Alabama State Constitution of 1901/Amendments 1-100

Amendment 1 ratified

Amendment of Section 93. SECTION 93

State not to engage in internal improvements or lend money or credit for same; interest in private enterprises prohibited; exception as to public roads, highways and bridges.

The state shall not engage in work of internal improvement nor lend money or its credit in aid of such; nor shall the state be interested in any private or corporate enterprises or lend money or its credit to any individual, association, or corporation, provided that the state may under appropriate laws cause the net proceeds from the state convict fund to be applied to the construction, repair and maintenance of public roads in the state and the legislature may also make additional appropriations for that purpose.

Amendment 2 ratified

Fees of Officers of Jefferson County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the costs, charges of courts, fees, commissions, allowances or salaries to be charged or received by any county officer of Jefferson county, including the method and basis of their compensation.

Amendment 3 ratified

Special School Tax Amendment.

Article XIX, Section 1. The several counties in the state shall have power to levy and collect a special county tax not exceeding thirty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in such counties in addition to that now authorized or that may hereafter be authorized for public school purposes, and in addition to that now authorized under section 260 of article XIV of the Constitution; provided, that the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the county, and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election.

Section 2. The several school districts of any county in the state shall have power to levy and collect a special district tax not exceeding thirty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in such district for public school purposes; provided, that a school district under the meaning of this section shall include incorporated cities or towns, or any school district of which an incorporated city or town is a part, or such other school districts now existing or hereafter formed as may be approved by the county board of education; provided further, that the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the district and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election; provided further, that no district tax shall be voted or collected except in such counties as are levying and collecting not less than a three-mill special county school tax.

Section 3. The funds arising from the special county school tax levied and collected by any county shall be apportioned and expended as the law may direct, and the funds arising from the special school tax levied in any district which votes the same independently of the county shall be expended for the exclusive benefit of the district, as the law may direct.

Amendment 4 ratified

Montgomery County Salary Amendment.

Commencing at the beginning of their next term of office, subsequent to the general election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1916, the compensation and allowance of the following named county officers of Montgomery county shall be as follows: Salary of judge of probate of Montgomery county, $5,000.00 per year net; allowance of $5,500.00 per annum for office expenses, as follows: One clerk at $1,500.00 per annum; two clerks at $1,000.00 per annum each; one clerk at $800.00 per annum, and $1,200.00 per annum for all other expenses, including extra clerks. The said $1,200.00 to be paid to the judge of probate in monthly installments and disbursed by him. The tax collector of Montgomery county shall receive a salary of $4,000.00 per year net; allowance of $1,500.00 per year for his clerk in said office, and $1,000.00 for extra help. The tax assessor of Montgomery county shall receive a salary of $4,000.00 per year net; allowance of $1,500.00 per year for a chief clerk in said office; $900.00 for an assistant clerk in said office and $600.00 per year for extra help. The sheriff of Montgomery county shall receive a salary of $4,000.00 per year net; allowance of $1,200.00 per year for a chief clerk in said office; $1,380.00 per year for a chief deputy; $2,200.00 per year for two deputies in said office, and $1,000.00 for extra assistance. These amounts to be paid out of the county treasury of Montgomery county. This shall not interfere with the amounts now or hereafter allowed the sheriff for guards at the county jail or bailiffs for courts, nor with the provisions for feeding prisoners. The sheriff shall receive amounts now provided by law, and shall cover the same into the county treasury of Montgomery county, and the board of revenue of Montgomery county shall pay out of the county treasury of Montgomery county the expenses incurred by the sheriff in feeding said prisoners. The above named amounts shall be in lieu of all compensations and allowances to the respective named officers. These amounts shall be paid out of the county treasury of Montgomery county as the salaries of other county officers are paid. The above named officers shall collect the fees heretofore collected by them and shall cover such fees into the county treasury on the first Monday of each month. The board of revenue of Montgomery county shall provide said officers with necessary quarters, books, stationery and other conveniences. The legislature of Alabama may hereafter from time to time by local or general laws, fix, regulate and alter the amount of the above named salaries and allowances, including the method and basis of their compensation, also fix, regulate and alter amount of compensation received by all other county officers of said county.

Amendment 5 ratified

Repeal of Section 250.

That the Constitution of Alabama be and the same is hereby amended by repealing and striking out of the Constitution section 250 of article 13 of the Constitution which section is as follows: "Holders of bank notes, and depositors, who have not stipulated for interest, shall, for such notes and deposits, be entitled in case of insolvency, to preference of payment over all other creditors, provided this section shall apply to all banks, whether incorporated or not."

Amendment 6 ratified

Additional School Tax in City of Selma.

The city of Selma, in addition to the taxes it is now authorized and empowered to levy and collect, shall levy and collect annually an additional tax of two-tenths of one per centum upon the value of the property therein as fixed for state taxation, to be applied exclusively to the maintenance of public schools therein, and shall levy and collect annually a further additional tax of one-tenth of one per centum upon the value of the property therein as fixed for state taxation, to be applied exclusively to public school buildings therein and improvements and repairs thereon, or to the payment of indebtedness contracted for the same by the city of Selma, or to the maintenance of public schools therein or to any one or more of these purposes; provided that these taxes shall be in lieu of all other city taxes now required to be levied or appropriated by the city of Selma for the support of schools or for school purposes.

Amendment 7 repealed

Exempting Sailors and Soldiers From The Payment of Poll Tax.^[1]

Amendment 8 ratified

Municipal Tax Amendment.

The municipalities of Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Hurtsboro, Russellville, Lanett, Demopolis, Pell City, Heflin, Columbiana, Carrollton, Opelika, Fairhope, Pine Hill, Scottsboro, Stevenson, Ashland, Brewton, Pollard, Flomaton, Atmore, Inglenook, Tuskegee, Aliceville, Gordo, Reform, Livingston, Camden, Monroeville, Phoenix and Girard, Birmingham, Bessemer, Florence, Huntsville, Selma, Fairfield, Anniston, Athens, Jacksonville, Auburn, Carbon Hill, and Lafayette in the state of Alabama, shall have the power and right to levy and collect a tax of one-half of one per centum in any one year on property situated therein, based on the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation for the tax year ending on the 30th day of September next, succeeding the levy; provided, that for the purpose of paying bonds issued and outstanding at the time of the adoption of this amendment and the interest thereon, and for the purpose of paying bonds which may be issued after the adoption of this amendment and the interest thereon, an additional tax of one-half of one per centum may be levied and collected by said corporations; provided further, that a majority of the qualified electors of any of said municipal corporations voting at an election called for that purpose may vote a special tax not to exceed one-half of one per centum in any one year for any special purpose or purposes, which tax shall be used only for the purpose or purposes for which same is levied and collected; provided, however, that the total tax to be levied by any of said municipal corporations shall not exceed one and one-half (1 1/2) per centum in any one year. Provided, further, that the adoption of this amendment, shall in no wise affect, limit, modify, abridge, or impair the power, authority or right of either of said municipal corporations to levy and collect the special school taxes, now or hereafter vested in or conferred upon them, or any of them, under the Constitution or any amendment thereto; including the power of said city of Selma to levy and collect the taxes for schools and school purposes vested in and conferred upon said city of Selma by the amendment to the Constitution of Alabama adopted thereto, at the general election held in November, 1916, and which was submitted under Law Number 315, General Laws, 1915, page 337 [Amendment No. 6]. Each election held under the provisions hereof shall be ordered, held, canvassed and may be contested in the same manner as is or may be provided by the law applicable to the municipal corporations for elections to authorize the issuance of municipal bonds. The ballots used at such election shall contain the words: "For ... excess rate of taxation for the year (or years) ..."and "Against... excess rate of taxation for the year (or years) ..." The rate of taxation proposed in excess of the rate of one (1) per centum to be shown in the blank space provided therefor and the year or years in which the proposed rate is to apply to be shown in the blank space provided therefor; and in the event different excess rates are proposed for different years the words mentioned shall be repeated as often as may be necessary to show separately the different rates proposed to be applied to the respective years. And the voter shall record his choice, whether for or against the excess rate or rates, shown by placing a cross mark before or after the words expressing his choice. Nothing herein contained shall in any wise change or affect the rights of any holder of bonds of said municipal corporations heretofore issued. Elections to authorize the levy of such special tax may be held as often as ordered by the governing body of the municipality but when a proposition is submitted to the electors to levy a special tax for a specific purpose, and such proposition is defeated no second election for the same purpose shall be held in one year thereafter.

Amendment 9 repealed

Art. XX. To Provide for Bonds for the Construction of Roads and Highways.

Amendment 10 ratified

Poll Tax Exemption Amendment. SECTION 194½

Exemption of World War I veterans from payment of poll tax prior to October 1, 1923.

No person who honorably served in the military or naval service of the United States between January 1, 1917, and November 11, 1918, shall be required to pay the poll tax mentioned in the Constitution of Alabama prior to October 1, 1923; such persons shall be exempt from the payment of all poll taxes which have or may hereafter accrue prior to October 1, 1923. This section shall be self-executing and retroactive. The judges of probate shall issue certificates of exemption from the payment of such poll taxes to the persons entitled thereto under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the governor.

Amendment 11 ratified

Road Bond Issue Amendment.

Section 1. The state is authorized to engage in the construction, improvement, repair and maintenance of public roads, highways, and bridges in the state of Alabama. To this end, and for this purpose, the state is authorized to appropriate funds; and also to issue and sell interest-bearing negotiable state bonds, in an amount not to exceed the sum of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) to be issued in such denominations, numbers, and series, and maturing at such time, as may be provided by law; but such bonds shall bear a rate of interest not greater than six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and shall be sold at a price not less than the par value thereof. Provided, that no bonds shall be issued or sold under this provision to such an amount that the interest thereon will exceed the net amount of vehicle license tax collected for the year preceding the issuance of same, and which is set apart for the payment of interest on said bonds. The state highway commission or highway department shall locate, construct, and maintain highways and state trunk roads so as to connect each county seat with the county seat of the adjoining county by the most direct or most feasible route, or by a permanent road, having due regard to the public welfare, and to connect the county seats of the several border counties at or near the state line with a public road in the border states. Provided, that in counties which are divided into two or more judicial divisions in each of which regular terms of circuit court are held; the places where said terms of court are held shall likewise be connected with each other. It shall be the duty of said highway commission or highway department to equitably apportion among the several counties the expenditure of both money and labor and the time or times of making such investments. Not less than one-quarter of a million dollars of the proceeds of these bonds shall be set aside and expended by the state highway commission in each county in the state. To create a sinking fund for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal and interest on these bonds and for the construction, maintenance, and improvement of such public highways, roads, and bridges, the legislature shall levy a special annual license or privilege tax on all automobiles, and on all motor driven vehicles which may be used on the public roads and highways of this state. Such bonds when issued shall be a direct obligation of the state, and for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal and interest thereon the full faith and credit of the state is hereby irrevocably pledged, and such bonds shall be exempt forever from all taxes of every kind.

Amendment 12 ratified

Amendment of Section 93. SECTION 93

State engaging in internal improvements or lending money or credit for same; state interest in private or corporate enterprises; construction, maintenance, etc., of public roads, highways and bridges and harbors and seaports.

The state shall not engage in works of internal improvement, nor lend money or its credit in aid of such, except as may be authorized by the Constitution of Alabama or amendments thereto; nor shall the state be interested in any private or corporate enterprise, or lend money or its credit to any individual, association, or corporation, except as may be expressly authorized by the Constitution of Alabama, or amendments thereto; but when authorized by laws passed by the legislature the state may appropriate funds to be applied to the construction, repair, and maintenance of public roads, highways and bridges in the state; and when authorized by appropriate laws passed by the legislature the state may at a cost of not exceeding ten million dollars engage in the work of internal improvement, or promoting, developing, constructing, maintaining, and operating all harbors and seaports within the state or its jurisdiction, provided, that such work or improvement shall always be and remain under the management and control of the state, through its state harbor commission, or other governing agency. The adoption of this amendment shall not affect in any manner any other amendment to the Constitution of Alabama which may be adopted pursuant to any act or resolution of this session of the legislature.

Amendment 13 ratified

Tax Rates in Jasper, Cordova, Dora, Oxford, Talladega, Citronelle, Girard, Albany and Tuscaloosa.

The following municipal corporations, Jasper, Cordova, Dora, Oxford, Talladega, Citronelle, Girard, Albany, and Tuscaloosa, through their respective constituted governing authorities may levy and collect a rate of taxation on the property situated therein, not exceeding in the total in any one year one per centum of the value of such property as assessed as provided by the Constitution and the statutes now or hereafter enacted pursuant to the Constitution; provided that the adoption of this amendment, shall in no wise affect, limit, modify, abridge or impair the power, authority, or right of any of said municipal corporations to levy and collect the special school taxes, now or hereafter vested in or conferred upon them under the Constitution or any amendment thereto, which said special school taxes shall be in excess of said one per centum herein provided for.

Amendment 14 ratified

Poll Tax Exemption Amendment.

Poll Tax Exemption Amendment

Section 194 1/2

Exemption of World War I veterans from payment of poll tax.

No person who honorably served in the military or naval service of the United States between January 1, 1917, and November 11, 1918, shall be required to pay the poll tax mentioned in the Constitution of Alabama; such persons shall be exempt from the payment of all poll taxes which have accrued or may hereafter accrue. This section shall be self-executing and retroactive. The judge of probate shall issue certificates of exemption from the payment of such poll taxes to the persons entitled thereto under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the governor.

Amendment 15 ratified

Drainage Systems, Public Roads and Seawalls.

The legislature may form or provide for the formation of districts for establishing and maintaining a drainage system; for the building and maintaining of public roads, and for building and maintaining a seawall or other protection against waves, storm or flood therein; and provide for the assessment of the whole or part of the cost of such improvements against the land in such districts to the extent of the increased value of such land by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvements, and may provide for issuance of bonds by such district with or without an election. Provided the provisions as to road and seawall shall apply only to Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Amendment 16 ratified

Mobile County School Tax.

The county of Mobile, through its constituted governing authorities, may levy and collect for public school purposes, a rate of taxation, on the property situated therein, not exceeding in the total of any one year, one-fifth ( 1/5) of one (1) per centum of the value of such property as assessed as provided by the Constitution of Alabama and the statutes now or hereafter enacted pursuant to the said Constitution of Alabama, which said one-fifth ( 1/5) of one (1) per centum shall be in addition to taxes levied and collected under and pursuant to the authority of section 215 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, and taxes levied and collected under and pursuant to article XIX of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, which article XIX was added to said Constitution by amendment; and existing laws attempting or purporting to authorize, empower and direct the said constituted authorities of the county of Mobile to levy and assess such a special tax in addition to the taxes levied and collected under and pursuant to section 215 of the Constitution as aforesaid and taxes levied and collected under and pursuant to article XIX of the Constitution as aforesaid are hereby validated and confirmed.

Amendment 17 ratified

Tax Rates in Certain Municipalities.

The municipalities of Thorsby, Piedmont, and Greenville, and Roanoke, and Greensboro and Calera, Florala and Opp, Evergreen and Fayette, and Clayton and Clio in the state of Alabama, shall have the power and right to levy and collect a tax of one-half of one per centum in any one year on property situated therein, based on the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation for the tax year ending on the thirtieth day of September next succeeding the levy; provided that for the purpose of paying bonds or indebtedness issued and outstanding at the time of the adoption of this amendment and the interest thereon, for the purpose of paying bonds or indebtedness which may be issued or incurred after the adoption of this amendment and the interest thereon, and an additional tax of one-half of one per centum may be levied and collected by said corporations; provided further, that a majority of the qualified electors of any of said municipal corporations voting at an election called for that purpose may vote a special tax not to exceed one-half of one per centum in any one year for any special purpose or purposes, which tax shall be used only for the purpose or purposes for which same is levied and collected; provided, however, that the total tax to be levied by any of said municipal corporations shall not exceed one and one-half (1 1/2) per centum in any one year. Alabama City shall have the power and right to levy and collect a tax of three-quarters of one per centum in any one year on property situated therein, based on the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation. Provided, further, that the adoption of this amendment shall in no wise affect, limit, modify, abridge or impair the power, or authority or right of either of said municipal corporations to levy and collect the special school taxes, now or hereafter vested in or conferred upon them, or any of them, under the Constitution or any amendment thereto; including the power of the city of Selma to levy and collect the taxes for schools and school purposes vested in and conferred upon said city of Selma by the amendment to the Constitution of Alabama adopted thereto at the general election held in November, 1916, and which was submitted under Law Number 315, General Laws 1915, page 337 [Amendment No. 6], each election held under the provisions hereof shall be ordered, held, canvassed and may be contested in the same manner as is or may be provided by the law applicable to the municipal corporations for elections to authorize the issuance of municipal bonds. The ballots used at such election shall contain the words: "For .... excess rate of taxation for the year (or years) ....;" and "Against .... excess rate of taxation for the year (or years) ....." The rate of taxation proposed in excess of the rate of one (1) per centum to be shown in the blank space provided therefor and the year or years in which the proposed rate is to apply to be shown in the blank spaces provided therefor; and in the event different excess rates are proposed for different years the words mentioned shall be repeated as often as may be necessary to show separately the different rates proposed to be applied to the respective years. And the voter shall record his choice, whether for or against the excess rate or rates shown by placing a cross mark before or after the words expressing his choice. Nothing herein contained shall in any wise change or affect the rights of any holder of bonds of municipal corporations heretofore issued. Elections to authorize the levy of such special tax may be held as often as ordered by the governing body of the municipality but when a proposition is submitted to the electors to levy a special tax for a specific purpose, and such proposition is defeated no second election for the same shall be held in one year thereafter.

