three to be appointed by the Governor; one by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; one by the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court of Appeals or its successor. An attorney member of the Board shall be prohibited from representing in the courts of this state persons charged with felony offenses. The appointed members shall hold their offices coterminous with that of the Governor and shall be removable for cause only in the manner provided by law for elective officers not liable to impeachment. It shall be the duty of the Board to make an impartial investigation and study of applicants for commutations, pardons or paroles, and by a majority vote make its recommendations to the Governor of all deemed worthy of clemency. Provided, the Pardon and Parole Board shall have no authority to make recommendations regarding parole for convicts sentenced to death or sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The Governor shall have the power to grant, after conviction and after favorable recommendation by a majority vote of the said Board, commutations, pardons and paroles for all offenses, except cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may deem proper, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Provided, the Governor shall not have the power to grant paroles if a convict has been sentenced to death or sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The Legislature shall have the authority to prescribe a minimum mandatory period of confinement which must be served by a person prior to being eligible to be considered for parole. The Governor shall have power to grant after conviction, reprieves, or leaves of absence not to exceed sixty (60) days, without the action of said Board.
He shall communicate to the Legislature, at each regular session, each case of reprieve, commutation, parole or pardon, granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the date and place of conviction, and the date of commutation, pardon, parole and reprieve.
§ 11. Approval or veto of bills - Passage over veto - Failure to return bill.
Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and House of Representatives, and every resolution requiring the assent of both branches of the Legislature, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large in the Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members elected to that house shall agree to pass the bill or joint resolution, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that house, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. In all such cases, the vote in both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting shall be entered on the Journal of each house respectively. If any bill or resolution shall not be returned by the Governor within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not become a law without the approval of the Governor. No bill shall become a law after the final adjournment of the Legislature, unless approved by the Governor within fifteen days after such adjournment.
§ 12. Appropriation bills - Approval or disapproval - Emergency bills.
Every bill passed by the Legislature, making appropriations of money embracing distinct items, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he disapproves the bill, or any item, or appropriation therein contained, he shall communicate such disapproval, with his reasons therefor, to the house in which the bill shall have originated, but all items not disapproved shall have the force and effect of law according to the original provisions of the bill. Any item or items so disapproved shall be void, unless repassed by a two-thirds vote, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the preceding section in reference to other bills: Provided, That this section shall not relieve emergency bills of the requirement of the three-fourths vote. § 13. Officers' commissions - Vacancies.
The Governor shall commission all officers not otherwise commissioned by law. All commissions shall run in the name and by the authority of the "State of Oklahoma," be signed by the Governor, sealed with the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma, and attested by the Secretary of State. When any office shall become vacant, he shall, unless otherwise provided by law, appoint a person to fill such vacancy, who shall continue in office until a successor shall have been duly elected or appointed, and qualified according to law.
§ 14. Adjournment of Legislature - Changing place of meeting.
In case of a disagreement between the two houses of the Legislature, at a regular or special session, with respect to the time of adjournment, the Governor may, if the facts be certified to him, by the presiding officer of the house first moving the adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall deem proper, not beyond the day of the next stated meeting of the Legislature. He may convoke the Legislature at or adjourn it to another place, when, in his opinion, the public safety or welfare, or the safety or health of the members require it: Provided, however, That such change or adjournment shall be concurred in by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each branch of the Legislature.
§ 15. Qualifications - President of Senate - Impeachment, etc., during vacancy in Governor's office.
The Lieutenant Governor shall possess the same qualifications of eligibility for office as the Governor. He shall be president of the Senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein, and also in joint vote of both houses. If, during a vacancy of the office of Governor, the Lieutenant Governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die or be absent from the State, or become incapable of performing the duties of the office, the president, pro tempore, of the Senate, shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled or the disability shall cease; and if the president, pro tempore, of the Senate, for any of the above enumerated causes, shall become incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled or the disability shall cease. Further provisions for succession to the office of Governor shall be prescribed by law.
§ 16. Devolution of powers and duties of Governor upon Lieutenant Governor.
In case of impeachment of the Governor, or of his death, failure to qualify, resignation, removal from the State, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the said office, with its compensation, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor for the residue of the term or until the disability shall be removed. § 17. Duties generally.
The Secretary of State shall keep a register of the official acts of the Governor, and when necessary, shall attest them, and shall lay copies of the same, together with copies of all papers relative thereto, before either house of the Legislature when required to do so. He shall also perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.
§ 18. Custody and use of seal - Designation.
The Secretary of State shall be the custodian of the Seal of the State, and authenticate therewith all official acts of the Governor except his approval of laws. The said seal shall be called "The Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma."
§ 19. Qualifications, powers and duties.
