Prison Labor; Contract System Abolished.-The Legisla ture shall, by law, provide for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced to the several State prisons, penitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the State; and on and after the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, no person in any such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his work, or the product or profit of his work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation. This section shall not be construed to prevent the Legislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may be disposed of to, the State or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the State, or any political division thereof. (Art. III., Sec. 29.)

Quorum.-A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. (Art. III., Sec. 10.)

By this is meant a quorum for the transaction of ordinary business. But by Section 25 it is provided that:

On the final passage in either house of the Legislature, of any act which imposes, continues or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or property, or releases, discharges, or commutes any claim or demand of the State, the question shall be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered upon the journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to either house shall, in all cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein.

Again it is provided by Art. IV., Section 9, that a two-thirds vote of the members elected to the house is necessary to pass a bill over the Governor's veto, from which it results that two-thirds are necessary to constitute a quorum for that purpose. So, also, two-thirds are necessary to take final action on bills "appropriating

the public moneys or property for local or private purposes." (Act III., Sec. 20.)

Bills May Originate in Either House.-Any bill may originate in either house of the Legislature, and all bills passed by one house may be amended by the other. (Art. III., Sec. 13.)

Their progress is similar to that of bills in the two houses of Congress (see Book I., page 77), but in order to make them effective it is required that:

The enacting clause of all bills shall be "The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be enacted except by bill. (Art. III., Sec. 14.)

Vote on Bills.-In order that bills may have the consideration they deserve, and that all members may be given full opportunity to inform themselves upon each measure, it is provided that:

No bill shall be passed or become a law unless it shall have been printed and upon the desks of the members, in its final form, at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage, unless the Governor, or the acting Governor, shall have certified to the necessity of its immediate passage, under his hand and the seal of the State; nor shall any bill be passed or become a law, except by the assent of a majority of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature; and upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereof shall be allowed, and the question upon its final passage shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered on the journal. (Art. III., Sec. 15.)

We have seen, however, that in case of the passage of a bill over the Governor's veto, the vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each honse is necessary, and a further section requires that:

The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes. (Art. III., Sec. 20.)

Governor's Veto.-After the passage of a bill by both houses, the Governor enters into the legislation of the State in the same manner that the President becomes a part of the national law-making power (see Book I., page 117). The Constitution provides that:

Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and Assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he will sign it; but if not, he will return it with his objections to the house in which it shall have originated, which shall enter the objections at large on 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, 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 votes 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 shall not be returned by the Governor within ten 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 thirty days after such adjournment. If any bill presented the Governor contain several items of appropriation of money, he may object to one or more of such items while approving of the other portion of the bill. In such case, he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects; and the appropriation so objected to shall not take effect. If the Legislature be in session, he shall transmit to the house in which

the bill originated a copy of such statement, and the items objected to shall be separately considered. If on reconsideration one or more of such items be approved by two-thirds of the members elected to each house, the same shall be part of the law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. All the provisions of this section, in relation to bills not approved by the Governor, shall apply in cases in which he shall withhold his approval from any item or items contained in a bill appropriating money. (Art. IV., Sec. 9.)

Limitations on Legislature.-The Legislature in its work is subject to "the law of the land" (see Book I., page 181), and whatever acts are passed in opposition either to the United States Constitution, the laws of Congress, or United States treaties, are void. Besides this limitation the action of the Legislature is restricted by the following prohibitions contained in the State Constitution:

Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax shall distinctly state the tax and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object. (Art. III., Sec. 24.)

The Legislature shall not, nor shall the common council of any city, nor any board of supervisors, grant any extra compensation to any public officer, servant, agent or contractor. (Art. III., Sec. 28.)

The Legislature shall neither audit nor allow any private claim or account against the State, but may appropriate money to pay such claims as shall have been audited and allowed according to law. (Art. III., Sec. 19.)

No money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this State, or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next 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 shall be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum. (Art. III., Sec. 21.)

No private or local bills, which may be passed by the Legislature, shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. (Art. III., Sec. 16.)

A private or local bill is one which relates to one person or one section of the State, and the limitation of such bills to one subject is to prevent the passage of noxious laws by inserting their provisions in some local bill where they would escape public notice.

And further, for the purpose of securing uniformity of action and to relieve the Legislature from the consideration of thousands of private or local demands, it is provided that:

The Legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the following cases:

cases.

(1) Changing the names of persons. (2) Laying out, opening, altering or discontinuing roads, highways or alleys, or for draining swamps or other low lands. (3) Locating or changing county seats. (4) Providing for changes of venue in civil or criminal (5) Incorporating villages. (6) Providing for election of members of boards of supervisors. (7) Selecting, drawing, summoning or impaneling grand or petit jurors. (8) Regulating the rate of interest on money. (9) The opening and conducting of elections or designating places of voting. (10) Creating, increasing or decreasing fees, percentages or allowances of public officers, during the term for which said officers are elected or appointed. (11) Granting to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks. (12) Granting to any private corporation, association or individual any exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise whatever. (13) Granting to any person, association, firm, or corporation, an exemption from taxation on real or personal property. (14) Providing for building bridges, and chartering companies for such purposes, except on the Hudson river below Waterford, and on the East river, or over the waters forming a part of the boundaries of the State.