Amendment 18 ratified

Mobile County Road Bonds.

Mobile county may become indebted and may issue bonds for the construction or improvement of concrete or better than concrete surfaced public roads, and concrete or better than concrete public bridges in said county, and for the construction of bridges and roadway necessary to provide a public road for vehicular travel between the highlands of Mobile and Baldwin counties, in an amount not to exceed six and one-half per centum of the assessed value of the property situated in Mobile county. To pay said indebtedness and interest thereon, Mobile county may levy and collect an annual tax on said property not to exceed one-half of one per centum of said value. The indebtedness, the bonds and the tax authorized hereby shall be in addition to those authorized by the Constitution of Alabama prior to the adoption of this amendment. But no such additional indebtedness shall be created, and no such additional bonds shall be issued, and no such additional tax shall be levied, until each improvement or construction proposed to be built thereby, its approximate location, estimated cost and time of completion, and the amount of the proposed increase, shall have been determined upon and made public by the board of revenue and road commissioners of Mobile county, and the proposed increase of indebtedness or issue of bonds or tax therefor shall have been first authorized by a majority vote by ballot of the qualified voters of Mobile county voting upon such proposition.

Amendment 19 ratified

Walker County Special Road Tax.

Section 1. The county of Walker, state of Alabama, shall have power to levy and collect a special road tax not exceeding fifty cents on each hundred dollars worth of taxable property in said county in addition to that now authorized or that may hereafter be authorized for the erection, construction or maintenance of the necessary public roads, bridges or ferries and in addition to that now authorized under section 215 of article XI of the Constitution, which special county tax so levied and collected shall be applied exclusively to the purpose for which the same was so levied and collected, provided, that the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have first been submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the county, and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election.

Section 2. Twenty-five per centum of all moneys derived from property lying within the municipalities and arising from the tax proposed herein shall be paid to such municipality and shall, by it, be expended for upkeep of its streets.

Section 3. The court of county commissioners, boards of revenue, or other governing body of said county may, or upon written petition of ten per centum of the qualified voters of Walker county, shall call and submit said election provided for and authorized by section 1 hereof to the qualified electors of Walker county either at the time of the general election or at a special election called for that purpose; provided, that said election shall be called and held in accordance with the law now or that may be enacted governing county bond elections, and in conformity with the general election laws of the state.

Amendment 20 ratified

Tax Elections in Certain School Districts in Lawrence County.

Town Creek school district No. 59, Landersville school district No. 23, and Moulton school district No. 28, in Lawrence county, Alabama, shall each have the right and power by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of such district at an election held for that purpose to levy and collect for the purpose of acquiring, constructing or repairing of school buildings in such districts or paying for school buildings already built, a tax of not over five mills in any one year, in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law. The election in such district to determine whether or not such tax shall be levied shall be called, held and conducted as now provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of elections to determine whether or not a three-mill district school tax shall be levied and collected.

Amendment 21 ratified

Art. XXA. State Roads, Highways and Bridges—Bond Issue.

The state is authorized to engage in the construction, improvement, repair and maintenance of public roads, highways and bridges in the state of Alabama. To this end and for this purpose the state is authorized to appropriate funds, and also to issue and sell interest-bearing negotiable state bonds in addition to those already authorized and sold under article XX, as an amendment to the Constitution of 1901, in an amount not to exceed the sum of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00); to be issued in such denominations, numbers and series, and maturing at such times as may be provided by law; all such bonds shall bear a rate of interest not greater than six per cent per annum, payable semi-annually, and shall be sold at a price not less than the par value thereof. The state highway commission or highway department shall locate, construct and maintain highways and state trunk roads so as to connect each county seat with the county seat of the adjoining county by the most direct or feasible route or by a permanent road, having due regard to the public welfare; and to connect the county seats of the several border counties at or near the state line with a public road in the border state. Provided that in counties which are divided into two or more judicial divisions in each of which regular terms of the circuit court are held, the places where said terms of court are held, shall likewise be connected with each other. It shall be the duty of the highway commission or highway department to equitably apportion among the several counties of the state the expenditure of both money and labor and the time or times of making such investment. Not less than one-quarter of a million dollars of the proceeds of these bonds shall be set aside and expended by the state highway commission in each county in the state. To create a sinking fund for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal and interest on these bonds and for the construction, maintenance and improvement of such public highways, roads and bridges, the legislature shall levy an excise tax, in addition to the levy made February 10, 1923, of two cents per gallon upon gasoline or any substitute therefor, or an adequate license or excise tax on any other motive power used to propel auto vehicles. Such bonds when issued shall be a direct obligation of the state and for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal and the interest thereon the full faith and credit of the state is hereby irrevocably pledged and such bonds shall be exempt forever from taxes of every kind.

Amendment 22 ratified

Drainage Districts.

Section 1. The legislature may form or provide for the formation of drainage districts for establishing and maintaining drainage systems; and provide for the assessment of the whole or part of the cost of such improvements against the lands and property in such district to the extent of the increased value thereof by reason of special benefits derived from such improvements and may provide for the issuance of bonds for such districts with or without an election.

Section 2. This amendment shall be retroactive and retrospective and shall operate to ratify, confirm and validate the act of the legislature of Alabama, which act provided for the drainage of farm, wet, swamp and overflow lands in the state of Alabama and authorized the organization of drainage districts, conferred the right of eminent domain to the extent necessary to carry out the purpose of said act and provided for raising of revenues by bond issue or otherwise to pay the cost and expense of installing and maintaining drainage systems so as to promote the public health and general welfare and, which act was approved March 4, 1915; and this amendment shall operate to confirm and validate all corporate organizations under authority of such law, all procedure had, all acts done, all bonds issued, contracts entered into and assessments made by such corporations under authority of such law.

Amendment 23 ratified

Repeal of Section 219; Inheritance and Estate Taxes.

Article XXI. Section 219 of the present Constitution is hereby annulled and set aside and hereafter the legislature of Alabama may provide for the assessment, levy and collection of a tax upon inheritances and for the levying of estate taxes not to exceed in the aggregate the amounts which may by any law of the United States be allowed to be credited against or deducted from any similar tax upon inheritances or taxes on estates assessed or levied by the United States on the same subject. The legislature shall have the power to levy such inheritance or estate taxes in the state of Alabama only so long as and during the time an inheritance or estate tax is enforced by the United States against Alabama inheritances or estate, and shall only be exercised or enforced to the extent of absorbing the amount of any deduction or credit which may be permitted by the laws of the United States now existing or hereafter enacted to be claimed by reason thereof as deduction or credit against such similar tax of the United States applicable to Alabama inheritances or estates.

Amendment 24 ratified

Amendment of Section 284. SECTION 284

Manner of proposing amendments; submission of amendments to electors; election on amendments; proclamation of result of election; basis of representation in legislature not to be changed by amendment.

Amendments may be proposed to this Constitution by the legislature in the manner following: The proposed amendments shall be read in the house in which they originate on three several days, and, if upon the third reading three-fifths of all the members elected to that house shall vote in favor thereof, the proposed amendments shall be sent to the other house, in which they shall likewise be read on three several days, and if upon the third reading three-fifths of all of the members elected to that house shall vote in favor of the proposed amendments, the legislature shall order an election by the qualified electors of the state upon such proposed amendments, to be held either at the general election next succeeding the session of the legislature at which the amendments are proposed or upon another day appointed by the legislature, not less than three months after the final adjournment of the session of the legislature at which the amendments were proposed. Notice of such election, together with the proposed amendments, shall be given by proclamation of the governor, which shall be published in every county in such manner as the legislature shall direct, for at least four successive weeks next preceding the day appointed for such election. On the day so appointed an election shall be held for the vote of the qualified electors of the state upon the proposed amendments. If such election be held on the day of the general election, the officers of such general election shall open a poll for the vote of the qualified electors upon the proposed amendments; if it be held on a day other than that of the general election, officers for such election shall be appointed; and the election shall be held in all things in accordance with the law governing general elections. In all elections upon such proposed amendments, the votes cast thereat shall be canvassed, tabulated and returns thereof be made to the secretary of state, and counted, in the same manner as in elections for representatives in the legislature; and if it shall thereupon appear that a majority of the qualified electors who voted at such election upon the proposed amendments voted in favor of the same, such amendments shall be valid to all intents and purposes as parts of this Constitution. The result of such election shall be made known by proclamation of the governor. Representation in the legislature shall be based upon population, and such basis of representation shall not be changed by constitutional amendments.

Amendment 25 ratified

Income Taxes.

Article XXII. The legislature shall have the power to levy and collect taxes for state purposes on net incomes from whatever source derived within this state, including the incomes derived from salaries, fees and compensation paid from the state, county, municipality, and any agency or creature thereof, for the calendar year, 1933, and thereafter and to designate and define the incomes to be taxed and to fix the rates of taxes, provided that the rate shall not exceed 5 percent nor 3 percent on corporations. Income shall not be deemed property for purposes of ad valorem taxes. From net income an exemption of not less than fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500.00) shall be allowed to unmarried persons and an exemption of not less than three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) shall be allowed to the head of a family, provided that only one exemption shall be allowed to husband and wife where they are living together and make separate returns for income tax. An exemption of not less than three hundred dollars ($300.00) shall be allowed for each dependent member of the family of an income tax payer under the age of 18 years. The legislature shall reduce the ad valorem tax from time to time when and to such an amount as the revenue derived from the income tax will justify. In the event the legislature levies an income tax, such tax must be levied upon the salaries, income, fees, or other compensation of state, county and municipal officers and employees, on the same basis as such income taxes are levied upon other persons. All income derived from such tax shall be held in trust for the payment of the floating debt of Alabama until all debts due on Oct. 1st, 1932, are paid and thereafter used exclusively for the reduction of state ad valorem taxes.

Amendment 26 ratified

Amendment of Section 213.

Amendment of Section 213.

Creation of state debt after ratification of Constitution; temporary loans; refunding bonds for existing indebtedness; payment of interest on certain outstanding and unpaid state warrants; sinking fund for payment of floating indebtedness; warrants not to be drawn on state treasury unless money available for payment; unpaid appropriations for which money unavailable at end of fiscal year.

After the ratification of this Constitution, no new debt shall be created against, or incurred by the state, or its authority except to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, and then only by a concurrence of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature, and the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the journals; provided, the governor may be authorized to negotiate temporary loans, never to exceed three hundred thousand dollars, to meet the deficiencies in the treasury, and until the same is paid no new loan shall be negotiated; (provided, further, that this section shall not be so construed as to prevent the issuance of bonds for the purpose of refunding the existing bonded indebtedness of the state. Provided, further, that this section shall not be construed as to prevent the governor from paying interest at the rate of not exceeding 5% per annum payable semi-annually from July 1, 1933, on the floating indebtedness of the state at the close of business on September 30, 1932, as shown by outstanding and unpaid warrants drawn on the treasury, as provided by law, amounting in the aggregate to $16,943,357.12 and items enumerated in an act of the legislature number 294, being senate bill 272, approved November 9, 1932 [Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., p. 298], all of which are hereby ratified and confirmed.) All warrants and/or instruments issued or to be issued representing such indebtedness shall be a direct obligation of the state, and for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal and interest thereon, the full faith and credit of the state is hereby irrevocably pledged, and such warrants and/or instruments shall be exempt forever from all taxes of every kind. Any act creating or incurring any new debt against the state, except as herein provided for, shall be absolutely void. To create a sinking fund for the prompt and faithful payment of the floating indebtedness of the state, and interest thereon, the net proceeds of any income tax which may be levied by the legislature pursuant to law is hereby pledged. To prevent further deficits in the state treasury, it shall be unlawful from and after the adoption of this amendment for the state comptroller of the state of Alabama to draw any warrant or other order for the payment of money belonging to, or administered by, the state of Alabama upon the state treasurer, unless there is in the hand of such treasurer money appropriated and available for the full payment of the same. In case there is, at the end of any fiscal year, insufficient money in the state treasury for the payment of all proper claims presented to the state comptroller for the issuance of warrants, the comptroller shall issue warrants for that proportion of each such claim which the money available for the payment of all said claims bears to the whole, and such warrants for such prorated sums shall thereupon be paid by the state treasurer. At the end of each fiscal year all unpaid appropriations which exceed the amount of money in the state treasury subject to the payment of the same after the proration above provided for, shall thereupon become null and void to the extent of such excess. Any person violating any of the provisions of this amendment shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine of not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than two years, one or both, at the discretion of the jury trying the same, and the violation of any provisions of this amendment shall also be ground for impeachment.

Amendment 26A^[2] ratified

Suspension of Restriction on Diminishing Public Salaries, etc.

Article XXIV. All provisions of the Constitution which prohibit or restrict the legislature from decreasing or diminishing the salary, fees or compensations of any executive, legislative or judicial officer or of any public officer or of any officer holding any civil office of profit under this state or any county or municipality thereof, whether elected or appointed, during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed are hereby suspended until October 1, 1935. Provided that from and after the first day of the month next succeeding the date of the ratification and adoption of this amendment no salary, compensation, fees or commissions paid to any officer under the state or any county or municipality thereof, shall exceed the sum of six thousand dollars per annum. Said limitation of $6,000.00 to be inoperative after October 1, 1935. Any act of the legislature heretofore adopted decreasing or diminishing the salary, fees or compensation of any such officer or officers, and which by its terms is to become effective after the expiration of the present term of any such officer or officers, shall, by virtue hereof, become effective from and after the first day of the month next succeeding the date of the ratification and adoption of this amendment; provided, however, that should the legislature adopt any other act or acts decreasing or diminishing the salary, fees or compensation of any such officer or officers during the term for which such officer or officers may have been elected or appointed in a larger amount, such subsequent act or acts shall control. Any other act of the legislature adopted prior to October 1, 1935, decreasing or diminishing the salary, fees or compensation of any such officer or officers, during the term for which such officer or officers may have been elected or appointed, shall be effective from and after the first day of the month next succeeding the date of the ratification and adoption of this amendment, or from and after the adoption by the legislature of any such act decreasing or diminishing the salary, fees or compensation of such officer or officers.

Amendment 27 ratified

Amendment of Section 229. SECTION 229

Special laws conferring corporate powers prohibited; general law as to grant or amendment of corporate charters; corporation franchise taxes to be paid; exemption of benevolent, educational or religious corporations and federal building and loan associations from franchise taxes.

The legislature shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers, but it shall pass general laws under which corporations may be organized and corporate powers obtained, subject, nevertheless, to repeal at the will of the legislature; and shall pass general laws under which charters may be altered or amended. The legislature shall, by general laws, provide for the payment to the state of Alabama of a franchise tax by corporations organized under the laws of this state which shall be in proportion to the amount of capital stock; but strictly benevolent, educational or religious corporations or federal building and loan associations organized pursuant to an act of congress known as the Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933, as amended, and as the same may hereafter be amended, or building and loan associations organized under or authorized to do business by the laws of Alabama shall not be required to pay such a tax on their withdrawable or repurchasable shares. The charter of any corporation shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal under general laws. Exemption of the shares of building and loan associations from franchise taxes heretofore provided by statute is ratified.

Amendment 28 ratified

Costs, Fees, Salaries, etc., of Certain Officers in Mobile County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter from time to time by general or local laws, but subject to the provisions of section 281 of the Constitution of Alabama, fix, regulate and alter the costs, charges of court, fees, commissions, allowances or salaries to be charged or received by the following county officers of Mobile county, Alabama, being, the judge of probate, the tax assessor, the tax collector, the clerk of the circuit court, and the register of the circuit court, including the method and basis of the compensation of such officers.

Amendment 29 ratified

Mobile County Bonds.