The State Auditor and Inspector must have had at least three years' experience as an expert accountant; his duties shall be, without notice to such treasurer, to examine the state and all county treasurers' books, accounts and cash on hand or in bank at least twice each year, and publish his report as to every such treasurer once each year. For the purpose of such examination he shall take complete possession of such treasurer's office. He shall also prescribe a uniform system of bookkeeping for the use of all treasurers. The State Auditor and Inspector shall perform such other duties and have such other powers as may be prescribed by law.
§ 20. Department created - Duties.
A Department of Labor is hereby created to be under the control of a Commissioner of Labor whose duties shall be prescribed by law.
§ 21. Board of Arbitration and Conciliation.
The Legislature shall create a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation in the Department of Labor and the Commissioner of Labor shall be ex-officio chairman.
§ 22. Insurance Department established - Function.
There is hereby established an Insurance Department, which shall be charged with the execution of all laws now in force, or which shall hereafter be passed, in relation to insurance and insurance companies doing business in the State. § 23. Commissioner - Election - Terms of office - Qualifications.
A. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at the first general election, a chief officer of the Insurance Department, who shall be styled the "Insurance Commissioner", whose term of office shall be four years: Provided, That the first term of the Insurance Commissioner so elected, shall expire at the time of the expiration of the term of office of the first Governor elected. The Insurance Commissioner shall be at least twenty-five (25) years of age and well versed in insurance matters.
B. No person shall be eligible to serve as Insurance Commissioner for a period of time in excess of eight (8) years. Such years need not be consecutive. Any years served by a person elected or appointed to serve less than a full term to fill a vacancy in such office shall not be included in the limitation set forth herein. Any person serving in such position at the time of passage of this amendment shall be eligible to complete the term for which he or she has been elected and shall be eligible to serve an additional eight (8) years thereafter, notwithstanding the provisions of this amendment. The Legislature is hereby authorized to enact laws to implement the provisions of this subsection.
§ 24. Bond of commissioner - Additional duties and qualifications.
The Insurance Commissioner shall give bond, perform such duties, and possess such further qualifications as may be prescribed by law.
§ 25. Creation of office - Term and qualifications - Duties, oath and bond.
There is hereby created a Department of Mines, which shall be charged with the execution of all laws now in force or which shall hereafter be passed in relation to mining activities and corporations engaged in mining activities within the state.
§ 26- Repealed by State Question No. 594, Legis. Ref. No. 258, adopted at election held August 26, 1986.
§ 27- This section was repealed by State Question No. 509, Legis. Ref. No. 209, adopted at election held July 22, 1975, effective January 8, 1979.
§ 28- This section was repealed by State Question No. 509, Legis. Ref. No. 209, adopted at election held July 22, 1975, effective January 8, 1979.
§ 29- This section was repealed by State Question No. 509, Legis. Ref. No. 209, adopted at election held July 22, 1975, effective January 8, 1979.
§ 30- This section was repealed by State Question No. 509, Legis. Ref. No. 209, adopted at election held July 22, 1975, effective January 8, 1979.
§ 31. Creation and membership - Status authority and duties.
A Board of Agriculture is hereby created to be composed of five members all of whom shall be farmers and shall be selected in the manner prescribed by law.
Said Board shall be maintained as a part of the State government, and shall have jurisdiction over all matters affecting animal industry and animal quarantine regulation, and shall be the Board of Regents of all State Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, and shall discharge such other duties and receive such compensation as now is, or may hereafter be, provided by law.
§ 31a. Board of Regents for agricultural and mechanical schools and colleges - Members - Vacancies - Removal - Terms.
There is hereby created a Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College and all Agricultural and Mechanical Schools and Colleges maintained in whole or in part by the State. The Board shall consist of nine (9) members, eight (8) members to be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a majority of whom shall be farmers, and the ninth member shall be the President of the State Board of Agriculture. Any vacancy occurring among the appointed members shall be filled by appointment of the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The members of the Board shall be removable only for cause as provided by law for the removal of officers not subject to impeachment. The members shall be appointed for terms of eight (8) years each, with one term expiring each year, provided that the members of the first Board shall be appointed for terms of from one (1) to eight (8) years respectively. Provided that no State, National or County officer shall ever be appointed as a member of said Board of Regents until two years after his tenure as such officer has ceased.
§ 32. Membership and functions.
A. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and the President of the Board of Agriculture shall constitute the Commissioners of the Land Office, who shall have charge of the sale, rental, disposal and managing of the school lands and other public lands of the state, and of the funds and proceeds derived therefrom, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Legislature.
B. Should the offices of State Examiner and Inspector and State Auditor be consolidated in the office of State Auditor and Inspector, the State Auditor shall be replaced as a member of the Commissioners of the Land Office by the State Auditor and Inspector. Should the offices not be so consolidated, the membership of the Board shall remain as prescribed in subsection A of this section.
