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COMPOSITE AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENTS AFFECTING TWO OR MORE ARTICLES OR SECTIONS PROPOSED BUT NOT SUBMITTED TO THE PEOPLE

1. Initiative and referendum

Art. 3, § 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in the senate and assembly [], except as such power is reserved to the people as hereinafter provided. The people reserve to themselves power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls independently of the legislature, and also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act, bill, resolution or resolve passed by the joint action of both branches of the legislature. No act or joint resolution of the legislature except such orders or resolutions as pertain solely to facilitating the performance of the business of the legislature, of either branch, or of any committee or officer thereof, or appropriate money therefor or for the payment of salaries fixed by law, shall take effect until ninety days after the recess of the legislature passing it, unless in case of emergency (which with the facts constituting the emergency shall first be declared by the governor and then shall be expressed in the preamble of the act), the legislature shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, otherwise direct. An emergency bill shall include only such measures as are immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety; and shall not include (1) an infringement of the right of home rule for municipalities, (2) a franchise or a license to a corporation or an individual to extend longer than one year, or (3) provisions for the sale or purchase or renting for more than five years of real estate. Upon a written petition of electors to a number not less than five per centum of the number of votes cast at the preceding election for governor, addressed to the governor and filed in the office of the secretary of state within ninety days after the recess of the legislature, requesting that one or more acts, bills, resolves or resolutions, or part or parts thereof, passed by the legislature, but not then in effect by reason of the provisions of the preceding section, be referred to the people, such acts, bills, resolves or resolutions or part or parts thereof as are specified in such petition shall not take effect until

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thirty days after the governor shall have announced by public proclamation that the same have been ratified by a majority of the electors voting thereon at a general or special election. As soon as it appears that the effect of any act, bill, resolve or resolution or part or parts thereof has been suspended by petition in manner aforesaid, the governor by public proclamation shall give notice thereof and of the time when such measure is to be voted on by the people, which shall be at the next general election not less than sixty days after such proclamation, or in case of no general election within six months thereafter the governor may, and if so requested in said written petition therefor, shall order such measure submitted to the people at a special election not less than four nor more than six months after his proclamation thereof.

Art. 3, § 1-a. (Proposal to add the following new section:) The electors may propose to the legislature for its consideration any bill, resolve or resolution, including bills to amend or repeal emergency legislation, and amendments to the constitution, by written petition addressed to the legislature or to either branch thereof and filed in the office of the secretary of state or presented to either branch of the legislature at least thirty days before the close of its session. Any measure thus proposed by a petition signed by electors to a number not less than five per centum of the number of votes cast at the previous election for governor, unless enacted without change by the legislature at the session at which it is presented, shall be submitted to the electors together with any amended form, substitute or recommendation of the legislature, and in such manner that the people can choose between the competing measures or reject both. When there are competing bills and neither receives a majority of the votes given for or against both, the one receiving the most votes shall, at the next general election, to be held not less than sixty days after the first vote thereof, be submitted by itself if it receives more than one-third of the votes given for and against both. If the measure initiated is enacted by the legislature without change, it shall not go to a referendum vote unless in pursuance of a demand made in accordance with the preceding section. The legislature may order a special election on any measure that is subject to a vote of the people. The governor may, and if so requested in the written petitions addressed to the legislature, shall by proclamation, order any measure proposed to the legislature by at least five

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per centum of the electors as herein provided, and not enacted by the legislature without change, referred to the people at a special election to be held not less than four nor more than six months after such proclamation, otherwise said measure shall be voted upon at the next general election held not less than sixty days after the recess of the legislature, to which such measure was proposed. Any measure referred to the people and approved by a majority of the votes given thereon shall, unless a later date be specified in said measure, take effect and become a law thirty days after the governor has made public proclamation of the result of the vote on said measure, which he shall do within ten days after the vote thereon has been canvassed and determined. The veto power of the governor shall not extend to any measure approved by vote of the people, and any measure initiated by the people and passed by the legislature without change, if vetoed by the governor, and if his veto is sustained by the legislature, shall be referred to the people to be voted on at the next general election. The legislature may enact measures expressly conditioned upon the people's ratification by a referendum vote. As used in either of the preceding paragraphs the words “electors” and “people” mean the electors of the state qualified to vote for governor; cess of the legislature" means the adjournment without day of a session of the legislature; " general election" means the November election; "measure" means an act, bill, resolve, resolution or amendment to the constitution proposed by the people, or two or more such, or part or parts of such, as the case may be; written petition" means one or more petitions written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, with the original signatures of the petitioners attached, verified as to the authenticity of the signatures by the oath of one of the petitioners certified thereon, and accompanied by the certificate of the clerk of the board of elections, or of the city, town or county in which the petitioners reside, that their names appear on the voting list of his city, town or county as qualified to vote for governor. The petitions shall set forth the full text of the measure requested or proposed. The full text of a measure submitted to a vote of the people under the provisions of the constitution need not be printed on the official ballots, but, until otherwise provided by the legislature, the secretary of state shall prepare the ballots in such form as to present the question or questions concisely and intelligibly.

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Art. 3, § 1-b. (Proposal to add the following new section:) Any city may establish the initiative and referendum by a written petition signed by electors thereof to a number not less than five per centum of the votes cast at the previous election for mayor, addressed to the mayor and filed in the office of the city clerk, and ratified by a majority of the electors voting thereon at the next municipal election which shall be at least thirty days after such filing. Provided, however, that the legislature may at any time provide a uniform method for the exercise of the initiative and referendum in municipal affairs.

Art. 3, 1-c. (Proposal to add the following new section:) Until the legislature shall enact further regulations not inconsistent with the constitution for applying the people's veto and direct initiative, the election officers and other officials shall be governed by the provisions of this constitution and of the general law, supplemented by such reasonable action as may be necessary to render the preceding sections self-executing.

Art. 3, § 14. The enacting clause of [all] bills originating in either house, 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.] The enacting clause of bills originating in the people shall be, "Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York."

Art. 4, § 9. 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 shall sign it; but if not, he shall 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 twothirds of the members elected to [that] the 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,

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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 to 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 reconsidered. 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. Provided, however, that the provisions of this section are subject to the reserved power of the people to approve or reject at the polls any act, bill, resolution or resolve, as set forth in article third.

Art. 7, § 4. Except the debts specified in sections two and three of this article, no debts shall be hereafter contracted by or in behalf of this state, unless such debt shall be authorized by [a] law, for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within fifty years from the time of the contracting thereof. No such law shall take effect until it shall at a general election have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election. On the final passage of such bill in either house of the legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be [duly] fully entered on the journals thereof and shall be: "Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people?" The legislature may at any time, after the approval of such a law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may at any time, by law, forbid the

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