The legislature of Alabama may authorize Mobile county to issue bonds from time to time, not exceeding in the aggregate $1,600,000.00, which bonds, or the proceeds thereof, shall be used exclusively for paying valid and enforceable unbonded obligations of Mobile county, and unbonded obligations of Mobile county which would be valid and enforceable but for the provision or provisions of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 fixing the debt limit of said county, and all past due interest and principal on any valid and enforceable bonded obligations of said county, existing on September 30th, 1936. In September of each year after the adoption of this amendment to the Constitution, the governing body of Mobile county shall adopt a budget based on 95 percent of the gross receipts of the general fund of the preceding year for the succeeding fiscal year beginning October 1st, and the expenses of such county for any such fiscal year shall not exceed the revenues of the county for that year. All debts contracted or liabilities incurred by the said county in excess of such revenues shall be void. The governing body of Mobile county may, during any such fiscal year, borrow additional money to the extent of twenty-five (25%) percent of the general revenues of such county for the preceding fiscal year, and pledge to secure the payment thereof the general revenues of the county for such current fiscal year only, such loans to be paid within that fiscal year or from the pledged general revenues of the county subsequently collected for that year, and any loan so made and not paid out of the general revenues of the county pledged to secure the same shall be void as to any amount remaining unpaid. The legislature shall not, after the adoption of this amendment, pass any law making any claim a preferred claim against said county, and all laws, or parts of laws, now in force and effect, making a claim a preferred claim against said county, are hereby annulled as to any future claim. The words "governing body of Mobile county" as herein used shall include any board or officer which is now or which may hereafter be vested with the powers and duties now or formerly exercised by the board of revenue and road commissioners of Mobile county, Alabama. Any person violating any of the provisions of this amendment shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000.00, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than two years, one or both, at the discretion of the jury trying the same, and the violation of any of the provisions of this amendment shall also be ground for impeachment.

Amendment 30 ratified

Lawrence County Bonds.

Lawrence county may become indebted and may issue bonds therefor in an amount not exceeding $130,000 in addition to that now authorized, for the construction of and equipping of a courthouse in said county. To pay said indebtedness, and interest thereon, Lawrence county may levy and collect an annual tax on all property situated therein at a rate not in excess of 3 mills. The indebtedness, the bonds and the tax authorized hereby shall be in addition to those authorized prior to the adoption of this amendment. But no such additional indebtedness shall be incurred, no such bonds shall be issued and no such tax shall be levied until the estimated cost of the construction and equipping of said courthouse hereby proposed to be built, its time of completion, and the amount of the increased indebtedness, the rate of interest to be paid thereon, and the period over which the bonds to be issued will be refunded, shall have been determined upon and made public by the county governing body of said county; and the proposed increase in indebtedness and the issuance of bonds and the increase in rate of taxation first shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of said county voting upon such proposal at an election to be called by said county governing body for said purposes to be held not less than sixty (60) nor more than (120) one hundred twenty days after the adoption of this amendment.

Amendment 31 ratified

Taxation in Municipality of Attalla.

(a) The municipality of Attalla, Alabama, through its governing body, may levy and collect from and after the date of this amendment the present rate of one percent ad valorem tax per annum, and said amount to be devoted to the payment of outstanding bonds, provide for schools, and such other purposes as may be designated by the governing body of said municipality, but before any additional tax now authorized by law can be levied, it must be voted by a majority of qualified electors of the municipality voting on such proposition at an election called by the governing body of said municipality for such purposes; providing that the total tax levied for all purposes by the said municipality of Attalla shall not exceed one per centum in any one year on the property situated therein, based on the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation. (b) The adoption of this amendment shall in no wise effect, limit, modify, abridge or impair the power, authority or right of such municipality to levy and collect the special school taxes now or hereafter vested in or conferred upon it under the Constitution or any amendment thereto. (c) Each election held under the provisions of this amendment shall be ordered, held, canvassed and may be contested in the same manner as is or may be provided by the law applicable to municipal corporations, for elections to order the issuance of municipal bonds. The ballots used at such election shall contain the following words: "For authorization of a continuation of taxation at a rate not to exceed one percent per annum for the purpose of the payment of outstanding bonds, provide for schools, and such other purposes as may be designated by the governing body of said municipality." "Against authorization of a continuation of taxation at a rate not to exceed one percent per annum for the purpose of the payment of outstanding bonds, provide for schools, and such other purposes as may be designated by the governing body of said municipality." The rate of taxation proposed shall be printed upon the ballot in the space indicated therefor and for the year or years in which the proposed rate is to apply, and the purpose or purposes for which said tax is to be used shall likewise be placed in the respective places therefor. The voter shall record his choice either for or against authorization of the proposed rate for the proposed purpose or purposes by placing a cross mark before or after the words expressing his choice. Nothing herein contained shall in any wise change or effect the rights of any holder of bonds of said municipal corporations heretofore issued. Elections in said municipality to order the levy of such tax may be held as often as ordered by the governing body thereof, but when a proposition is submitted to the said municipality hereunder and such proposition is defeated, no second election shall be held in such municipality for one year thereafter. This amendment shall be self-operative without any additional legislation.

Amendment 32 ratified

Tax Elections in Certain School Districts in Lawrence County.

Enon school district, Hendon school district, Oakville school district, Cave Springs school district, Center school district, Piney Grove school district, Shiloh school district and Speake school district in Lawrence county, Alabama, shall each have the right and power by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of such district at an election held for that purpose to levy and collect for the purpose of, acquiring, constructing or repairing of school buildings in such districts or paying for school buildings already built, a tax of not over three mills in any one year, in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law. The election in such district to determine whether or not such tax shall be levied shall be called, held and, conducted as now provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of election to determine whether or not a three mill district school tax shall be levied and collected.

Amendment 33 ratified

Regulation of Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Calhoun and Tuscaloosa Counties.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by the tax assessors, tax collectors, probate judges, circuit clerks, sheriffs, and registers of the chancery courts, and including the right to place any one or all of said officers on a salary and provide for the fees charged and collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, and provide the method and basis of their compensation, or consolidate any of said offices in the following named counties: Calhoun and Tuscaloosa. All acts of the regular session of the legislature 1935 heretofore passed and applicable, or purporting to be applicable, to any or all of said counties, and fixing, or purporting to fix the compensation of said named county officers, on a salary basis, are hereby validated and confirmed.

Amendment 34 ratified

Tax for Malaria Control in Limestone County.

The governing body of Limestone county must levy and collect for use in the control of malaria, in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law, a tax not in excess of one mill on all property situated within the county, based upon the valuation of such property in said county, as assessed for state taxation, provided such tax is authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of said county voting upon such proposition at an election called and held for the purpose of authorizing such tax. Such an election may be called at any time by the governing body of said county and shall be held and conducted and the results canvassed as now provided by law for holding and conducting and canvassing the returns of an election. The proceeds of the tax hereby authorized shall be used exclusively for the control of malaria and shall be expended through the proper fiscal agencies of the county government under the direction of the governing body of Limestone county and the Limestone county department of public health.

Amendment 35 ratified

Amendment of Section 138.

Amendment of Section 138.

Section 138

Election and term of office of sheriffs; sheriff eligible to succeed self; impeachment of sheriff; effect of impeachment of sheriff.

A sheriff shall be elected in each county by the qualified electors thereof who shall hold office for a term of four years unless sooner removed, and he shall be eligible to such office as his own successor. Whenever any prisoner is taken from jail, or from the custody of any sheriff or his deputy, and put to death, or suffers grevious [grievous] bodily harm, owing to the neglect, connivance, cowardice, or other grave fault of the sheriff, such sheriff may be impeached, under section 174 of this Constitution. If the sheriff be impeached, and thereupon convicted, he shall not be eligible to hold any office in this state during the time for which he had been elected or appointed to serve as sheriff.

Amendment 36 ratified

Bonds for Erection, etc., of Jail in Morgan County.

Morgan county may become indebted and may issue bonds therefor in an amount not exceeding $115,000.00 in addition to that now authorized, for the acquiring and paying for additional real property adjoining that where the court house and jail now set and constructing and equipping a jail building in said county. To pay said indebtedness and interest thereon, Morgan county may levy and collect an annual tax on all property situated therein at a rate not in excess of one mill. The indebtedness, the bonds and the tax authorized hereby shall be in addition to those authorized prior to the adoption of this amendment. But no such additional indebtedness shall be incurred, no such bonds shall be issued and no such tax shall be levied until the estimated cost of acquiring and paying for additional real property adjoining that where the court house and jail now set and the cost of the construction and equipping of said jail building in said county hereby proposed to be built, its time of completion, the amount of the increased indebtedness, the rate of interest to be paid thereon and the period over which the bonds to be issued will be refunded, shall have been determined upon and made public by the county governing body of said county; and the proposed increase in indebtedness and the issuance of bonds and the increase in rate of taxation first shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of said county voting upon such proposal at an election to be called by said county governing body for said purpose to be held not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after the adoption of this amendment.

Amendment 37 ratified

Amendment of Section 8. SECTION 8

Proceeding against person by information; grand jury not required in misdemeanor cases; plea of guilty prior to indictment.

No person shall for any indictable offense be proceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in the militia and volunteer forces when in actual service, or when assembled under arms as a military organization, or, by leave of the court, for misfeasance, misdemeanor, extortion and oppression in office, otherwise than is provided in the Constitution; provided, that in cases of misdemeanor, the legislature may by law dispense with a grand jury and authorize such prosecutions and proceedings before justices of the peace or such other inferior courts as may be by law established. Provided further that in all felony cases, except those punishable by capital punishment, the legislature may by law dispense with a grand jury and authorize such prosecutions and proceedings in such manner as may be provided by law if the defendant, after having had the advice of counsel of his choice or in the event he is unable to employ counsel, the advice of counsel which must be appointed by the court, makes known in open court to a judge of a court having jurisdiction of the offense that he desires to plead guilty, provided, however, the defendant cannot plead guilty within fifteen days after his arrest.

Amendment 38 ratified

Amendment of Section 124. SECTION 124

Authority of governor to grant reprieves and commutations to persons under sentence of death; legislature to regulate administration of pardons, paroles, remission of fines and forfeitures, suspension of sentences and probation; pardon not relief from civil and political disabilities unless specifically provided.

The governor shall have power to grant reprieves and commutations to persons under sentence of death. The legislature shall have power to provide for and to regulate the administration of pardons, paroles, remission of fines and forfeitures, and may authorize the courts having criminal jurisdiction to suspend sentence and to order probation. No pardon shall relieve from civil and political disabilities unless specifically expressed in the pardon.

Amendment 39 ratified

Time and Place of Meetings of Legislature; Biennial Sessions; Organizational Sessions; Election of President Pro Tempore of Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives; Maximum Length of Sessions; Compensation and Travel Allowances of Me

Time and Place of Meetings of Legislature; Biennial Sessions; Organizational Sessions; Election of President Pro Tempore of Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives; Maximum Length of Sessions; Compensation and Travel Allowances of Members of Legislature.

All sessions of the legislature shall be held at the capitol in the senate chamber and in the hall of the house of representatives; unless at any time it should from any cause become impossible or dangerous for the legislature to meet or remain at the capitol or for the senate to meet or remain in the senate chamber, or for the representatives to meet or remain in the hall of the house of representatives, in which case the governor may convene the legislature, or remove it after it has convened, to some other place, or may designate some other place for the sitting of the respective houses, or either of them, as necessity may require. The legislature shall convene on the second Tuesday in January next succeeding their election and shall remain in session for not longer than ten consecutive calendar days. No business can be transacted at such sessions except the organization of the legislature, the election of officers and the appointment of standing committees of the senate and the house of representatives for the ensuing four years, which election and appointment may, however, also be made at such other times as may be necessary, the opening and publication of the returns and the ascertainment and declaration of the results of the election for governor, lieutenant-governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education and commissioner of agriculture and industries, the election of such officers in the event of a tie vote, the determination of contested elections for such offices, the judging of the election returns and qualification of the members of the legislature, and the inauguration of the governor and the other elected state officers whose terms of office are concurrent with that of the governor. At the beginning of each such organization session, and at such other times as may be necessary, the senate shall elect one of its members president pro tempore thereof, to preside over its deliberations in the absence of the lieutenant-governor, and the house of representatives shall elect one of its members as speaker, to preside over its deliberations. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall each hold his respective office until his successor has been elected and qualified. The legislature shall convene in regular sessions on the first Tuesday in May of 1943 and on the first Tuesday in May in each second year thereafter, until the date of meeting shall have been changed by act of the legislature and approved by the governor. No such regular session shall continue for longer than sixty consecutive calendar days. No special session of the legislature convened in the manner provided by this Constitution shall continue for longer than thirty consecutive calendar days. The pay of members of the legislature shall be ten dollars for each day during the period in which the legislature is in session but not exceeding in any event the number of calendar days for which the legislature is authorized to be in session. Each member of the legislature shall be paid ten cents per mile in going from his residence to, and in returning to his residence from, the seat of government, to be computed by the nearest usual route traveled, and not more than one such travel allowance shall be paid for each session of the legislature. The provisions of this Constitution in conflict herewith are hereby modified to conform to the provisions of this amendment. The provisions of this amendment shall become effective at the beginning of the term of the members of the legislature elected at the general election in 1942.

Amendment 40 ratified

Amendment of Section 74. SECTION 74

Restrictions on investment of trust funds by executors, trustees, etc., in private corporations.

No act of the legislature shall authorize the investment of any trust fund by executors, administrators, guardians, or other trustees in the stock of any private corporation; any such acts now existing are avoided, saving investments heretofore made; provided, however, that, unless otherwise provided by the legislature, any of said mentioned trust funds may be invested in corporation or institutions, investments in which are guaranteed as to principal by the United States government or insured as to principal by any instrumentality or agency thereof, provided such investments shall not exceed the amount insured by any such instrumentality or agency.

Amendment 41 ratified

Amendment of Section 190. SECTION 190

Duty of legislature to pass laws regulating elections, primary elections and purging of registration lists; provision for use of voting machines.

The legislature shall pass laws not inconsistent with this Constitution to regulate and govern elections and all such laws shall be uniform throughout the state except that the legislature may, by general or local law, permit the use of voting machines or other mechanical devices, for registering, recording and computing the votes at all elections, including primary elections, in any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, under such regulations provided by general law with reference thereto as the legislature may from time to time prescribe; and shall provide by law for the manner of holding elections and of ascertaining the result of the same, and shall provide general registration laws not inconsistent with the provisions of this article for the registration of all qualified electors from and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and three. The legislature shall also make provision by law, not inconsistent with this article, for the regulation of primary elections and for punishing frauds at the same, but shall not make primary elections compulsory. The legislature shall by law provide for purging the registration list of the names of those who died, become insane, or convicted of crime, or otherwise disqualified as electors under the provisions of this Constitution, and of any names which may have been fraudulently entered on such list by the registrars; provided, that a trial by jury may be had on the demand of any person whose name is proposed to be stricken from the list.

Amendment 42 ratified

Bonds to Pay or Retire Alabama Bridge Commission Bonds.

The state of Alabama is hereby authorized to issue not exceeding $900,000 aggregate principal amount of bonds for the purpose of paying or retiring prior to maturity, the bonds of Alabama bridge commission (an agency of the state of Alabama) which were outstanding on July 1, 1939. Said bonds shall be general obligations of the state of Alabama, to the prompt payment of the principal of and interest on which the full faith and credit and taxing power of the state are hereby irrevocably pledged, and all of said bonds, together with any other bonds of the state providing for a pledge of said gasoline excise tax which may be authorized by constitutional amendment ratified on the same day as this amendment is ratified shall be additionally secured, without priority of one bond over another, by a pledge of the proceeds of the gasoline excise tax, authorized to be pledged to the highway bonds provided for in the amendment to the Constitution known as article XXA [Amendment No. 21], subject, however, to the prior pledge of said gasoline tax to said highway bonds. The bonds hereby authorized shall bear interest at not exceeding three per centum (3%) per annum, payable semi-annually, and shall be sold at not less than the par value thereof. Said bonds and the interest thereon shall be forever exempt from taxes of every kind. Said bonds shall be issued at such time or times, in such denominations and series and shall mature at such times, not later, however, than fifteen (15) years from the date of issuance, and shall have such other terms and conditions as may be provided by law.

Amendment 43 ratified

Regulation of Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Etowah and Cherokee Counties.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by the tax assessors, tax collectors, probate judges, circuit clerks, sheriffs, and registers of the equity courts, and including the right to place any one or all of said officers on a salary and provide for the fees charged and collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, and provide the method and basis of their compensation, provided the salary, fees or compensation of any officer named herein shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed, after his election or appointment, in the following named counties: Etowah and Cherokee.

Amendment 44 ratified

Regulation of Salaries, etc., of Officers of Morgan County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the costs and charges of courts, fees, commissions, allowances and salaries to be charged or received by any county officer of Morgan county, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the judge of probate, tax collector, tax assessor, sheriff, circuit clerk, and register, including the method and basis of compensation of such officer, and may provide for the placing of any such officer on a salary and that the fees, costs, and allowances collected by such officer be paid into the county treasury. All acts of the regular or adjourned session of the legislature of Alabama which convened in January, 1939, fixing or purporting to fix the compensation of any such officer on a salary basis are hereby validated and confirmed.