§ 33. Accounts and reports of officers and commissioners.
An account shall be kept by the officers and commissioners of the State of all moneys and choses in action disbursed or otherwise disposed of severally by them, from all sources, and for every service performed; and a report thereof shall be made semi-annually and as often as may be required by law, to the Governor under oath. The Governor may, at any time, require information in writing, under oath, from all officers and commissioners of the State, and all officers of State institutions, penal, eleemosynary, educational, and industrial on any subject relating to their respective offices and institutions; which information, when so required, shall be furnished by such officers and managers; and any officer or manager who, at any time, shall make a false report, shall be punished as by law provided.
§ 34. Compensation of officers.
Each of the officers in this article named shall, at stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected; nor shall he receive to his use, any fees, cost, or perquisites of office or other compensation.
§ 35. Description of seal.
In the center shall be a five pointed star, with one ray directed upward. The center of the star shall contain the central device of the seal of the Territory of Oklahoma, including the words, "Labor Omnia Vincit." The upper left hand ray shall contain the symbol of the ancient seal of the Cherokee Nation, namely: A seven pointed star partially surrounded by a wreath of oak leaves. The ray directed upward shall contain the symbol of the ancient seal of the Chickasaw Nation, namely: An Indian warrior standing upright with bow and shield. The lower left hand ray shall contain the symbol of the ancient seal of the Creek Nation, namely: A sheaf of wheat and a plow. The upper right hand ray shall contain the symbol of the ancient seal of the Choctaw Nation, namely: A tomahawk, bow, and three crossed arrows. The lower right hand ray shall contain the symbol of the ancient seal of the Seminole Nation, namely: A village with houses and a factory beside a lake upon which an Indian is paddling a canoe. Surrounding the central star and grouped between its rays shall be forty-five small stars, divided into five clusters of nine stars each, representing the forty-five states of the Union, to which the forty-sixth is now added. In a circular band surrounding the whole device shall be inscribed, "GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA 1907." Article 7
§ 1. Courts in which judicial power vested.
The judicial power of this State shall be vested in Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, a Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court on the Judiciary, the State Industrial Court, the Court of Bank Review, the Court of Tax Review, and such intermediate appellate courts as may be provided by statute, District Courts, and such Boards, Agencies and Commissions created by the Constitution or established by statute as exercise adjudicative authority or render decisions in individual proceedings. Provided that the Court of Criminal Appeals, the State Industrial Court, the Court of Bank Review and the Court of Tax Review and such Boards, Agencies and Commissions as have been established by statute shall continue in effect, subject to the power of the Legislature to change or abolish said Courts, Boards, Agencies, or Commissions. Municipal Courts in cities or incorporated towns shall continue in effect and shall be subject to creation, abolition or alteration by the Legislature by general laws, but shall be limited in jurisdiction to criminal and traffic proceedings arising out of infractions of the provisions of ordinances of cities and towns or of duly adopted regulations authorized by such ordinances.
§ 2. Supreme Court Justices - Number - Terms - Vacancies - Qualifications - Chief Justice - Vice Chief Justice.
The Supreme Court shall consist of nine Justices until the number shall be changed by statute and each Justice shall be from a separate district of the State. Each district shall remain as presently constituted until otherwise provided by Statute. The terms of office of the Justices of the Supreme Court shall be six years and shall commence on the second Monday of January following their election. Those appointed or elected to fill vacancies shall assume office immediately upon qualifying for the office. Each Justice, at the time of his election or appointment, shall have attained the age of thirty years, shall have been a qualified elector in the district for at least one year immediately prior to the date of filing or appointment, and shall have been a licensed practicing attorney or judge of a court of record, or both, in Oklahoma for five years preceding his election or appointment and shall continue to be a duly licensed attorney while in office to be eligible to hold the office. The Justices shall choose from among their members a Chief Justice and a Vice Chief Justice.
§ 3. Election of Justices and Judges - Vacancies.
From each of the Supreme Court districts and Court of Criminal Appeals districts, the voters thereof shall elect a Justice of the Supreme Court and a Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals at a non-partisan election, in a manner provided by statute. In the event intermediate appellate courts are created, the judges thereof shall be elected at a non-partisan election, in a manner provided by statute. In the event of a vacancy the Governor shall, by appointment from said district, fill such vacancy until the next election for State Officers, and at such election the vacancy for the unexpired term shall be filled by a non-partisan election in a manner provided by statute.
§ 4. Jurisdiction of Supreme Court - Writs.
