Page:California State Constitution of 1879.djvu/12

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CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA.

a series of text-books for the use of the common schools within their respective jurisdictions; the text-books so adopted shall continue in use for not less than four years; they shall also have control of the examination of teachers and the granting of teachers' certificates within their several jurisdictions.

Sec. 8. No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian or denominational school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools, nor shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or instruction thereon be permitted directly or indirectly, in any of the common schools of this State.

Sec. 9. The University of California shall constitute a public trust, and its organization and government shall be perpetually continued in the form and character prescribed by the organic Act creating the same, passed March twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure compliance with the terms of its endowments, and the proper investment and security of its funds. It shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence, and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its Regents, and in the administration of its affairs; provided, that all the moneys derived from the sale of the public lands donated to this State by Act of Congress, approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), shall be invested as provided by said Acts of Congress, and the interest of said moneys shall be inviolably appropriated to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one College of Agriculture, where the leading objects shall be (without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics) to teach such branches of learning as are related to scientific and practical agriculture and the mechanic arts, in accordance with the requirements and conditions of said Acts of Congress; and the Legislature shall provide that if, through neglect, misappropriation, or any other contingency, any portion of the funds so set apart shall be diminished or lost, the State shall replace such portion so lost or misappropriated, so that the principal thereof shall remain forever undiminished. No person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the University on account of sex.

ARTICLE X.

STATE INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

Section 1. There shall be a State Board of Prison Directors, to consist of five persons, to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall hold office for ten years, except that the first appointed shall, in such manner as the Legislature may direct, be so classified that the term of one person so appointed shall expire at the end of each two years during the first ten years, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in like manner. The appointee to a vacancy, occurring before the expiration of a term, shall hold office only for the unexpired term of his predecessor. The Governor shall have the power to remove either of the Directors for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty, after in opportunity to be heard upon written charges.

Sec. 2. The Board of Directors shall have the charge and superintendance of the State Prisons, and shall possess such powers, and perform such duties, in respect to other penal and reformatory institutions of the State, as the Legislature may prescribe.

Sec. 3. The Board shall appoint the Warden and Clerk, and determine the other necessary officers of the Prisons. The Board shall have power to remove the Wardens and Clerks for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty. All other officers and employes of the Prisons shall be appointed by the Warden thereof, and be removed at his pleasure.

Sec. 4. The members of the Board shall receive no compensation other than reasonable traveling and other expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties, to be audited as the Legislature may direct.

Sec. 5. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to further define and regulate the powers and duties of the Board, Wardens, and Clerks, and to carry into effect the provisions of this article.

Sec. 6. After the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, the labor of convicts shall not be let out by contract to any person, copartnership, company, or corporation, and the Legislature shall, by law, provide for the working of convicts for the benefit of the State.

ARTICLE XI.

CITIES, COUNTIES, AND TOWNS.

Section 1. The several counties, as they now exist, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of this State.

Sec. 2. No county seat shall be removed unless two thirds of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. A proposition of removal shall not be submitted in the same county more than once in four years.

Sec. 3. No new county shall be established which shall reduce any county to a population of less than eight thousand; nor shall a new county be formed containing a less population than five thousand; nor shall any line thereof pass within five miles of the county seat of any county proposed to be divided. Every county which shall be enlarged or created from territory taken from any other county or counties, shall be liable for a just proportion of the existing debts and liabilities of the county or counties from which such territory shall be taken.