Amendment 45 ratified

Drainage Districts in Colbert County.

The court of county commissioners of Colbert county, Alabama, is authorized to divide said county into drainage districts for the control of malaria, and said county is authorized and empowered to levy and collect in the several districts so formed, for use in the control of malaria, in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law, a special tax of three mills on all taxable property situated in the several drainage districts so formed, based upon the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation, and to be used exclusively for the control of malaria in the drainage district in which the said tax is levied and collected, provided such tax is authorized by a majority of the qualified electors residing in such drainage district voting upon such proposition at an election called and held for the purpose of authorizing such tax, and provided that said tax shall be levied and collected for a period of ten years from the time that it is authorized at the election held in such district. Such an election may be called at any time by the court of county commissioners of said county and shall be held and conducted and the results canvassed as now provided by law for holding and conducting and canvassing the returns of a regular election. The proceeds of the tax hereby authorized shall be used exclusively for the control of malaria in the drainage district in which it is levied and collected and shall be expended through the proper fiscal agencies of the county government under the direction of the governing body of Colbert county, and the Colbert county department of public health.

Amendment 46 ratified

Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers of Dallas County.

The salaries of the following named county officers of Dallas county, Alabama, but subject to the provisions of section 281 of the Constitution of Alabama, are fixed as follows: Judge of probate, $6,000.00 per annum net; tax assessor, $5,000.00 per annum net; tax collector, $5,000.00 per annum net; sheriff, $4,800.00 per annum net; circuit clerk, $2,400.00 per annum net; register in chancery, $1,200.00 per annum net; provided, that if the same person holds the offices of circuit clerk and register in chancery, the salary for both offices shall be $3,000.00 per annum net; members of the county governing body, exclusive of the judge of probate, $600.00 each per annum net. The above named officers are hereby required to collect all charges of court, fees, commissions, allowances, percentages, salaries or other compensation provided by law, other than the salaries herein fixed, and to cover the same into the county treasury. This shall include the allowances or amounts received by the sheriff for feeding prisoners from both the state and federal government, and the county governing body of Dallas county, Alabama, shall pay the expenses incurred in feeding such prisoners out of the county treasury, but nothing herein shall be construed as interfering with the allowances or amounts provided by law for guards at the county jail or bailiffs for courts, or preventing the county governing body of Dallas county, Alabama, from making such allowances to the sheriff and his deputies for transportation on official business, including the purchase of automobiles for such use, as it may deem necessary from time to time. The salaries of the above named county officers of Dallas county, Alabama, shall be paid out of the county treasury in equal monthly installments. The employees of said offices shall be selected by the respective officers, and allowances for their compensation shall be as follows: 1. Office of judge of probate - $6,500 per annum. 2. Office of tax assessor - $3,600.00 per annum. 3. Office of tax collector - $2,600.00 per annum. 4. Office of sheriff - $4,500.00 per annum. 5. Office of circuit clerk - $1,350.00 per annum. 6. Office of register in chancery - None. The county governing body shall have the same authority in regard to the employment of persons for the county, and the fixing of their compensation, other than the employees in the above named offices, as provided by law. The salaries of the employees in the above enumerated offices shall be paid out of the county treasury in equal monthly installments; provided, however, that no payment of compensation for any such employee shall be made until the employee has actually rendered the service for which the payment is to be made. The legislature of Alabama is hereby authorized and empowered, from time to time, by general or local laws, to fix, regulate and alter the employment and compensation of the employees in said offices, including the number and the method and basis of their compensation. The legislature of Alabama is hereby authorized and empowered, from time to time, by general or local laws, but subject to the provisions of section 281 of the Constitution of Alabama, to fix, regulate and alter the charges of court, fees, commissions, allowances, percentages, salaries or other compensation received by any officer of Dallas county, Alabama, other than the judge of probate, tax assessor, tax collector, sheriff, circuit clerk and register in chancery, including the method and basis of their compensation.

Amendment 47 ratified

Fees, Commissions, Salaries, etc., of Sheriff of Mobile County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by general or local laws fix, alter and regulate the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries to be charged or received by the sheriff of Mobile county, and including the right to place said officer on a salary basis and provide that the fees, fines and forfeitures received or collected by said officer be paid into the treasury of Mobile county, Alabama, and to fix and provide the amount and method of compensation of such officer. All acts of the regular session of the legislature of 1939 and 1939-1940 heretofore passed and applicable, or purporting to be applicable to said Mobile county, and fixing, or purporting to fix the basis of compensation and compensation of said officer, or placing said officer on a salary basis, are hereby ratified and confirmed.

Amendment 48 ratified

Fees, Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Houston County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by the tax assessors, tax collectors, probate judges, circuit clerks, sheriffs, and registers of the chancery courts, and including the right to place any one or all of said officers on a salary and provide for the fees charged and collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, and provide the method and basis of their compensation, or consolidate any of said offices in the following named county: Houston. All acts of the regular session of the legislature 1943 heretofore passed and applicable, or purporting to fix the compensation of said named county officers, on a salary basis, are hereby validated and confirmed.

Amendment 49 ratified

Poll Tax Exemption Amendment. SECTION 194 1/2

Exemption of veterans of foreign wars from payment of poll tax.

No person who honorably served in the military service of the United States between January 1, 1917 and November 11, 1918, or between September 16, 1940 and December 8, 1941, or at any time, past or present or future, when the United States was, is or shall be at war with any foreign state, shall be required after the beginning of such service to pay the poll tax specified in the Constitution of Alabama as a prerequisite to the privilege of voting in Alabama; but, on the contrary, every such person shall be exempt from the payment of all poll taxes which have theretofore accrued and have not been paid or which may thereafter accrue; provided, however, that if any such person is discharged dishonorably from said service the exemption herein provided is forfeited, and such dishonorably discharged person, as a prerequisite to the privilege of voting in Alabama thereafter, must pay the poll tax specified in the Constitution of Alabama as if such person had never been in such service. The term "military service" as used in this section includes service in the army of the United States, the United States navy, the marine corps, the coast guard, the women's army auxiliary corps, the women's appointed volunteer emergency service, and the women's reserve of the United States navy. The United States shall not be deemed at war with a foreign state within the meaning of this section at a time when an armistice exists between the United States and the foreign state. The judge of probate shall issue a certificate of exemption to a person exempt from the payment of poll tax by reason of this section under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the governor. This section shall be self-executing and retroactive; but the legislature is authorized to enact laws designed to carry out the purposes of this section.

Amendment 50 ratified

Fees, Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Walker County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by the tax assessor, tax collector, probate judge, circuit clerk, sheriff, and register of the circuit court, and including the right to place anyone or all of said officers on a salary and provide for the fees charged and collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, and provide for the method and basis of their compensation in Walker county, Alabama. No salary fixed under this amendment shall affect the compensation of any officer already elected to either of said offices during the term for which elected, and said salaries, except for the register, shall be fixed at not less than three hundred and not more than five hundred dollars per month. The balance of said fund or savings shall be used for old age pensions in said county.

Amendment 51 ratified

Amendment of Section 251. SECTION 251

Duration of corporations not limited; renewal of existing charters not required.

There shall be no limit of time for the duration of a corporation hereafter organized as a bank or banking company, and it shall not be necessary hereafter to renew or extend the life or charter of any such corporation now existing. And all extensions of the life or charter of any such corporations are hereby ratified and confirmed.

Amendment 52 ratified

Special Tax for Educational Purposes in Cities of Decatur and Cullman and for Hospital Purposes in Morgan County.

A. Notwithstanding the proviso to the contrary in section 269 of this Constitution, the special tax for educational purposes provided for by that section may be levied and collected upon taxable property situated in the city of Decatur (formerly the cities of Decatur and New Decatur). Upon the adoption of this amendment the governing body of Morgan county shall order an election at which the qualified electors of the city of Decatur shall determine whether or not such special tax shall be levied and collected on taxable property in said city. Said election shall be held and determined as now provided by law for determining whether or not the special one mill county school tax shall be levied, and if a majority of the electors participating in said election vote in favor of said levy, said special tax shall be levied upon the taxable property in the city of Decatur during the tax years commencing with the tax year beginning next after said election and ending with the tax year beginning on October 1, 1967, and thereafter said special tax may be levied and collected as is now or hereafter may be provided by law.

B. Morgan county may levy and collect a tax upon all taxable property situated therein at a rate not in excess of ten cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property, which tax shall be used exclusively for the construction, equipping, enlargement, acquisition, repair, or operation of public hospital properties situated in said county owned or proposed to be acquired in said county by the city of Decatur and Morgan county. Said tax shall be in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law, but shall not be levied until it shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of such county voting at an election called by the governing body of said county at which there shall be submitted to a vote the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue, and the purpose or purposes thereof. Such elections may be called and had from time to time, and shall be had, governed and determined under such rules and regulations as the governing body of said county may prescribe. Said tax may be pledged by the governing body of said county to secure payment of any debt incurred by said county or by any public corporation for hospital purposes in said county.

C. Notwithstanding the proviso to the contrary in section 269 of this Constitution, the special tax for educational purposes provided for by that section may be levied upon taxable property situated in the city of Cullman.

Amendment 53 ratified

Public Hospitals and Health Facilities.

The state, notwithstanding section 93 of the Constitution as amended and section 94 of the Constitution, may acquire, build, establish, own, operate and maintain hospitals, health centers, sanatoria and other health facilities. The legislature for such purposes may appropriate public funds and may authorize counties, municipalities and other political subdivisions to appropriate their funds, and may designate or create an agency or agencies to accept and administer funds appropriated or donated for such purposes by the United States government to the state upon such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the United States government.

Amendment 54 ratified

Taxation in Municipality of Haleyville.

The municipal corporation of Haleyville, through its constituted governing authority may levy and collect a rate of taxation on the property situated therein, not exceeding in the total in any one year one per centum of the value of such property as assessed as provided by the Constitution and the statutes now or hereafter enacted pursuant to the Constitution; provided that the adoption of this amendment, shall in no wise affect, limit, modify, abridge or impair the power, authority, or right of said municipal corporation to levy and collect the special school taxes, now or hereafter vested in or conferred upon it under the Constitution or any amendment thereto, which said special school taxes shall be in excess of said one per centum herein provided for.

Amendment 55 ratified

Amendment of Section 181.

Amendment of Section 181.

Persons qualified to register as electors - After January 1, 1903.

After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and three, the following persons, and no others, who, if their place of residence shall remain unchanged, will have, at the date of the next general election, the qualifications as to residence, prescribed in section 178 of this article, shall be qualified to register as electors provided they shall not be disqualified under section 182 of this Constitution: those who can read and write, understand and explain any article of the Constitution of the United States in the English language and who are physically unable to work and those who can read and write, understand and explain any article of the Constitution of the United States in the English language and who have worked or been regularly engaged in some lawful employment, business, or occupation, trade, or calling for the greater part of the twelve months next preceding the time they offer to register, including those who are unable to read and write if such inability is due solely to physical disability; provided, however, no persons shall be entitled to register as electors except those who are of good character and who understand the duties and obligations of good citizenship under a republican form of government.

Amendment 56 ratified

Additional Municipal Taxes.

Each municipal corporation in this state whose annual ad valorem tax rate is otherwise limited by the Constitution or any amendment thereto less than one and one-fourth per centum (1 1/4 %) of the value of the property situated therein as assessed for state taxation during the preceding year shall have, in addition to the power to levy and collect such ad valorem tax each year at the rate authorized immediately prior to the adoption of this amendment, the further power to levy and collect each year an additional tax or taxes to such extent that the total ad valorem tax rate of such municipal corporation shall not exceed one and one-fourth per centum (1 1/4 %) in any one year on the property situated therein based on the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation during the preceding year; provided, that before any such additional tax may be so levied and collected a majority of the qualified electors of any such municipal corporation voting at an election called for that purpose shall vote in favor of the levy thereof; provided further, that the total ad valorem tax or taxes to be levied and collected by any such municipal corporation shall not exceed one and one-fourth per centum (1 1/4 %) in any one year; and provided further, that the adoption of this amendment shall in no wise affect, limit, modify, abridge or impair the power, authority or right of any such municipal corporation to levy and collect the special school taxes now or hereafter vested or conferred upon them, or any of them, under the Constitution or any amendment thereto, which said special school taxes shall be in excess of said one and one-fourth per centum (1 1/4 %) herein provided for. Each election held under the provisions hereof shall be ordered, held, canvassed and may be contested in the same manner as is or may be provided by the law applicable to municipal corporations for elections to authorize the issuance of municipal bonds. The ballots used at such elections shall specify the purpose for which the proposed additional rate of taxation shall be authorized and shall contain the words "For ... % additional rate of taxation"; and "Against ... % additional rate of taxation"; the additional rate of taxation proposed to be shown in the blank space provided therefor. The voter shall record his choice, whether for or against the additional rate shown, by placing a cross mark before or after the words expressing his choice. The proceeds of any such additional tax so authorized at any such election shall be used only for the purpose for which the same shall be authorized at such election. Elections to authorize the levy of such additional tax may be held as often as ordered by the governing body of the municipality, but when a proposition is submitted to the electors to levy such additional tax for a specific purpose and such proposition is defeated then no second election for the same purpose shall be held in one year thereafter.

Amendment 57 ratified

Time and Place of Meetings of Legislature; Biennial Sessions; Organizational Sessions; Election of President Pro Tempore of Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives; Maximum Length of Sessions; Compensation and Travel Allowances of Me

Time and Place of Meetings of Legislature; Biennial Sessions; Organizational Sessions; Election of President Pro Tempore of Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives; Maximum Length of Sessions; Compensation and Travel Allowances of Members of Legislature.

All sessions of the legislature shall be held at the capitol in the senate chamber and in the hall of the house of representatives, unless at any time it should from any cause become impossible or dangerous for the legislature to meet or remain at the capitol, or for the senate to meet or remain in the senate chamber, or for the representatives to meet or remain in the hall of the house of representatives, in which case the governor may convene the legislature, or remove it after it has convened, to some other place, or may designate some other place for the sitting of the respective houses, or either of them, as necessity may require. The legislature shall convene on the second Tuesday in January next succeeding their election and shall remain in session for not longer than ten consecutive calendar days. No business can be transacted at such sessions except the organization of the legislature, the election of officers, the appointment of standing committees of the senate and the house of representatives for the ensuing four years, which election and appointment may, however, also be made at such other times as may be necessary, the opening and publication of the returns and the ascertainment and declaration of the results of the election for governor, lieutenant-governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education, and commissioner of agriculture and industries, the election of such officers in the event of a tie vote, the determination of contested elections for such offices, the judging of the election returns and qualification of the members of the legislature, and the inauguration of the governor and the other elected state officers whose terms of office are concurrent with that of the governor. At the beginning of each such organization session, and at such other times as may be necessary, the senate shall elect one of its members president pro tempore thereof, to preside over its deliberations in the absence of the lieutenant-governor, and the house of representatives shall elect one of its members as speaker, to preside over its deliberations. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall each hold his respective office until his successor has been elected and qualified. The legislature shall convene in regular sessions on the first Tuesday in May of 1947 and on the first Tuesday in May in each second year thereafter, until the date of meeting shall have been changed by act of the legislature and approved by the governor. The legislature shall not remain in session longer than thirty-six days at any such regular session. Special sessions of the legislature convened in the manner provided by this Constitution also shall be limited to thirty-six days. The pay of members of the legislature shall be ten dollars per day. Each member of the legislature shall be paid ten cents per mile in going from his residence to, and in returning to his residence from, the seat of government, to be computed by the nearest usual route traveled; and not more than one such travel allowance shall be paid for each session of the legislature. In addition to his travel allowance, each member of the legislature also shall be allowed expenses, other than actual expenses of traveling, not exceeding an amount to be fixed by the legislature, incurred in the performance of his duties; but such expense allowance shall not be less than the smallest allowance to any other person traveling within the state in the service of the state of Alabama, or any of its agencies, for expenses other than actual expenses of traveling. The provisions of this Constitution in conflict herewith are hereby modified to conform to the provisions of this amendment. The provisions of this amendment shall become effective at the beginning of the term of the members of the legislature elected at the general election in 1946.

Amendment 58 ratified

Amendment of Section 93. SECTION 93

State engaging in internal improvements or lending money or credit for same; state interest in private or corporate enterprises; construction, maintenance, etc., of public roads, highways and bridges, harbors and seaports and public airports and air navigation facilities.