The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall be co-extensive with the State and shall extend to all cases at law and in equity; except that the Court of Criminal Appeals shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases until otherwise provided by statute and in the event there is any conflict as to jurisdiction, the Supreme Court shall determine which court has jurisdiction and such determination shall be final. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall extend to a general superintendent control over all inferior courts and all Agencies, Commissions and Boards created by law. The Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, in criminal matters and all other appellate courts shall have power to issue, hear and determine writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certiorari, prohibition and such other remedial writs as may be provided by law and may exercise such other and further jurisdiction as may be conferred by statute. Each of the Justices or Judges shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus to any part of the State upon petition by or on behalf of any person held in actual custody and make such writs returnable before himself, or before the Supreme Court, other Appellate Courts, or before any District Court, or judge thereof in the State. The appellate and the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and all other appellate courts shall be invoked in the manner provided by law.
§ 5. Sessions - Quorum - Intermediate appellate courts - Form of decisions - Clerk of Supreme Court.
The sessions of the Supreme Court shall be held at the seat of government, and the sessions and duration thereof shall be fixed by rule of said Court. A majority of the members of the Supreme Court shall constitute a quorum and the concurrence of the majority of said Court shall be necessary to decide any question. The jurisdiction, powers, duties and procedures of intermediate appellate courts shall be as provided by rules of the Supreme Court until otherwise provided by statute. In the event of the creation of intermediate appellate courts, all appeals shall be made to the Supreme Court, which may, by rule, determine the method of assignment to, and recall from, the intermediate appellate courts until otherwise provided by statute. When the intermediate appellate courts acquire jurisdiction in any cause and make final disposition of same, such disposition shall be final and there shall be no further right of appeal except for issuance of a writ of certiorari ordered by a majority of the Supreme Court which may affirm, modify or make such other changes in said decision as it deems proper. The Supreme Court and intermediate appellate court decisions shall be in such form as the Supreme Court shall specify by rule and the Court of Criminal Appeals decisions shall be in such form as it shall specify by rule, until otherwise provided by statute. The Supreme Court shall appoint a Clerk of the Supreme Court, who shall serve at the pleasure of the Supreme Court and who shall perform the duties prescribed by law and rules of the Supreme Court. The Clerk of the Supreme Court in office on the effective date of this Article shall continue in office for the duration of his elective term. § 6. Administrative authority - Director and staff.
Except with reference to the Senate sitting as a Court of Impeachment and the Court on the Judiciary, general administrative authority over all courts in this State, including the temporary assignment of any judge to a court other than that for which he was selected, is hereby vested in the Supreme Court and shall be exercised by the Chief Justice in accordance with its rules. The Supreme Court shall appoint an administrative director and staff, who shall serve at its pleasure to assist the Chief Justice in his administrative duties and to assist the Court on the Judiciary.
§ 7. District Courts - Jurisdiction - Courts abolished - Transfer of jurisdiction, files etc.
(a) The State shall be divided by the Legislature into judicial districts, each consisting of an entire county or of contiguous counties. There shall be one District Court for each judicial district, which shall have such number of District Judges, Associate District Judges and Special Judges as may be prescribed by statute. The District Court shall have unlimited original jurisdiction of all justiciable matters, except as otherwise provided in this Article, and such powers of review of administrative action as may be provided by statute. Existing electing districts for all who are or who become District Judges and Associate District Judges under the terms of this Article shall remain as they are constituted for the offices formerly held by such persons on the effective date of this Article, until changed by statute. The Legislature may at any time delegate authority to the Supreme Court to designate by court rule the division of the State into districts and the number of judges.
(b) All Courts in the State of Oklahoma, except those specifically provided for in this Article, are hereby abolished at midnight on the day preceding the effective date of this Article and their jurisdiction, functions, powers and duties are transferred to the respective District Courts, and, until otherwise provided by statute, all non-judicial functions vested in such courts are transferred to the District Courts and Judges thereof. No person shall file a declaration of candidacy for any such court abolished herein on or after July 1, 1968.
(c) Each court into which jurisdiction of other courts is transferred shall succeed to and assume jurisdiction of all causes, matters and proceedings then pending, with full power and authority to dispose of them and to carry into execution or otherwise to give effect to all orders, judgments and decrees theretofore entered by the predecessor courts.
(d) The files, books, papers, records, documents, monies, securities and other property in the possession, custody, or control of the court hereby abolished, or in the possession, custody or control of any officer thereof, are transferred to the District Court; and thereafter all proceedings in all court shall be matters of record. (e) In the event a transfer or transition has not been provided for by law, the Supreme Court shall by rule provide for the orderly transfer or transition.
§ 8. Classes of District Court Judges - Selection - Terms - Jurisdiction - Qualifications.
(a) The Judges of the District Court shall be District Judges, Associate District Judges, and Special Judges. Each District Judge, each Associate District Judge, and each Special Judge shall be selected according to the provisions of this Article.
(b) Superior Court Judges shall become District Court Judges on the effective date of this Article.