The state shall not engage in works of internal improvement, nor lend money or its credit in aid as such, except as may be authorized by the Constitution of Alabama or amendments thereto; nor shall the state be interested in any private or corporate enterprise, or lend money or its credit to any individual, association, or corporation, except as may be expressly authorized by the Constitution of Alabama, or amendments thereto. When authorized by laws passed by the legislature the state may appropriate funds to be applied to the construction, repair, and maintenance of public roads, highways and bridges in the state. When authorized by appropriate laws passed by the legislature the state may at a cost not exceeding ten million dollars engage in the work of internal improvement, or promoting, developing, constructing, maintaining, and operating all harbors and seaports within the state or its jurisdiction, provided, that such work or improvement shall always be and remain under the management and control of the state, through its state harbor commission, or other governing agency. When authorized by laws passed by the legislature the state may engage in the construction, improvement, repairs and maintenance and operation of public airports, air landing fields and other air navigation facilities in the state of Alabama and may appropriate money or otherwise provide funds for this purpose. The adoption of this amendment shall not affect in any manner any other amendment to the Constitution of Alabama which may be adopted pursuant to any act or resolution of this session of legislature.

Amendment 59 ratified

Additional County Taxes for County Hospitals.

The governing body of any county in the state of Alabama except Mobile and Montgomery county must levy and collect or cause to be collected for use in the acquisition by purchase, lease or otherwise, or for the construction, operation, equipment and maintenance of a county hospital, in addition to all other taxes now authorized by law, a tax, not in excess of ten mills on each one hundred dollars, on all property situated within the county, based upon the valuation of such property in the county as assessed for state taxation, provided such tax is authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting upon such proposition at an election called and held for the purpose of authorizing such tax. Such an election may be called at any time by the governing body of any county in the state, and said governing body must call such election upon a petition being filed with the chairman or any member of said governing body requesting that such an election be called or held when said petition is signed by not less than one hundred qualified electors of the county in which said election is to be held. Said election shall be held and conducted and the results canvassed as now provided by law for holding and conducting and canvassing the returns of an election. The proceeds of the tax hereby authorized must be used exclusively for the purpose of acquiring by purchase, lease, or otherwise, or the construction, equipment, maintenance and operation of said county hospital and shall be expended for said purposes by and under the direction, supervision and control of the county governing body.

Amendment 60 ratified

Debt Limit of Mobile County.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, Mobile county shall continue to have and possess all of the rights, powers and authority granted to it by amendment XVIII [18] of this Constitution and Act Number 246 of the Local Acts of 1927 [p. 151], as the same has been heretofore amended, and shall have and possess the power and authority to become indebted for the construction or erection of public buildings, bridges and roads within the limit prescribed by section 224 of this Constitution; provided, however, that all debts incurred or bonds issued by Mobile county under the provisions of amendment XXIX [29] shall be in addition to the limit fixed by said section 224, and shall not be taken into account or considered in determining or arriving at the debt limit of Mobile county under said section 224, and provided further that the six and one-half percent (6 1/2 %) limitation in amendment XVIII [18] aforesaid shall be construed to refer not to the total amount of bonds issued under authority of the amendment, but to the total amount of bonds so issued which may be outstanding at any one time.

Amendment 61 ratified

Disposition of Income Tax; Exemption of Homesteads From State Ad Valorem Tax.

Section A. The entire proceeds of the income tax in the treasury of the state of Alabama on September 30, 1947, including cash and investments and the interest thereon, shall be used for the following purposes and in the following manner: 1st. The sum of $12,249,860.00 shall be and is hereby set aside and shall be and is hereby constituted an irrevocable trust fund for the purpose of paying the principal of and interest on the bonds issued by the state of Alabama commonly known as "income tax bonds," being the warrant refunding bonds issued to fund the floating debt existing October 1, 1932, which bonds were issued under the authority of Act No. 14 approved February 5, 1935 [Acts 1935, p. 27], and Act No. 50 approved February 8, 1935 [Acts 1935, p. 118]. 2nd. An amount (approximately $6,700,000.00) which, when added to the sinking fund (approximately $1,857,000.00) heretofore created to pay the bonds issued by the state of Alabama, commonly known as the "old bonded debt" and as "carpet bag bonds" together with the interest on said sinking fund accrued on September 30, 1947, shall equal the principal of said bonds in the sum of $8,557,000.00, shall be and is hereby set aside, and together with said sinking fund and the interest thereon, shall be and is hereby constituted an irrevocable trust fund for the purpose of paying the principal of said bonds upon their maturity, said bonds being the class A renewal bonds, class C renewal bonds and funding renewal bonds. That both of the irrevocable trust funds herein created shall be invested in United States government securities by the treasurer of the state of Alabama with the approval of the governor. 3rd. The residue shall be paid over to the building commission created by Act 128 of 1945 General Acts [p. 116] to be expended by said building commission for capital outlay only for educational purposes, provided, however, that not more than twelve per centum of such amount shall be allocated to the institutions of higher learning including the state teachers colleges, and not less than eighty-eight per centum shall be allocated to county and city boards of education on an actual teacher unit basis in accordance with the minimum school program.

Section B. Beginning October 1, 1947, and thereafter, all net proceeds of such tax, plus the earnings from investment of the trust funds, must be used only in the manner and in the order following: (1) To replace the revenue lost to the several funds of the state by reason of the exemption of homesteads from the state ad valorem tax. All homesteads in Alabama are hereby declared to be exempt from all state ad valorem tax to the extent of at least $2,000.00 in assessed value and a sufficient amount is hereby appropriated from the proceeds of the income tax in each fiscal year to replace the revenue lost to the several funds of the state by reason of the homestead exemption herein declared; (2) The residue shall be placed in the state treasury to the credit of the Alabama special education trust fund to be used for the payment of public school teachers salaries only.

Section C. This amendment supersedes the provisions of amendment XXV [25] (article XXII) relating to the disposition of the income tax proceeds insofar as the same are in conflict herewith. All laws relating to the income tax, not in conflict herewith and valid on the date of the ratification of this amendment, are hereby validated and confirmed. The provisions hereof with respect to the creation of funds and the use thereof are declared to be self-executing.

Amendment 62 ratified

Fees, Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Etowah County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by tax assessors, tax collectors, probate judges, circuit clerks, sheriffs, and registers of the chancery courts, including the right to place any one or all said officers on a salary and provide for the fees, allowances or compensation collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, in the following named county: Etowah. All acts of the legislature, heretofore passed or which may be passed by the legislature in special or regular session at any time prior to the adoption of this amendment, and applicable or purporting to be applicable to said county, and fixing or purporting to fix the compensation to said named county officers on a salary basis, are hereby validated and confirmed.

Amendment 63 ratified

Special Tax for Hospital and Public Health Purposes in Montgomery County.

If the tax is authorized by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the county in an election called for that purpose, Montgomery county shall have power to levy and collect a special county tax not exceeding four mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county to be used solely for acquiring, constructing, operating, equipping or maintaining county hospitals or other public hospitals, non-profit hospitals and public health facilities. The board of revenue of said county may within the limit of four mills on each dollar of taxable property propose a rate of taxation sufficient for acquiring, constructing and maintaining such hospitals and facilities and the number of years necessary for such tax to be levied for such purpose, and a rate of taxation to be levied thereafter sufficient to maintain such hospitals or facilities. A county wide election may be called at any time by the board of revenue of said county to be conducted in the manner prescribed by law for general elections, and at which election there shall be submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the county the said tax as proposed by the board of revenue of said county. Such tax must be levied if authorized by vote of the majority of the qualified electors of the county who participate in the election called for that purpose.

Amendment 64 ratified

Fees, Salaries, etc., of Certain Public Officers in Limestone County.

The legislature of Alabama may hereafter from time to time by general or local laws, but subject to the provisions of section 281 of the Constitution of Alabama, fix, regulate and alter the costs, charges of court, fees, commissions, allowances or salaries to be charged or received by the judge of probate, sheriff, tax assessor, tax collector, clerk of the circuit court, and register in chancery of Limestone county, Alabama; may provide the method and basis of compensation of such officers; may fix the terms of office of such officers; and may consolidate any of the offices held by such officers.

Amendment 65 ratified

Special Tax for Hospital and Public Health Purposes in DeKalb County.

If the tax is authorized by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the county who participate in any election called for that purpose, the governing body of DeKalb county must levy and collect, in addition to all other taxes authorized by law, a special county tax, not exceeding four mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county, to be used solely for acquiring, by purchase, lease, or otherwise, constructing, operating, equipping, or maintaining county hospitals, or other public hospitals, non-profit hospitals and public health facilities, or to pay any existing debt or liability incurred by the county for such purposes. An election may be called at any time by the governing body of the county, and must be called within three months of receipt of a petition signed by not less than five per cent of the qualified electors of the county requesting that the election be called. The election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the governing body of the county.

Amendment 66 ratified

License Tax on Selling, etc., of Motor Fuel in Marshall County.

The governing body of Marshall county, when authorized to do so by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting in a referendum held in the manner prescribed by the county governing body, may levy and collect a county privilege license tax from any person engaged within the county in the business of selling or keeping in storage for sale gasoline, woco pep, or any other motor fuel used by self-propelled vehicles, which tax shall not be in excess of three cents per gallon on all gasoline, woco pep, or other motor fuel sold or stored, and the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for construction and maintenance of hard surface farm-to-market roads in the county. The governing body of Marshall county shall hold such referendum not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after the ratification of this amendment; subsequent referenda may be held at intervals of not less than two years.

Amendment 66 ratified

License Tax on Selling, etc., of Motor Fuel in Marshall County.

The governing body of Marshall county, when authorized to do so by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting in a referendum held in the manner prescribed by the county governing body, may levy and collect a county privilege license tax from any person engaged within the county in the business of selling or keeping in storage for sale gasoline, woco pep, or any other motor fuel used by self-propelled vehicles, which tax shall not be in excess of three cents per gallon on all gasoline, woco pep, or other motor fuel sold or stored, and the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for construction and maintenance of hard surface farm-to-market roads in the county. The governing body of Marshall county shall hold such referendum not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after the ratification of this amendment; subsequent referenda may be held at intervals of not less than two years.

Amendment 68 ratified

Calhoun County Special School Tax.

In addition to any taxes now authorized, or that may be hereafter authorized, by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, there is hereby levied a special school tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and in the several school districts of Calhoun county to be used solely for public school purposes; provided such tax and the time it is to continue shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the school district in which such tax is to be collected and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election; otherwise said tax shall not be collected. A special separate election is hereby called on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this Constitutional provision becomes effective, in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and in the several school districts of Calhoun county, at which election the qualified voters in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and in the several school districts of Calhoun county may vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective for a period of thirty years, and if the majority of those voting at said election vote in favor of said special school tax herein referred to, such school tax shall immediately be levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Calhoun county, and, if pledged, paid to the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston; otherwise by him immediately paid to the board of education of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston, for a period of thirty years from the date of said election in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston, and in the several school districts of Calhoun county and a special separate election is likewise hereby called in each other school district in Calhoun county on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this Constitutional provision becomes effective and the qualified electors of each such other school district in Calhoun county shall vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective in their respective districts for a period of thirty years, and where a majority of those voting at said election in any such school district vote in favor of said special school tax such special school tax shall be immediately levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Calhoun county and if pledged, paid to county of Calhoun; otherwise by him immediately paid to the board of education of Calhoun county, for a period of thirty years in any such school district where the majority of such electors voting at said election vote therefor. This section shall be self-executing.

The funds arising from the special school tax to be levied hereunder and to be collected therefrom shall be expended for public school purposes for the exclusive benefit of the school district in which collected with all such tax collected in the city of Jacksonville to be expended in the city of Jacksonville and with all such tax collected in the city of Piedmont to be expended in the city of Piedmont and all such tax collected within the Anniston school district to be expended in the Anniston school district. After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization or authority, as and when requested by the boards of education of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston, the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston shall issue and sell interest bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the funds to be derived from the special school tax hereby levied in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and in the school districts in which the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston are located, for the sole purpose of construction and improvement of school buildings and the acquiring of sites therefor; provided, said net proceeds of said bonds shall immediately be paid to the boards of education of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and said bonds shall not be issued for a longer period than thirty years, and said funds to be derived from said special school tax may be pledged by the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston for the payment of said bonds and the interest thereon, and provided that said bonds shall not be a general obligation of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston or of Calhoun county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston or of Calhoun county. After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization or authority, as and when requested by the board of education of Calhoun county, Calhoun county shall issue and sell interest bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the funds to be derived from the special school tax hereby levied in each school district in Calhoun county, other than in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and the school districts in which the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston are located, for the sole purpose of the construction and improvement of public school buildings and the acquiring of sites therefor; provided, the net proceeds of said bonds shall immediately be paid to the board of education of Calhoun county and that said bonds shall not be issued for longer than thirty years and said funds arising from said school tax may be pledged by Calhoun county for the payment of said bonds and interest thereon and provided that said bonds shall not be a general obligation of Calhoun county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of Calhoun county.

Except as herein otherwise provided the elections hereinabove provided for shall be called, held, and conducted as provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of district school tax elections. The governing bodies of the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston shall appoint and designate the officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate, and declare the result of the elections provided for in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and in the school districts in which the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston are located. The governing body of Calhoun county shall appoint and designate the election officers, managers, clerks, and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate, and declare the result of the elections as to any and all school districts in Calhoun county, other than in the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston and the school districts in which the cities of Jacksonville, Piedmont and Anniston are located. All such elections shall otherwise be conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared as general elections are conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared in Alabama.

Amendment 69 ratified

Special Tax for Hospital Purposes in Marion County.

The governing body of Marion county shall have the power to levy and collect a special county tax not exceeding four mills on each dollar's worth of taxable property situated within the county, based upon the valuation of such property as assessed for state taxation, the proceeds of such tax to be used solely for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, enlarging, repairing, improving, equipping, furnishing, operating, or maintaining a county hospital or public hospital facilities in the county for which federal funds have been or may be provided.

Amendment 70 ratified

Special Tax for Hospital and Public Health Purposes in Escambia County.

If the tax is authorized by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of Escambia county who participate in any election called for that purpose, the governing body of said county must levy and collect, in addition to all other taxes authorized by law, a special county tax, not exceeding four mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county, to be used solely for acquiring, by purchase, lease, or otherwise, constructing, operating, equipping, or maintaining county hospitals, or other public hospitals, non-profit hospitals and public health facilities. An election may be called at any time by the governing body of the county, and must be called within three months of receipt of a petition, signed by not less than five percent of the qualified electors of the county, requesting that the election be called. The election shall be conducted in the manner which the governing body of the county prescribes.

Amendment 71 ratified

Tuscaloosa County Special School Tax.

In addition to any taxes now authorized, or that may be hereafter authorized, by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, there is hereby levied a special school tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the several school districts of Tuscaloosa county, to be used solely for public school purposes, provided such tax, and the time it is to continue, shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the school district in which such tax is to be collected and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election; otherwise said tax shall not be collected. A special separate election is hereby called on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this constitutional provision becomes effective, in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the school district in Tuscaloosa county of which the city of Tuscaloosa is a part at which election the qualified voters in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the school district in Tuscaloosa county of which the city of Tuscaloosa is a part may vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective for a period of thirty years, and if the majority of those voting at said election vote in favor of said special school tax herein referred to, such school tax shall immediately be levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Tuscaloosa county and, if pledged, paid to the city of Tuscaloosa; otherwise by him immediately paid to the board of education of the city of Tuscaloosa, for a period of thirty years from the date of said election in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the school district of which the city of Tuscaloosa is a part, and a special separate election is likewise hereby called in each other school district in Tuscaloosa county on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this constitutional provision becomes effective and the qualified electors of each such other school district in Tuscaloosa county shall vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective in their respective districts for a period of thirty years, and where a majority of those voting at said election in any such school district vote in favor of said special school tax such special school tax shall be immediately levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Tuscaloosa county and, if pledged, paid to the county of Tuscaloosa; otherwise by him immediately paid to the board of education of Tuscaloosa county, for a period of thirty years in any such school district where a majority of such electors voting at said election vote therefor. This section shall be self-executing.

The funds arising from the special school tax to be levied hereunder and to be collected therefrom shall be expended for public school purposes for the exclusive benefit of the school district in which collected with all such tax collected in the city of Tuscaloosa to be expended in the city of Tuscaloosa. After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization or authority, as and when requested by the board of education of the city of Tuscaloosa, the city of Tuscaloosa shall issue and sell interest bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the funds to be derived from the special school tax hereby levied in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the school district in which the city of Tuscaloosa is located, for the sole purpose of the construction and improvement of school buildings and the acquiring of sites therefor; provided, said net proceeds of said bonds shall immediately be paid to the board of education of the city of Tuscaloosa and said bonds shall not be issued for a longer period than thirty years, and said funds to be derived from said special school tax may be pledged by the city of Tuscaloosa for the payment of said bonds and the interest thereon, and provided that said bonds shall not be a general obligation of the city of Tuscaloosa or of Tuscaloosa county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of the city of Tuscaloosa or of Tuscaloosa county. After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization or authority, as and when requested by the board of education of Tuscaloosa county, Tuscaloosa county shall issue and sell interest-bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the funds to be derived from the special school tax hereby levied in each school district in Tuscaloosa county, other than in the city of Tuscaloosa and the school district in which the city of Tuscaloosa is located, for the sole purpose of the construction and improvement of public school buildings and the acquiring of sites therefor; provided the net proceeds of said bonds shall immediately be paid to the board of education of Tuscaloosa county and that said bonds shall not be issued for longer than thirty years and said funds arising from said school tax may be pledged by Tuscaloosa county for the payment of said bonds and interest thereon and provided that said bonds shall not be a general obligation of Tuscaloosa county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of Tuscaloosa county.

Except as herein otherwise provided the elections hereinabove provided for shall be called, held and conducted as provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of district school tax elections. The governing body of the city of Tuscaloosa shall appoint and designate the officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate and declare the result of the elections provided for in the city of Tuscaloosa and in the school district in which the city of Tuscaloosa is located. The governing body of Tuscaloosa county shall appoint and designate the election officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate and declare the result of, the elections as to any and all school districts in Tuscaloosa county other than in the city of Tuscaloosa and the school district in which the city of Tuscaloosa is located. All such elections shall otherwise be conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared as general elections are conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared in Alabama.

Amendment 72 ratified

Special Tax for Hospital and Public Health Purposes in Counties Except Mobile, Montgomery and Jefferson.

If the tax is authorized by vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the county who participate in any election called for that purpose, the governing body of every county except Mobile, Montgomery and Jefferson counties must levy and collect, in addition to all other taxes authorized by law, a special county tax, not exceeding four mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county to be used solely for acquiring, by purchase, lease, or otherwise, constructing, operating, equipping, or maintaining county hospitals, or other public hospitals, non-profit hospitals and public health facilities. An election may be called at any time by the governing body of the county, and must be called within three months of receipt of a petition, signed by not less than five percent of the qualified electors of the county, requesting that the election be called. The election shall be conducted in the manner which the governing body of the county prescribes.

Amendment 73 ratified

Jefferson County Sewer Bonds.

In addition to any indebtedness now authorized, Jefferson county may become indebted and may issue bonds therefor in an amount not exceeding 3 percent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in said county in order to pay the expenses of constructing, improving, extending and repairing sewers and sewerage treatment and disposal plants in said county. Said bonds shall be general obligations of Jefferson county but shall also be payable primarily from and secured by a lien upon the sewer rentals or service charges, which shall be levied and collected in an amount sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such bonds, replacements, extensions and improvements to, and the cost of operation and maintenance of, the sewers and sewerage treatment and disposal plants. Such sewer rentals or service charges shall be levied upon and collected from the persons and property whose sewerage is disposed of or treated by the sewers or the sewerage treatment or disposal plants and whether served by the part of the sewer system then being constructed, improved, or extended or by some other part of such system; and such charges or rentals shall be a personal obligation of the occupant of the property the sewerage from which is disposed of by such sewers or treated in such plants and shall also be a lien upon such property, enforceable by a sale thereof.

Before issuing any bonds or levying or collecting any such sewer service charges or rentals, the proposal shall first be submitted to and approved by a majority of the voters of the county voting at an election to be called by the governing body thereof. Notice of such election shall be given by publication once a week for four successive weeks immediately prior to such election in a newspaper published and of general circulation in Jefferson county. Such notice and the ballot shall set forth the purpose for which the bonds are proposed to be issued, the estimated cost of the proposed undertaking, the amount of bonds to be issued, the serial maturities thereof, and the maximum rate of interest such bonds are to bear, and a recital that the proposal includes the levying of sewer service charges or rentals to be secured by liens upon the property served. Such elections shall in all respects not herein otherwise provided be conducted and the results thereof ascertained and declared in accordance with the law then in force relating to county bond elections. If at any such election a majority of the voters vote in favor of the proposed undertaking and the bonds, the bonds so voted may be issued at one time or from time to time as the governing body of the county shall deem advisable.

With the prior approval of the governing body of any incorporated municipality therein, Jefferson county may take over, own, possess, control, expand, improve, maintain and operate any sewers or sewerage treatment or disposal plants of such incorporated municipality or, if such incorporated municipality has no sewers, Jefferson county may construct sewers therein. Such sewers and plants shall thereupon become a part of a combined and consolidated sewer system for Jefferson county.

The governing body of Jefferson county shall have full power and authority to manage, operate, control and administer the sewers and plants herein provided for and, to that end, may make any reasonable and nondiscriminatory rules and regulations fixing rates and charges, providing for the payment, collection and enforcement thereof, and the protection of its property. Liens for sewer rentals or service charges shall be foreclosed in such manner as may be provided by law for foreclosing municipal assessments for public improvements. This amendment is self-executing.

The authority to issue bonds shall cease December 31, 1958. The authority to levy and collect sewer charges and rentals shall be limited to such charges as will pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and the reasonable expense of extending, improving, operating and maintaining said sewers and plants; and when the bonds shall have been paid off, service charges and rentals shall be accordingly reduced, it being the intent and purpose of this amendment that the expenses of needed improvements and extensions and maintenance and operation of the sewers and sewerage treatment and disposal plants and no other expenditures shall be paid from such service charges and rentals.

Amendment 74 ratified

Bonds for State Board of Health Hospitals and District Tuberculosis Sanitoria.

(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution of the state of Alabama, or any amendment thereto heretofore adopted, the governor shall from time to time issue negotiable interest bearing bonds for the purposes and in the manner and subject to the limitations stated in this amendment. The bonds shall be the general obligation of the state of Alabama and the full faith and credit and taxing power of the state are hereby pledged to the punctual payment of the bonds and the interest thereon. The aggregate principal amount of all bonds issued hereunder shall not exceed two million dollars ($2,000,000) and they shall mature within ten years from the date of issuance.

The proceeds from the sale of such bonds are hereby appropriated and shall be used solely for the construction of hospitals and hospital facilities pursuant to Act No. 211, S. 107, approved July 7, 1945 (General Acts of Alabama, 1945, page 330), or any act supplemental thereto or amendatory thereof; provided, that the funds appropriated hereby shall be used only for the construction of hospitals, clinics, or health centers under contracts which have been or are let on or after May 1, 1949, and that the funds shall be used to match federal funds available for hospital, clinic or health center purposes, and that the local governments in the area where each hospital, clinic or health center is to be built shall contribute at least as much money for the construction as does the state; and provided further that the state shall not contribute more than three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) to the construction of any one hospital, clinic or health center.

In determining where a hospital, clinic or health center to be constructed with the funds appropriated herein shall be located, first consideration shall be given to communities which have no hospital, clinic or health center facilities. Each county having no hospital, clinic or health center facilities shall be entitled to an allotment of not less than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) for such facilities if application is made therefore before January 1 of each year. Any funds available for hospital, clinic or health center facilities remaining on January 1 of each year after allotments have been made to those counties having no such facilities and having not already received an allotment and which have made application therefor may be allotted to those counties having such facilities which have made application therefor. However, counties receiving prior allotments hereunder shall not be precluded from receiving a larger allotment or an additional allotment at the discretion of the state board of health.

District tuberculosis sanitoria in the districts set up in Act No. 287, S. 22, approved July 7, 1945 [Acts 1945, p. 474], shall be eligible for construction under the provisions of this amendment, and 25 percent of the proceeds from the sale of bonds authorized by this amendment shall be reserved for the construction of tuberculosis sanitoria; provided, at the end of each calendar year funds not obligated for either general or tuberculosis hospital construction may be used during the next year for either type construction; and provided further, that the local governments or authorities in the area where the sanitorium is to be built shall contribute at least as much money as does the state. A sum not to exceed forty thousand dollars ($40,000) may be used by the state board of health for hospital administration for each of the two (2) years ending in 1950, and 1951; this appropriation shall be cumulative.

(b) All bonds issued hereunder and interest thereon shall be payable from any funds in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated. The bonds shall be payable in substantially equal installments of principal and interest beginning in the next fiscal year after their date; they shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding two percent per annum payable semi-annually; and they shall contain a provision for their call for payment at such a time or times prior to maturity, and at such a premium, if any, as the governor may prescribe. All bonds issued hereunder shall be sold to the highest bidder at a duly advertised public sale, on sealed bids or at auction, and shall not be sold for less than par and accrued interest; provided, bidders may be invited to name the rate of interest which the bonds are to bear, in which case the bonds shall not be sold at a price which would yield more than two percent according to standard bond tables, taking into account the discount and call privilege.

Amendment 75 ratified

Bonds, etc., for Hospital Purposes or Health Facilities in Marion County.

The provisions of section 224 of the Constitution of Alabama notwithstanding, the governing body of Marion county, Alabama, is hereby authorized to issue bonds, warrants, or other evidences of indebtedness and to pledge in payment of the principal and interest due upon any such bonds, warrants, or other evidences of indebtedness, only the proceeds derived, or to be derived, from any special county privilege, license or excise taxes heretofore or hereafter levied and collected within Marion county, Alabama, for the sole and exclusive purpose of constructing, equipping, operating, maintaining or improving public hospitals or related hospital or health facilities, including clinics, nursing homes, public health centers and laboratory facilities, or for such other public purposes of any kind and description as in the judgment of the governing body of the county of Marion is meet and proper. The proceeds derived from the sale of such bonds, warrants, or other evidences of indebtedness, may be used by the governing body of Marion county for any or all of the purposes enumerated herein, and no other. The bonds, warrants, or other evidences of indebtedness issued and sold under the provisions of this amendment may be interest bearing bonds, warrants, or other evidences of indebtedness with maturity date fixed at any time within thirty years next succeeding the date of issuance of such securities.

The tax levied and the method of collection provided therefor by Act No. 115 approved June 22, 1949 [Acts 1949, p. 139], levying in Marion county, Alabama, and additional special privilege or license taxes and excise taxes be and the same hereby is in all things validated and confirmed, any provision or provisions of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 to the contrary notwithstanding.

Amendment 76 ratified

Special County Tax for Public Hospital Purposes.

This amendment shall apply in all counties except Mobile and Jefferson counties. The term "public hospital purposes" as used in this amendment shall be construed to include the acquisition by purchase, lease, or otherwise, and the construction, equipment, operation, and maintenance of public hospital facilities. The term "public hospital facilities" as used in this amendment shall be construed to include public hospitals, public clinics, public health centers, nurses' homes and training facilities, and related public health facilities of any kind.

If a majority of the qualified electors of any county in the state, except Mobile and Jefferson counties, who participate in an election held therein pursuant to the provisions of any amendment to the Constitution heretofore adopted shall vote at such election in favor of the levy and collection of a special county tax, within the limitations provided in such amendment, for any one or more of the purposes included within the meaning of the term public hospital purposes, the proceeds derived from the tax authorized at such election may be applied for any one or more of the purposes for which said tax may be so voted. Whenever the tax shall be voted the governing body of the county may anticipate the proceeds therefrom for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall be voted by issuing, without further election, interest bearing tax anticipation bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said county payable solely from and secured by a pledge of not exceeding 75% of the annual proceeds from said tax received by the county.

The governing body of each county in which the said tax may be voted shall have the further power to designate as the agency of the county to acquire, construct, equip, operate and maintain public hospital facilities any public corporation heretofore or hereafter organized for hospital purposes in the county under any general law heretofore or hereafter enacted by the legislature. When a public corporation shall be so designated, the proceeds of said tax thereafter collected shall be paid over to it and shall be used by it for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted; provided, that payment of the proceeds of said tax to said public corporation shall be made only to such extent as will not result in the impairment of the obligation of any contract theretofore made with respect to said tax. Said public corporation may anticipate the proceeds from said tax so required to be paid to it by issuing, for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted, the bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said public corporation, and may pledge for the payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon not exceeding 75% of the annual proceeds from said tax so paid to it.

Each county in which the tax shall be voted, and in the event a public corporation shall have been designated as the agency of such county pursuant to the provisions hereof then said public corporation, shall have the power to contract with any other county or similar public corporation with respect to the acquisition by purchase, lease, or otherwise, and the construction, equipment, operation, and maintenance of public hospital facilities outside of the county and within any zone or region of which the county may be a part, and which may have heretofore been established or may hereafter be established for public hospital purposes by the legislature or by any agency designated by it, the obligations of such contract to be payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax; provided, that the proceeds of said tax shall not be used outside of the county for any purpose for which the proceeds could not be used in the county, and shall not be used with respect to public hospital facilities located outside of the county if the tax is voted specifically for public hospital facilities located in the county.

No securities issued or contracts made by a county under the authority of this amendment, which are payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax, and no securities issued or contracts made by any such public corporation, whether or not issued or made under the authority of this amendment, shall be construed to be bonds of the county or of a political subdivision thereof within the meaning of section 222 of the Constitution, or construed to create or constitute an indebtedness of the county within the meaning of section 224 of the Constitution. Said securities shall be construed to be negotiable instruments notwithstanding the fact that they may be payable solely from a limited source. All pledges of said tax and all contracts made with respect thereto pursuant to the provisions of this amendment shall take precedence in the order in which they are made and shall create a charge on the proceeds of said tax prior to the expenses of operating and maintaining any public hospital facilities.

In each instance in which a special county tax for any one or more of the purposes included within the meaning of the term "public hospital purposes" has heretofore been authorized at an election held in a county pursuant to the provisions of any amendment to the Constitution heretofore adopted, all provisions of this amendment shall be applicable in said county to the same extent as if said election had been held after the adoption of this amendment.

This amendment shall be self-executing.

Amendment 77 ratified

Special School Tax in St. Clair County.

In addition to all taxes now or hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, there is hereby levied and shall be collected a special school tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in St. Clair county, the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for public school purposes; provided, the time the tax is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the county and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election. The election provided for herein shall be called, held, conducted, paid for, and governed otherwise in the manner provided for an election on the school district tax authorized in amendment III [3], article XIX of the Constitution of Alabama, by article 7, chapter 10, Title 52 of the Code of Alabama (1940). The collection of the tax and the use of the proceeds shall also be governed by the applicable provisions of article 7, chapter 10, Title 52 of the Code of Alabama (1940).

Amendment 78 ratified

Cherokee County Special School District Tax.

In addition to any taxes now authorized or that may be hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, the several school districts of Cherokee county, Alabama, shall have the power to levy and collect a special district tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in such districts for public school purposes; provided, that the time during which such tax is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors in each such district and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election, the election to be held in the same manner as now provided by law for an election on the school district tax authorized in article XIX of the Constitution of Alabama. The funds arising from such special tax levied in any district which votes the same independently of the county shall be expended for the exclusive benefit of the district as the law may direct.

Amendment 79 ratified

Special School District in Lawrence County.

The board of education of Lawrence county may designate and establish a special school district within the school district in which the municipality of Courtland is located, and it may become indebted and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the construction and equipment of a school building within said district. To pay said indebtedness, and the interest thereon, Lawrence county may levy and collect an annual tax on all property situated within said district, at a rate not in excess of five mills; provided, whenever enough has been collected to retire the bonds and pay the interest thereon the tax will cease and any surplus remaining will revert to the Courtland school district. The indebtedness, the bonds, and the tax herein authorized shall be in addition to those heretofore authorized; but no such additional indebtedness shall be incurred, no such bonds shall be issued, and no such tax shall be levied, until the estimated cost of constructing and equipping said school building hereby proposed to be built, its time of completion, and the amount of the increased indebtedness, the rate of interest to be paid thereon, and the period over which the bonds to be issued will be refunded, shall have been determined upon and made public by the board of education of said county, and the proposed increase in indebtedness and the issuance of bonds and the increase in the rate of taxation shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of said special school district voting upon such proposal at an election to be called by the county governing body for said purposes, said election to be held not less than sixty (60) nor more than one hundred twenty (120) days after the adoption of this amendment. The election provided for herein shall be called, held, and conducted as three-mill school tax elections are held pursuant to article 7, chapter 10, Title 52 of the Code of Alabama (1940).

Amendment 80 ratified

Huntsville Special School Tax.