(c) Common Pleas, County, Children's and Juvenile Court Judges shall become Associate District Judges in the following manner: Those Judges whose terms expire after the effective date of this Article shall become Associate District Judges on the effective date of this Article. Those Judges whose terms expire on or before the effective date of this Article, shall be subject to selection, in a manner provided by law, as Associate District Judges for a term expiring the day preceding the second Monday in January, 1971, and the selectees shall become Associate District Judges on the effective date of this Article.
(d) There shall be at least one Associate District Judge for each County in the State. The number of District Judges, including Superior Court Judges who become District Judges, and Associate District Judges shall continue at the number held over under this Article until changed by statute. The District Judges and Associate District Judges shall exercise all jurisdiction in the District Court except as otherwise provided by law. The District Courts, or any Judges thereof, shall have the power to issue any writs, remedial or otherwise necessary or proper to carry into effect their orders, judgments, or decrees.
(e) The appointment of any Judge to any Court abolished by this Article made after its adoption shall be for a period ending on the day preceding the effective day of this Article.
(f) The terms of District Judges and Associate District Judges shall be for four years commencing on the second Monday of January in 1971 and vacancies shall be filled in the manner provided by law.
§ 9. Election of District Judges and Associate District Judges.
District Judges and Associate District Judges shall be elected by the voters of the several respective districts or counties at a non-partisan election in the manner provided by statute. § 10. Judicial Administrative Districts.
(a) The State shall be divided into Judicial Administrative Districts, by statute, each consisting of one or more District Court Judicial Districts.
(b) The District Judges and Associate District Judges in each Judicial Administrative District shall select one of the District Judges to serve at their pleasure as Presiding Judge of such Judicial Administrative District. Subject to the authority of the Supreme Court, the Presiding Judge shall have general administrative authority over the Judicial Administrative District, including authority to provide for divisions, general or specialized, and for appropriate times and places of holding court subject to law.
§ 11. Salaries and expenses - Retirement.
(a) Judges and Supreme Court Justices shall receive for their services salaries provided by statute. The salaries of Judges and Justices shall not be diminished, but may be increased during their respective terms of office. Judicial officers may be paid such actual and necessary expenses as may be provided by statute. All basic salaries and expenses, or any portion thereof, of judges of District Courts shall be paid by the State unless otherwise provided by Statute, with such additional salaries as may be provided by statute to be paid by the respective districts or counties.
(b) No Justices or Judges, except those of Municipal Courts, shall engage in the practice of law nor hold any other office or position of profit under the United States or this State or any municipal corporation or political subdivision of this State, nor shall hold office in any political party. Provided that the Judges of the Court on the Judiciary, the Court of Tax Review and the Court of Bank Review and the Judges of any other such Special Courts may serve in such capacities in addition to their other judicial office. Compensation for service in the National Guard or the armed forces of the United States for such periods of time as may be determined by rules of the Supreme Court shall not be deemed "profit".
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Article relating to terms of office, the Legislature may provide by statute for a maximum age qualification for election or appointment to office and for the retirement of Justices and Judges automatically at a prescribed age or after a certain number of years of service, or both. The compensation, age of retirement and procedure for retirement shall be prescribed by statute. Any retired Justice or Judge may, in the discretion of the Supreme Court, be assigned to Judicial service. The compensation for such service shall be that to which the Justice or Judge is entitled in accordance with benefits as provided by statute. § 12. Continuing provisions.
Except to the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this Article, all provisions of law and rules of court in force on the effective date of this Article shall continue in effect until superseded in a manner authorized by law.
§ 13. Savings clause.
In the event the abolition of any court or office hereunder is held by any court of competent jurisdiction to not take effect upon the effective date of this Article, then such court or office shall be abolished and terminated at the expiration of the term of the officer holding such office with the same provisions applying thereto, as if abolished on the effective date of this Article.
14. Effective dates - Implementing acts.
This Judicial Article shall become effective on January 13, 1969; except those provisions expressly authorizing or directing a different date; and except those provisions relating to the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, intermediate appellate courts and the Justices and Judges of such Courts, which shall become effective immediately upon the adoption of this Judicial Article. On or after the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January, 1968, the Legislature shall enact the necessary and appropriate laws to implement and place in operation the provisions of this Article.
§ 15. Jury trials - Verdicts.
In all jury trials the jury shall return a general verdict, and no law in force nor any law hereafter enacted, shall require the court to direct the jury to make findings of particular questions of fact, but the court may, in its discretion, direct such special findings.
§ 16. Repealer.
Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is hereby repealed.
Article 7A
§ 1. Removal of judges from office - Compulsory retirement - Causes.
(a) In addition to other methods and causes prescribed by the Constitution and laws, the judges of any court, exercising judicial power under the provisions of Article VII, or under any other provision, of the Constitution of Oklahoma, shall be subject to removal from office, or to compulsory retirement from office, for causes herein specified, by proceedings in the Court on the Judiciary. (b) Cause for removal from office shall be: Gross neglect of duty; corruption in office; habitual drunkenness; commission while in office of any offense involving moral turpitude; gross partiality in office; oppression in office; or other grounds as may be specified hereafter by the legislature.
(c) Cause for compulsory retirement from office, with or without compensation, shall be mental or physical disability preventing the proper performance of official duty, or incompetence to perform the duties of the office.
§ 2. Creation of Court on the Judiciary - Trial and Appellate Divisions - Jurisdiction - Membership.
(a) There is created a Court on the Judiciary, hereinafter referred to as the Court, divided into a Trial Division and an Appellate Division. The Court is vested, subject to the provisions of this Article, with sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine causes arising thereunder.
(b) The Trial Division shall be composed of nine (9) members, eight (8) of whom shall be the district judges senior in service, but under sixty (60) years of age, with no two (2) from the same Supreme Court Judicial District (in case of equal seniority, the eldest in years to serve), and one (1) active member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, chosen by its Executive Council or other body exercising similar powers.
(c) The Appellate Division shall be composed of two (2) members of the Supreme Court, chosen by that court; one (1) member of the Court of Criminal Appeals, chosen by that court; one (1) active member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, chosen by its Executive Council or other body exercising similar powers; and five (5) district judges, senior in service but under sixty-five (65) years of age; except that no more than one (1) district judge from any Supreme Court Judicial District shall serve. In the event of equal seniority, the eldest in years shall serve. If any district judge is qualified for both divisions, he shall serve on the Appellate Division and the next in qualification shall serve on the Trial Division.
(d) Within thirty (30) days after the adoption of this amendment, and thereafter prior to the first day in February of each odd-numbered year, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals and the President of the Bar Association shall certify to the Secretary of State the names of the judges who are chosen, respectively, by the said courts and by the Oklahoma Bar Association. The Secretary of State shall determine the district judges who hold membership on the Trial Division and the Appellate Division. Promptly thereafter he shall notify the members of the respective divisions to meet at the State Capitol on a day certain, within thirty (30) days, for purposes of organization and of making or amending rules of procedure.
(e) Members of the courts so designated shall serve until March First of the odd-numbered year next after the year in which they are named. The attainment of the age limit specified shall not terminate their service during the term. § 3. Presiding judge - Rules - Meetings - Clerk - Powers.
(a) Subject to the provisions of this Article, each division of the Court shall select its presiding judge, and shall be judge of the qualifications and the disqualification of its own members and shall make and publish its own rules of procedure. Each division shall meet on call of its presiding judge or three (3) of its members; a majority of the authorized membership of either division of the court shall constitute a quorum for the exercise of any or all of the jurisdiction of that division, regardless of whether or not vacancies exist in the membership of that division.
(b) The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall be the clerk of the court. He shall perform his duties under the direction of the Court or of the presiding judges.
(c) In the exercise of its jurisdiction, the Court is vested with full judicial power and authority, including the power to summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath and to compel the production of books, papers, documents, records and other evidential objects; to issue all manner of judicial and remedial process and writs, legal or equitable; to provide for discovery procedures in advance of trial; to make rules governing procedure; to grant full immunity from prosecution or punishment when deemed necessary and proper in order to compel the giving of testimony under oath or the production of books, papers, documents, records or other evidential objects. The specific enumeration of powers herein shall not derogate from the existence of other judicial power and authority in the Court, or from the exercise thereof in aid of its jurisdiction.
§ 4. Invoking jurisdiction by petition - Hearing.
(a) The jurisdiction of the Trial Division of the Court may be invoked by a petition, filed either by the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice thereof; by the Governor; by the Attorney General; or by the Executive Secretary of the Oklahoma Bar Association when directed so to do by a vote of a majority of all members of its Executive Council; or by Resolution of the House of Delegates or by Resolution of the House of Representatives of the State of Oklahoma. The petition shall state the name of the respondent; the grounds upon which his removal from office or compulsory retirement from office is sought; and such other matters as may be specified by the rules of the Trial Division. It shall be subject to amendment by order of either division of the Court.
(b) Immediately upon the filing of the petition, the Clerk shall notify the presiding officer of the Trial Division, and the respondent named therein, in accordance with the rules of the Trial Division. The presiding judge of the Trial Division shall secure from the Executive Council of the Oklahoma Bar Association a panel of five (5) active members of the Association from which the presiding judge shall designate the prosecutor, and any necessary assistant, to conduct the proceeding against the respondent.
(c) The Trial Division or the presiding judge shall set the matter for hearing, not less than sixty (60) days after notice of the filing of the petition shall have been given the respondent. In all procedural matters not covered by rule of the Trial Division, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, or of the common law of Oklahoma, shall be followed, so far as they may be applicable.