(A) In addition to any taxes now authorized, or that may be hereafter authorized, by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, there is hereby levied a special school tax of fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in the school tax district of the city of Huntsville in Madison county to be used solely for public school purposes; provided such tax and the time it is to continue shall have been first submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the said school tax district in which such tax is to be collected and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election, otherwise said tax shall not be collected. A special separate election is hereby called on the first Tuesday after sixty days following the date this amendment becomes effective in the school tax district of the city of Huntsville in Madison county, at which election the qualified voters in the said school tax district of Madison county may vote as to whether said special school tax herein levied shall be effective; and if the majority of those voting at said election vote in favor of said special school tax such school tax shall immediately be levied and collected annually thereafter on the first day of October by the tax collector of Madison county and paid to the city of Huntsville. The proceeds of the tax are hereby pledged solely to the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds hereinafter provided for. This section shall be self-executing.

(B) After said tax has been voted, and without further authorization the city of Huntsville shall issue and sell interest bearing bonds with principal and interest to be paid from the proceeds of the tax herein levied. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and improving school buildings and acquiring sites therefor; provided, the net proceeds of the bonds shall be paid immediately to the board of education of the city of Huntsville. The principal amount of the bonds shall in no event exceed the sum of five hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($575,000). All bonds issued hereunder shall be payable in annual installments, the first of which shall be payable not more than two years after the date of the bonds, and the last within the period of usefulness of the improvements for which the bonds are issued. Such bonds shall be callable at any time upon the payment of the principal amount thereof plus a premium equal to one year's interest thereon. The bonds shall not be a general obligation of the city of Huntsville or of Madison county and shall not be charged to the constitutional debt limit of the city of Huntsville or Madison county.

(C) If sufficient revenue has been produced by the tax levied in paragraph (A) of this amendment to pay the principal amount of the bonds issued hereunder with interest thereon prior to the expiration of the period for which the tax was levied, the tax shall immediately cease and shall no longer be collected or enforced, and the bonds shall be redeemed forthwith.

(D) Except as herein otherwise provided the election hereinabove provided for shall be called, held and conducted as provided by law for calling, holding and conducting of district school tax elections. The governing body of the city of Huntsville shall appoint and designate the officers, managers, clerks and returning officers and shall call, canvass, tabulate, and declare the result of the election provided for in the city of Huntsville. The election shall otherwise be conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared as general elections are conducted, held, canvassed, tabulated and the results declared in Alabama.

Amendment 81 ratified

Establishing or Abolishing Branch Courthouse or Division or Branch of Court of Record.

After the ratification of this amendment, the legislature shall not establish any branch courthouse or any division or branch of any court of record to be held at any place other than the county seat, nor shall the legislature abolish any branch courthouse now existing or abolish any division or branch of any court of record now existing, unless such proposal be first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county or counties to be affected and is approved by a majority of those voting upon such proposition.

Amendment 82 ratified

Jefferson County Consolidation School Tax Amendment.

Jefferson county shall have power to levy and collect an additional tax of 50 cents on each $100 of taxable property therein for public school purposes in the same manner and subject to the same election requirements as are now provided in the third amendment to this Constitution with respect to county school taxes; provided that in any incorporated municipality where special or additional taxes are being levied and collected for public school purposes, including the servicing of debts incurred for public schools, the additional tax herein provided for shall be reduced by the amount of such special or additional municipal public school taxes in the corporate limits where such special or additional municipal public school taxes are being levied and collected and during the time such taxes are levied and collected; and provided further that only qualified electors residing within the area in which the additional tax herein authorized is proposed to be levied shall have the right to vote at any election held for the purpose of voting such additional tax, and qualified voters residing in incorporated municipalities which are levying and collecting a full tax of 50 cents on each $100 of taxable property for public school purposes shall not be entitled to vote at such election. So long as the public schools in any incorporated municipality are operated separately from those of Jefferson county, the funds arising from such additional tax on taxable property in such municipality shall be expended only by the board of education or other authority charged with the operation of the public schools in such municipality and only for the benefit of the public schools therein. The additional tax herein authorized shall be in addition to the county and the district school taxes authorized in section 269 of and the third amendment to this Constitution and in addition to the county taxes authorized in section 215 thereof. All statutes relating to the holding of elections and the levy and collection of taxes in counties under the third amendment to this Constitution, with the exception hereinabove provided, shall apply.

Amendment 83 ratified

Vacancies in Office of Judge of Circuit Court Holding at Birmingham.

All vacancies in the office of judge of the circuit court holding at Birmingham which shall occur subsequent to January 15, 1951 shall be filled in the manner and for the time as herein provided.

The Jefferson county judicial commission is hereby created for the purpose of nominating to the governor persons for appointment to such a vacancy. The members of such commission shall be (a) two persons who are members of the Alabama state bar, and (b) two persons who are not members of the Alabama state bar, and (c) one judge of the circuit court holding at Birmingham.

All members of such commission must reside in the territorial jurisdiction of the circuit court holding at Birmingham.

The two members of such commission who are required to be members of the Alabama state bar shall be elected by the members of such bar who are regularly licensed and qualified to practice law in this state and who reside in the territorial jurisdiction of the circuit court holding at Birmingham. The executive committee of the Birmingham bar association or its successor body in such capacity, is authorized and directed to make rules, not inconsistent with this amendment, for the election of such members of such commission as are required to be members of the Alabama state bar. Such executive committee shall certify in writing to the probate judge of Jefferson county the names of the persons elected as members of such commission by such members of such bar.

The senator and representatives in the Alabama legislature from Jefferson county shall elect the two members of such commission who are required not to be members of the Alabama state bar. Such senator and representatives shall certify in writing to such probate judge the names of the persons elected by them as such members.

The judges of the circuit court holding at Birmingham shall elect the member of such commission who is required to be a judge of such circuit court. The judges of such circuit court shall certify in writing to such probate judge the name of the circuit judge elected by such circuit judges as such member.

The terms of office of all members of such commission shall be six years, except that the terms of office of the two members of the state bar first elected shall be for one and two years respectively, and of the two members first elected by the senator and representatives in the Alabama legislature from Jefferson county shall be for three and four years respectively, and the term of the circuit judge elected by the circuit judges shall be for five years; the length of such terms of office of the members of such commission being indicated by the respective electing bodies. The terms of the initial members of such commission shall begin on January 16, 1951. A vacancy in the office of a member of such commission shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as such member was originally chosen.

The probate judge of Jefferson county shall record all such certificates of election and shall safely and permanently keep the original certificates. Forthwith upon his receipt and recordation of every such certificate, he shall send to the governor a certified copy of every such certificate.

No member of such commission shall be eligible to succeed himself as such member or for nomination to the governor for appointment as judge of such circuit court during the term of office for which such member shall have been selected.

The members of such commission shall not receive any salary or other compensation for their services as such members. No member of such commission other than the member required to be a judge of the circuit court shall hold any public office, and no member of such commission shall hold any official position in any political party.

If, subsequent to January 15, 1951, a vacancy occurs in the office of judge of the circuit court holding at Birmingham, such commission shall nominate to the governor three persons having the qualifications for such office. Such nomination shall be made only by the concurrence of a majority of the members of such commission. The governor shall appoint to the office in which the vacancy exists one of the three persons so nominated for such office. The appointee shall hold such office until the next general election for any state officer held at least six months after the vacancy occurs and until his successor is elected and qualified; the successor shall hold office for the unexpired term and until his successor is elected and qualified.

This amendment shall be self-executing.

Amendment 84 ratified

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Economic Development of Municipalities in Marion County.

Any provision of the Constitution or laws of the state of Alabama to the contrary notwithstanding, any municipality in Marion county, or any one or more of them, shall have full and continuing power and authority, without any election or approval other than the approval of its governing body, to do any one or more of the following:

1. To purchase, construct, lease, or otherwise acquire real property, plants, buildings, factories, works, facilities, machinery and equipment of any kind.

2. To lease, sell for cash or on credit, exchange, or give and convey any such property described in subdivision 1 above, to any person, firm, association or corporation.

3. To promote local industrial, commercial or agricultural development and the location of new industries or businesses therein.

4. To become a stockholder in any corporation, association or company.

5. To lend its credit or to grant public moneys and things of value in aid of, or to, any individual, firm, association, or corporation whatsoever.

6. To become indebted and to issue and sell interest-bearing bonds, warrants (which may be payable from funds to be realized in future years), notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness, to a principal amount not exceeding fifty percent of the assessed value of taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in order to secure funds for the purchase, construction, lease or acquisition of any of the property described in subdivision 1 above or to be used in furtherance of any of the other powers or authorities granted in this amendment. Such obligations or evidences of indebtedness may (in addition to any pledge or pledges authorized by subdivision 8 of this amendment) be issued upon the full faith and credit of the municipality or may be limited as to the source of their payment.

7. To levy and collect annually, in addition to all other taxes now authorized or permitted, a special tax or taxes of not exceeding two percent on the value of all taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in the same manner as other county or municipal taxes are levied and collected. Such tax may be upon all property in any municipality in Marion county or upon all property in any district the boundaries of which the governing body of such municipality shall describe and which it shall determine to be specially improved and benefited by any proposed use or expenditure of the proceeds of such tax.

8. To pledge to the payment of any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness the annual proceeds from any such special tax or taxes and to obligate itself irrevocably to continue to levy and collect such taxes annually until such obligations or evidences of indebtedness are paid in full and to pledge thereto any rental or sales proceeds of property leased or sold by it.

9. To create a public authority or corporation having such powers, managed and governed by such board or governing body and subject to such limitations as the governing body of any municipality in Marion county may impose, by approving and filing a certificate to that effect in the office of the judge of probate or the secretary of state, or their respective successors in function, and to delegate to such public authority or corporation and its board or governing body all powers and authority conferred in this amendment upon any such municipality.

The recital in any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness that they were issued pursuant to this amendment or that they were issued to provide funds to be used in furtherance of any power or authority herein authorized or that any special tax herein authorized has been pledged to the payment thereof shall be conclusive; no purchaser or holder thereof need inquire further; and the levy and collection of such tax shall continue until the principal of and interest on such obligations or evidences of indebtedness shall have been paid in full. The bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness issued hereunder shall not be considered an indebtedness of any municipality in Marion county for the purpose of determining the borrowing capacity of such municipality under sections 224 and 225 of the Constitution; and the taxes herein authorized shall be in addition to those provided for or permitted in sections 215 and 216 of the Constitution and all amendments thereto.

This amendment shall be self-executing; but the legislature shall have the right and power by general, special or local act to adopt laws supplemental to this amendment or in furtherance of the purposes and objectives hereinabove set forth.

Amendment 85 ratified

Court Costs and Charges, Fees, Salaries, etc., of Officers in Talladega County.

The legislature may from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, alter, and regulate the costs and charges of courts in Talladega county, and the fees, commissions, percentages, allowances, or salary of, and the method of compensating any officer of Talladega county.

Amendment 86 ratified

Special School Tax in Monroe County.

In addition to any taxes now authorized or that may be hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, the several school districts of Monroe county, Alabama shall have the power to levy and collect a special district tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in such districts for school purposes; provided, that the levying of such tax and the time during which it is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors in each such district and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election; and further provided that such election shall be held in the same manner as now provided for an election on the school district tax authorized in article XIX of the Constitution of Alabama; and be it further provided that the funds arising from the special school tax levied in any district which votes the same independently of the county shall be expended for the exclusive benefit of the district as the law may direct.

Amendment 87 ratified

Bond Issue for Acquiring, etc., Public Roads, Highways and Bridges in Conjunction With United States.

The state is authorized to appropriate funds, and to sell and issue interest-bearing state bonds, in addition to those heretofore authorized and sold, in an aggregate principal amount not exceeding $25,000,000 for the purpose of aiding in the acquisition, construction, and improvement of public roads, highways, and bridges in the state; provided, that the proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds issued under the provisions of this amendment may be used only for supplying the state's share of the cost of acquiring, constructing, and improving public roads, highways, and bridges in the state in conjunction with the United States and toward the cost of which funds have heretofore been or may hereafter be allocated to the state under the provisions of any law of the United States now in effect or hereafter enacted. Bonds sold and issued under the provisions of this amendment may be issued at such time or times and in such denominations, numbers, and series, and shall mature at such time or times, and shall have such terms and conditions, as may be provided by law. Said bonds shall bear interest at a rate or rates not greater than three per centum (3%) per annum, payable semiannually, and shall be sold at not less than the face value thereof. Said bonds when issued shall be direct general obligations of the state, and for the prompt and faithful payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon the full faith and credit of the state are hereby irrevocably pledged. In addition thereto, there is hereby irrevocably pledged for payment of the principal of and interest on said bonds, pro rata and without priority of one bond over another, so much as may be necessary for said purpose of the proceeds of the gasoline excise tax heretofore pledged for payment of the public road and bridge bonds of the state of Alabama provided for in the amendment to the Constitution of Alabama known as article XXA [amendment No. 21] subject, however, to the prior pledges of said tax for payment of any bonds heretofore issued pursuant to law for which the said tax has heretofore been pledged.

Amendment 88 ratified

Appointments and Promotions in Civil Service.

A. Appointments and promotions in the civil service of this state shall be made according to merit, fitness and efficiency, to be determined, so far as practicable, by examination, which, so far as practicable, shall be competitive under such laws as the legislature may enact.

B. It shall be the duty of the legislature to maintain laws necessary to implement, and to provide adequate financial support for, a positive program of personnel management in the state service.

C. All state personnel laws now in effect that are not in conflict with this article shall continue in effect until they are amended or repealed as provided by law. Civil service status acquired by employees under existing statutes shall not be affected by the provisions of this article.

Amendment 89 ratified

Amendment of Sections 272, 273 and 276.

Sec. 272. Conformance with regulations of United States department of defense and laws of United States; administration of military affairs by military department and adjutant general.

The legislature, in providing for the organization, equipment, and discipline of the state military forces, shall conform as nearly as practicable to the regulations of the department of defense of the United States, and the laws of the United States, governing the armed forces of the United States. All affairs pertaining to the state military forces shall be administered by a state military department, which shall be headed by the adjutant general, and who shall be responsible to the governor as commander-in-chief.

Sec. 273. Appointment, suspension, discharge, removal and retirement of officers of state military forces; qualifications of personnel of federally-recognized national guard.

Officers of the state military forces, including the adjutant general, shall be appointed, and shall be subject to suspension, discharge, removal, or compulsory retirement as such, solely on the basis of military proficiency, character and service, as determined by department of defense regulations and military usages sanctioned by the military laws of the United States, anything in this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding. The qualifications of personnel of the federally recognized national guard shall be as prescribed in pertinent regulations and policies of the United States department of the defense.

Sec. 276. Appointment of adjutant general, general officers and governor's staff.

The governor shall, with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint the adjutant general and all general officers. The governor shall appoint his own staff, as may be provided by law.

Amendment 90 ratified

Veteran's Poll Tax Exemption Amendment.

No person who honorably served in the military service of the United States between January 1, 1917 and November 11, 1918, or between September 16, 1940 and December 8, 1941, or at any time past, present or future, when the United States was, is or shall be engaged in hostilities, whether as a result of a declared war or not, with any foreign state shall be required after the beginning of such service to pay the poll tax specified in the Constitution of Alabama as a prerequisite to the privilege of voting in Alabama; but, on the contrary, every such person shall be exempt from the payment of all poll taxes which have theretofore accrued and have not been paid or which may thereafter accrue; provided, however, that if any such person is discharged dishonorably from service the exemption herein provided is forfeited, and such dishonorably discharged person, as a prerequisite to the privilege of voting in Alabama thereafter, must pay the poll tax specified in the Constitution of Alabama as if such person had never been in service. The term "military service" as used herein includes service in the United States army, the United States navy, the United States air force, the marine corps, the coast guard, or any reserve or auxiliary complement of any of said services. The judge of probate shall issue a certificate of exemption to a person exempt from the payment of poll tax by reason of this amendment under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the governor. This amendment shall be self-executing and retroactive; but the legislature is authorized to enact laws designed to carry out the purpose of this amendment.

Amendment 91 ratified

Amendment of Section 181. SECTION 181

Persons qualified to register as voters; persons registered under 1901 Constitution not required to reregister.