(d) Pending the determination of the proceedings, the Trial Division in its discretion may suspend the respondent from the exercise of his office. After full hearing, the Trial Division shall render such judgment as the facts may justify. No judgment shall extend further than: (1) to removal of the respondent from office, with or without disqualification to hold any public office of honor, trust, or profit under this State, or (2) to compulsory retirement from office; but such a proceeding, regardless of result, shall not bar or prejudice any other proceeding, civil or criminal, authorized by law. A judicial officer who is a member of the retirement compensation system prescribed by this Article and is compulsory retired shall receive the retirement compensation to which his term of service entitled him. If he is not qualified for full retirement compensation, he may receive such compensation as the Court may decree, in proportion to time served and in accordance with principles of justice and equity, alike as to amount, commencement of payment, terms of payment, or other relevant conditions or limitations.
§ 5. Appeal to Appellate Division.
(a) From any judgment of the Trial Division, the respondent or the prosecutor may appeal to the Appellate Division, by filing a notice of appeal with the Clerk of the Supreme Court, within ten days after entry of the judgment. The notice shall be served upon the opposite party in the manner prescribed by the rules of the Appellate Division.
(b) The preparation and certification of the record upon appeal and all proceedings upon the appeal, not prescribed by this action, shall be governed by the rules of the Appellate Division.
(c) The review in the Appellate Division shall be an equity appeal, as to both law and fact. The Appellate Division may affirm, modify or reverse the judgment of the Trial Division, or enter a new judgment, as justice may require.
(d) If justice requires, the Appellate Division may hear additional evidence upon the appeal, upon a showing to the satisfaction of the Division that the additional evidence is material and that there were good reasons for failure to present it to the Trial Division.
§ 6. Established rules to apply - Judge pro tem - Compensation.
(a) In all proceedings before the Court the established rules for disqualification of judges for interest, prejudice or partiality shall apply. No district judge shall sit in a matter in which the respondent is a judge of a court within his district court judicial district. In the event of the disqualification or failure to act of a member of the Court, a judge pro tem to sit in his place shall be named by the authority appointing him, if he is a district judge, the qualified district judge from his Supreme Court judicial district, next in seniority, shall serve as judge pro tem. (b) Members of the Court shall serve without compensation, but shall receive the allowance for expense permitted district judges serving outside their districts.
(c) The prosecutors shall receive such fair and just compensation as the respective division of the Court shall award for service before that division.
(d) The Legislature shall appropriate such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Article.
§ 7. Exclusive jurisdiction.
No other court shall have jurisdiction to restrict or control or review the orders of the Appellate Division of the Court on the Judiciary and no court except the Appellate Division shall have jurisdiction to restrict, control or review the orders of the Trial Division. District and Superior Courts shall, on direction of the Division of the Court on the Judiciary, aid in carrying out its procedure and mandates.
Article 7B
§ 1. Governing provisions - Definitions.
(a) The provisions of this Article shall govern the selection and tenure of all Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals of the State of Oklahoma, to which the provisions hereof may be extended as hereinafter provided, other provisions of the Constitution or statutes of the State of Oklahoma to the contrary notwithstanding, and the provisions of Article VII as proposed by House Joint Resolution No. 508 of the First Session of the Thirty-first Oklahoma Legislature to the contrary notwithstanding.
(b) As used in this Section, "Judicial Office" means the offices of Justice of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals and "Judicial Officer" means a Justice or Judge of each such court, excluding retired or supernumerary Justices or Judges.
§ 2. Declaration of candidacy - Election.
At the general election next before his term expires, any Judicial Officer may seek retention in office by filing with the Secretary of State, not less than sixty (60) days before the date of such election, a declaration of candidacy to succeed himself. Thereupon, at such election, there shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State, on a separate ballot, without party designation, this question:
"Shall (Here insert name of Justice or Judge) of (Here insert the title of the court) be retained in Office? ____ YES
____ NO
The question shall be decided by a majority of those voting thereon. If the decision is "yes" the Judicial Officer shall be retained in office for the next ensuing six (6) year term. If the decision is "no", or if no declaration of candidacy is filed, the office shall be vacant upon expiration of the term then being served, and the former Judicial Officer shall not be eligible for appointment to succeed himself. Retention in office may be sought for successive terms without limit as to number, except for retirement as may be provided by the Legislature for a maximum retirement age.
§ 3. Judicial Nominating Commission.
(a) There is established as a part of the Judicial Department a Judicial Nominating Commission of fifteen (15) members, to consist of:
(1) six members to be appointed by the Governor, which shall include at least one from each congressional district established by the Statutes of Oklahoma and existing at the date of the adoption of this Article, none of whom shall be admitted to practice law in the State of Oklahoma or have any immediate family member who has been admitted to the practice of law in the State of Oklahoma or any other state;
(2) six members, which shall include at least one from each congressional district established by the Statutes of Oklahoma and existing at the date of the adoption of this Article who are, however, members of the Oklahoma Bar Association and who have been elected by the other active members of their district under procedures adopted by the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association, until changed by statute; and
(3) three members at large who shall not have been admitted to the practice of law in the State of Oklahoma or any other state or have any immediate family member who has been admitted to the practice of law in the State of Oklahoma or any other state but who shall be a resident of the State of Oklahoma, one to be selected by not less than eight members of the Nominating Commission. In the event eight members of the Commission cannot agree upon the member at large within thirty (30) days of the initial organization of the Commission or within thirty (30) days of a vacancy in the member at large position, the Governor shall make the appointment of the member at large; one to be selected by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and one to be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. No more than two members at large shall belong to any one political party.
The Commission shall elect one of its members to serve as chair for a term of one (1) year.
The six lay members of the Commission who are appointed by the Governor shall be appointed within ninety (90) days from the date that this Article becomes effective. Two members shall be appointed for a term of two (2) years, two members for a term of four (4) years, and two members for a term of six (6) years. The Oklahoma Bar Association shall hold its election and certify to the Secretary of State its members within ninety (90) days from the effective date of this Article, two of whom shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, two for a term of four (4) years, and two for a term of six (6) years. Thereafter all of the members of the Commission, whether elected or appointed, shall serve for a term of six (6) years, except that the member at large shall serve for a term of two (2) years.
(b) Vacancies arising during the term of any lay commissioner, other than the member at large, shall be filled by appointment by the Governor for the remainder of his or her term. Vacancies of any lawyer commissioner shall be filled by the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association for the remainder of his or her term.
(c) In the event of vacancy in the member at large position, the said vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original selection.
(d) Of those Commissioners named by the Governor, not more than three shall belong to any one political party.
(e) The concurrence of the majority of Commissioners in office at the time shall be sufficient to decide any question, unless otherwise provided herein. The Commission shall have jurisdiction to determine whether the qualifications of nominees to hold Judicial Office have been met and to determine the existence of vacancies on the Commission.
(f) No Commissioner, while a member of the Commission, shall hold any other public office by election or appointment or any official position in a political party and he or she shall not be eligible, while a member of the Commission and for five (5) years thereafter, for nomination as a Judicial Officer.
(g) Commissioners shall serve without compensation but the Legislature shall provide funds to reimburse them for their necessary travel and lodging expenses while performing their duties as such Commissioners.
(h) No Commissioner shall be permitted to succeed himself or herself.
(i) As used herein, the words "Oklahoma Bar Association" shall include any successor thereof and any future form of the organized Bar of this state.
§ 4. Vacancy in Judicial Office - Filling.
When a vacancy in any Judicial Office, however arising, occurs or is certain to occur, the Judicial Nominating Commission shall choose and submit to the Governor and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court three (3) nominees, each of whom has previously notified the Commission in writing that he will serve as a Judicial Officer if appointed. The Governor shall appoint one (1) of the nominees to fill the vacancy, but if he fails to do so within sixty (60) days the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall appoint one (1) of the nominees, the appointment to be certified by the Secretary of State.
§ 5. Terms and election.
Each Judicial Officer elected before or after the adoption of this Article shall, unless removed for cause, serve out the term for which he is elected and those Judicial Officers serving at the date of the adoption of this Article, whose Judicial Office comes under the provision of this Article on the date of the expiration of said term, shall be deemed to have been appointed as provided herein and eligible to file a declaration of candidacy to succeed themselves as provided in this Article. If retained in office, the term of each such Judicial Officer shall be six (6) years commencing the second Monday in January following such election.
The term and election of each Judicial Officer appointed to fill a vacancy after the adoption of this Article shall be as follows: If such appointed officer has served or will have served twelve (12) months on or before the next general election following appointment, such officer may file for election for the remainder of the term for which such officer was appointed, or for a six (6) year term, whichever is applicable, within the time and in the manner elected Judicial Officers file their candidacy under this Article. If such appointed officer has not served or will not have served twelve (12) months on or before the next general election following appointment, such officer shall continue in office until the second general election following appointment and may file for election for the remainder of the term or for a six (6) year term, whichever is applicable, as herein provided.
§ 6. Political activity prohibited.
No Judicial Officer appointed or retained in office under the provisions hereof shall make, directly or indirectly, any contribution to or hold office in a political party or organization.
§ 7. Effective date.
This proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma as set forth herein shall be effective upon adoption and shall become operative only and in the event the amendment of Article VII of the Constitution proposed by House Joint Resolution No. 508, of the First Session of the Thirty-first Oklahoma Legislature, repealing the previously existing Article VII of the Oklahoma Constitution and adopting in lieu thereof a new Ar