The following persons, and no others, who, if they are citizens of the United States over the age of twenty-one years and have the qualifications as to residence prescribed in section 178 of this article, shall be qualified to register as electors provided they shall not be disqualified under section 182 of this Constitution: those who can read and write any article of the Constitution of the United States in the English language which may be submitted to them by the board of registrars, provided, however, that no persons shall be entitled to register as electors except those who are of good character and who embrace the duties and obligations of citizenship under the Constitution of the United States and under the Constitution of the state of Alabama, and provided, further, that in order to aid the members of the boards of registrars, who are hereby constituted and declared to be judicial officers, to judicially determine if applicants to register have the qualifications hereinabove set out, each applicant shall be furnished by the board of registrars a written questionnaire, which shall be uniform in all cases with no discrimination as between applicants, the form and contents of which questionnaire shall be prescribed by the supreme court of Alabama and be filed by such court with the secretary of state of the state of Alabama, which questionnaire shall be so worded that the answers thereto will place before the boards of registrars information necessary or proper to aid them to pass upon the qualification of each applicant. Such questionnaire shall be answered in writing by the applicant, in the presence of the board without assistance, and there shall be incorporated in such answer an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Alabama and a statement in such oath by the applicant disavowing belief in or affiliation at any time with any group or party which advocated the overthrow of the government of the United States or the state of Alabama by unlawful means, which answers and oath shall be duly signed and sworn to by the applicant before a member of the county board of registrars. Such questionnaire and the written answers of the applicant thereto shall be filed with the records of the respective boards of registrars. The board may receive information respecting the applicant and the truthfulness of any information furnished by him. Those persons who have registered as electors under the Alabama Constitution of 1901 shall not be required to register again. Provided, further, that if solely because of physical handicaps the applicant is unable to read or write, then he shall be exempt from the above stated requirements which he is unable to meet because of such physical handicap, and in such cases a member of the board of registrars shall read to the applicant the questionnaire and oaths herein provided for and the applicant's answers thereto shall be written down by such board member, and the applicant shall be registered as a voter if he meets all other requirements herein set out.

Amendment 92 ratified

Increasing or Decreasing Salaries, etc., of State and County Officers.

Any provisions of this Constitution or amendments thereto to the contrary notwithstanding, neither the legislature, nor any county of the state shall, by the imposition of new, different, and additional duties or otherwise, increase, or authorize the increase of, the salary, fees or other compensation of any officer of the state or of any county of the state, who is elected or appointed for a fixed term, during the term for which he is elected or appointed, regardless of whether such officer may be removed at the pleasure of the authority electing or appointing him or only upon impeachment; nor shall the legislature or any county of the state in any manner or by any means decrease, or authorize the decrease of, the salary, fees or other compensation of any such officer, during the term for which he is elected or appointed; nor shall the legislature or any county of the state increase or decrease, or authorize the increase or decrease of, the salary, fees or other compensation of any person filling an unexpired term in any such office during the remainder of such term, either before or after the appointment or election of such person to fill the unexpired term. As to officers who are members of any court, board, commission, or similar body whose terms do not run concurrently, any increase or decrease in the salary, fees, or other compensation of the members of any such court, board, commission, or similar body shall become effective as to all such members thereof immediately after the expiration of the term or terms of office of the member or members whose term or terms first expire.

Amendment 93 ratified

Expenditure of Fees or Taxes Relating to Use, etc., of Vehicles and to Fuels Used for Vehicles.

No moneys derived from any fees, excises, or license taxes, levied by the state, relating to registration, operation, or use of vehicles upon the public highways except a vehicle-use tax imposed in lieu of a sales tax, and no moneys derived from any fee, excises, or license taxes, levied by the state, relating to fuels used for propelling such vehicles except pump taxes, shall be expended for other than cost of administering such laws, statutory refunds and adjustments allowed therein, cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of public highways and bridges, costs of highway rights-of-way, payment of highway obligations, the cost of traffic regulation, and the expense of enforcing state traffic and motor vehicle laws. The provisions of this amendment shall not apply to any such fees, excises, or license taxes now levied by the state for school purposes for the whole state or for any county or city board of education therein.

Amendment 94 ratified

Economic Development of Municipalities in Fayette County.

Any provision of the Constitution or laws of the state of Alabama to the contrary notwithstanding, any municipality in Fayette county, or any one or more of them, shall have full and continuing power and authority, after an election held in accordance herewith, to do any one or more of the following:

1. To purchase, construct, lease, or otherwise acquire real property, plants, buildings, factories, works, facilities, machinery and equipment of any kind.

2. To lease, sell for cash or on credit, exchange, give and convey any such property described in subdivision 1 above, to any person, firm, association or corporation.

3. To promote local industrial, commercial or agricultural development and the location of new industries or businesses therein.

4. To become a stockholder in any corporation, association or company.

5. To lend its credit or to grant public moneys and things of value in aid of, or to, any individual, firm, association, or corporation whatsoever.

6. To become indebted and to issue and sell interest-bearing bonds, warrants (which may be payable from funds to be realized in future years), notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness, to a principal amount not exceeding fifty percent of the assessed value of taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in order to secure funds for the purchase, construction, lease or acquisition of any of the property described in subdivision 1 above or to be used in furtherance of any of the other powers or authorities granted in this amendment. Such obligations or evidences of indebtedness may (in addition to any pledge or pledges authorized by subdivision 8 of this amendment) be issued upon the full faith and credit of the municipality or may be limited as to the source of their payment.

7. To levy and collect annually, in addition to all other taxes now authorized or permitted, a special tax or taxes of not exceeding two percent on the value of all taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in the same manner as other county or municipal taxes are levied and collected. Such tax may be upon all property in any municipality in Fayette county or upon all property in any district the boundaries of which the governing body of such municipality shall describe and which it shall determine to be specially improved and benefited by any proposed use or expenditure of the proceeds of such tax.

8. To pledge to the payment of any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness the annual proceeds from any such special tax or taxes and to obligate itself irrevocably to continue to levy and collect such taxes annually until such obligations or evidences of indebtedness are paid in full and to pledge thereto any rental or sales proceeds of property leased or sold by it.

9. To create a public authority or corporation having such powers, managed and governed by such board or governing body and subject to such limitations as the governing body of any municipality in Fayette county may impose, by approving and filing a certificate to that effect in the office of the judge of probate or the secretary of state, or their respective successors in function, and to delegate to such public authority or corporation and its board or governing body all powers and authority conferred in this amendment upon any such municipality.

The recital in any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness that they were issued pursuant to this amendment or that they were issued to provide funds to be used in furtherance of any power or authority herein authorized or that any special tax herein authorized has been pledged to the payment thereof shall be conclusive; no purchaser or holder thereof need inquire further; and the levy and collection of such tax shall continue until the principal of and interest on such obligations or evidences of indebtedness shall have been paid in full. The bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness issued hereunder shall not be considered an indebtedness of any municipality in Fayette county for the purpose of determining the borrowing capacity of such municipality under sections 224 and 225 of the Constitution; and the taxes herein authorized shall be in addition to those provided for or permitted in sections 215 and 216 of the Constitution and all amendments thereto.

This amendment shall be self-executing; but the legislature shall have the right and power by general, special or local act to adopt laws supplemental to this amendment or in furtherance of the purposes and objectives hereinabove set forth.

10. No municipality shall make any engagement or commitment or undertake any project under the provisions hereof unless and until the proposition has been approved by a majority of the qualified electors of such municipality. The governing body of any municipality may provide for holding such elections, but in no case shall an election be held until notice of the election and of the proposition to be voted on has been published for at least three successive weeks.

Amendment 95 ratified

Economic Development of Municipalities in Blount County.

Any provision of the Constitution or laws of the state of Alabama to the contrary notwithstanding, any municipality in Blount county, or any one or more of them, shall have full and continuing power and authority, after an election held in accordance herewith, to do any one or more of the following:

1. To purchase, construct, lease, or otherwise acquire real property, plants, buildings, factories, works, facilities, machinery and equipment of any kind.

2. To lease, sell for cash or on credit, exchange, or give and convey any such property described in subdivision 1 above, to any person, firm, association or corporation.

3. To promote local industrial, commercial or agricultural development and the location of new industries or businesses therein.

4. To become a stockholder in any corporation, association or company.

5. To lend its credit or to grant public moneys and things of value in aid of, or to, any individual, firm, association, or corporation whatsoever.

6. To become indebted and to issue and sell interest-bearing bonds, warrants (which may be payable from funds to be realized in future years), notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness, to a principal amount not exceeding fifty percent of the assessed value of taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in order to secure funds for the purchase, construction, lease or acquisition of any of the property described in subdivision 1 above or to be used in furtherance of any of the other powers or authorities granted in this amendment. Such obligations or evidences of indebtedness may (in addition to any pledge or pledges authorized by subdivision 8 of this amendment) be issued upon the full faith and credit of the municipality or may be limited as to the source of their payment.

7. To levy and collect annually, in addition to all other taxes now authorized or permitted, a special tax or taxes of not exceeding two percent on the value of all taxable property therein as determined for state taxation, in the same manner as other county or municipal taxes are levied and collected. Such tax may be upon all property in any municipality in Blount county or upon all property in any district the boundaries of which the governing body of such municipality shall describe and which it shall determine to be specially improved and benefited by any proposed use or expenditure of the proceeds of such tax.

8. To pledge to the payment of any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness the annual proceeds from any such special tax or taxes and to obligate itself irrevocably to continue to levy and collect such taxes annually until such obligations or evidences of indebtedness are paid in full and to pledge thereto any rental or sales proceeds of property leased or sold by it.

9. To create a public authority or corporation having such powers, managed and governed by such board or governing body and subject to such limitations as the governing body of any municipality in Blount county may impose, by approving and filing a certificate to that effect in the office of the judge of probate or the secretary of state, or their respective successors in function, and to delegate to such public authority or corporation and its board or governing body all powers and authority conferred in this amendment upon any such municipality.

The recital in any bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness that they were issued pursuant to this amendment or that they were issued to provide funds to be used in furtherance of any power or authority herein authorized or that any special tax herein authorized has been pledged to the payment thereof shall be conclusive; no purchaser or holder thereof need inquire further; and the levy and collection of such tax shall continue until the principal of and interest on such obligations or evidences of indebtedness shall have been paid in full. The bonds, warrants, notes or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness issued hereunder shall not be considered an indebtedness of any municipality in Blount county for the purpose of determining the borrowing capacity of such municipality under sections 224 and 225 of the Constitution; and the taxes herein authorized shall be in addition to those provided for or permitted in sections 215 and 216 of the Constitution and all amendments thereto.

This amendment shall be self-executing; but the legislature shall have the right and power by general, special or local act to adopt laws supplemental to this amendment or in furtherance of the purposes and objectives hereinabove set forth.

10. No municipality shall make any engagement or commitment or undertake any project under the provisions hereof unless and until the proposition has been approved by a majority of the qualified electors of such municipality. The governing body of any municipality may provide for holding such elections, but in no case shall an election be held until notice of the election and of the proposition to be voted on has been published for at least three successive weeks.

Amendment 96 ratified

Amendment of Section 178. SECTION 178

Residency, registration and poll tax requirements for electors.

To entitle a person to vote at any election by the people, he shall have resided in the state at least two years, in the county one year, and in the precinct or ward three months, immediately preceding the election at which he offers to vote, and he shall have been duly registered as an elector, and shall have paid on or before the first day of February next preceding the date of the election at which he offers to vote, all poll taxes due from him for the two calendar years next preceding. Provided, that any elector who, within three months next preceding the date of the election at which he offers to vote has removed from one precinct or ward to another precinct or ward in the same county, incorporated town, or city, shall have the right to vote in the precinct or ward from which he has so removed, if he would have been entitled to vote in such precinct or ward but for such removal.

Amendment 97 ratified

Special Elections to Fill Vacancies in Either House of Legislature.

Whenever a vacancy occurs in either house of the legislature the governor shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term. However, if the secretary of state determines that a legally qualified candidate for election to the vacancy is unopposed when the last date for filing certificates of nomination has passed, the election shall not be held. The secretary of state shall issue a certificate of election to the candidate, the same as if an election had been held, and the certificate shall be accepted by the house in which the vacancy occurred as evidence of the unopposed candidate's right to fill the position created by the vacancy. In the event an election is held, all the costs and expenses incurred thereby shall be paid out of any funds in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Amendment 98 ratified

Levy and Collection of Additional Property Taxes in Talladega County.

In addition to all taxes now or hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, the governing body of Talladega county is hereby authorized to levy and collect a special school tax not to exceed three-tenths of one percent on the value of the taxable property within the county, the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for public school purposes; and a special tax not to exceed two-tenths of one percent on the value of the taxable property within the county, the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for the construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges. The governing body of Talladega county may fix the rates of the additional taxes authorized herein, at its discretion, without submitting the question of levying such additional taxes to a vote of the qualified electors of the county.

Amendment 99 ratified

Authorizing the Creation of Special School Districts, etc., in Lawrence County.

The board of education of Lawrence county may designate one or more school districts within said county (except that no part of the territory embraced within the special school district established under the provisions of the amendment of the Constitution proposed by Act No. 473 of the regular session of the legislature of Alabama of 1949 [Acts 1949, p. 690] shall be included in any such special school district) and may sell the issue bonds in an amount not exceeding one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) for each such special school district for the construction, improving, adding to, or equipping of a school building, or buildings, within said district. To pay the principal of and interest on said bonds and any redemption premium thereon, Lawrence county may levy and collect an annual tax on all taxable property situated within the special school district with respect to which such bonds may be issued, at a rate not in excess of five mills on each dollar's worth of said property as assessed for state taxation for the preceding tax year; provided, that whenever said tax has produced an amount sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on said bonds the tax shall not be thereafter levied and any surplus remaining therefrom shall be used for general school purposes in said school district. The bonds and tax herein authorized shall be in addition to those heretofore authorized, and no such bonds shall be issued, no such tax shall be levied, until the estimated cost of constructing, improving, adding to, or equipping the school building or buildings to be built in such district, its estimated time of completion, the maximum principal amount of the bonds proposed to be issued, the maximum rate of interest to be paid thereon, and the period over which the bonds to be issued will be retired, shall have been determined and made public by the board of education of said county, and the proposed issuance of bonds and increase in the rate of taxation shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of such special school district voting upon such proposal at an election to be called by the county governing body for said purpose, said election to be held not less than sixty days after the adoption of this amendment, but at anytime thereafter at the discretion of the said county governing body. The election provided herein shall be called, held, conducted and canvassed, and may be contested, as in the case of three mill school tax elections held pursuant to article 7, chapter 10, Title 52 of the Code of Alabama of 1940. Any bonds issued pursuant to this amendment shall be payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax which may be pledged therefor, but said bonds shall constitute negotiable instruments although payable from a limited source, and said bonds shall be eligible for the investment of trust funds. This amendment shall be self-executing.

Amendment 100 ratified

Extension of Debt Limit of Mobile County.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, Mobile county shall continue to have and possess all of the rights, powers and authority granted to it by amendment XVIII [18] of this Constitution and shall have and possess the power and authority to become indebted for the construction or erection of public buildings, bridges and roads within the limit prescribed by section 224 of this Constitution; provided, however, that all debts incurred or bonds issued by Mobile county under the provisions of amendments XVIII [18] and XXIX [29], and this amendment, shall be in addition to the limit fixed by said section 224, and shall not be taken into account or considered in determining or arriving at the debt limit of Mobile county under said section 224, and provided further that the six and one-half percent (6 1/2 %) limitation in amendment XVIII [18] aforesaid shall be construed to refer not to the total amount of bonds issued under authority of the amendment, but to the total amount of bonds so issued which may be outstanding at any one time. And provided further, that Mobile county may become indebted, issue bonds and levy the tax as authorized by and within the limits of amendment XVIII [18] aforesaid to pay all or part of the cost of the construction or improvement of concrete or better than concrete surfaced public roads, streets and bridges in Mobile county, including those within or partly within any municipality, and also for the purpose of constructing, improving and equipping school buildings in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 and in an amount not to exceed $4,000,000 to construct and equip a building or buildings to be used for a courthouse and jail, including the acquisition of sites therefor; however, in submitting the question of issuing school bonds and courthouse and jail bonds hereunder, the county governing body shall submit the issuance of bonds for such purposes as a single proposition. Courthouse, jail and school bonds authorized hereby shall be issued in the manner provided in chapter 7 of Title 12 of the Code of Alabama of 1940 as heretofore or hereafter amended.

Bonds issued hereunder, together with bonds now or hereafter outstanding under authority of amendment XVIII [18], together with redemption premiums thereon, shall be payable from any funds heretofore and hereafter derived from the proceeds of the tax at such rate or rates not exceeding one-half of one percentum of the assessed value of the property situated in the county which may from time to time be levied or which has been levied, under said amendment XVIII [18]. The county governing body may agree in the proceedings authorizing the issue of school bonds and courthouse and jail bonds hereunder that it will, if and to the extent necessary to prevent default in the payment of principal or interest on such bonds, use for the payment of such principal or interest, or both, as a prior lien thereon so much of the proceeds of the tax of 2 1/2 mills authorized by section 215 of the Constitution as may be necessary. Further, after 30 days from the first publication in said county of the resolution authorizing and fixing the details of any bonds authorized to be issued hereunder, such bonds and the sources of payment provided therefor in such resolution shall be incontestable in any court in this state.

Annotation

1. Text of this amendment not available from the website of the Alabama State Legislature
2. The strange use of "A" is unknown
3. In the table of contents, Amendment 277 is erroneously listed as being Amendment 84.