(General Clause 17.) gafes. of Dele The House of Delegates shall consist of twenty-two House of members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for the members of the Council, whose term of service Term of service. shall continue one year. (General Clause 18.) An apportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, into eleven districts, for the appointment of the Council, and into twenty-two districts for the election of delegates, giving to each section of the District representation in the ratio of its population' as nearly as may be. And the members of the Council and of the House of Delegates shall reside in and be inhabitants of the districts from which they are appointed or elected, respectively. (General Clause 19.) how organized and conducted. For the purposes of the first election to be held under The first electionthis act, the Governor and judges of the supreme court of the District of Columbia shall designate the districts for members of the House of Delegates, appoint a Board of Registration and persons to superintend the election and the returns thereof, prescribe the time, places, and manner of conducting such election, and make all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this act not otherwise herein provided for: Provided, That the first election shall be held within sixty days from the tion to be held. passage of this act. (General Clause 20.) In the first, and all subsequent elections, the persons having the highest number of legal votes for the House of Delegates, respectively, shall be declared by the Governor duly elected members of said House. (General Clause 21.) In case two or more persons voted for shall have an When first elec Highest number of votes to elect. In case of tie vote or vacancy, Gover equal number of votes for the same office, or if a vacancy nor to decide or fill. shall occur in the House of Delegates, the Governor shall order a new election. Place of holding the Legislative Assembly. How provided. (General Clause 22.) And the persons thus appointed and elected to the Legislative Assembly shall meet at such time and at such place within the District as the Governor shall appoint; but thereafter the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by, the people, and the formation of the districts for members of the Council and House of Delegates, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the LegisTerms of sessions. lative Assembly: Provided, That no session in any one year shall exceed the term of sixty days, except the first session, which may continue one hundred days. Division of the District into townships. Qualifications of voters. Persons who are non-eligible to hold (General Clause 23.) SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Legislative Assembly shall have power to divide that portion of the District not included in the corporate limits of Washington and Georgetown into townships, not exceeding three, and create township officers, and prescribe the duties thereof; but all township officers shall be elected by the people of the townships respectively. (General Clause 24.) SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens of the United States, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been actual residents of said District for three months prior to the passage of this act, except such as are non compos mentis and persons convicted of infamous /crimes, shall be entitled to vote at said election, in the election district or precinct in which he shall then reside, and shall have so resided for thirty days immediately preceding said election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said District, and for all subsequent elections twelve months' prior residence shall be required to constitute a voter; but the Legislative Assembly shall have no right to abridge or limit the right of suffrage. (General Clause 25.) SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That no person who office in the District. has been, or hereafter shall be, convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, nor any person who has been or may be a collector or holder of public moneys who shall not have accounted for and paid over, upon final judgment duly recovered according to law, all such moneys due from him, shall be eligible to the Legislative Assembly, or to any office of profit or trust in said District. (General Clause 26.) Oath of office for gislative Assembly. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That members of the Legislative Assembly, before they enter upon their official members of the Leduties, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will Prescribed form of. support the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; and that I have not knowingly or intentionally paid or contributed anything, or made any promise in the nature of a bribe, to directly or indirectly influence any vote at the election at which I was chosen to fill the said office, and have not accepted, nor will I accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing for any vote or influence that I may give or withhold on any bill, resolution, or appropriation, or for any other official act." (General Clause 27.) Any member who shall have refused to take the oath herein prescribed shall forfeit his office, and every person who shall be convicted of having sworn falsely to, or of violating his, said oath shall forfeit his office and be disqualified thereafter from holding any office of profit or trust in said District, and shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and upon conviction shall be punished accordingly. (General Clause 28.) SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That a majority of the Legislative Assembly appointed or elected to each house shall constitute a quorum. (General Clause 29.) The House of Delegates shall be the judge of the election returns and qualification of its members. Penalties for refusing to take, and for perjury in tak ing, oath of office. Quorum. House to determine qualification of its members. Each house to make its rules and elect its officers. (General Clause 30.) Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and shall choose its own officers. (General Clause 31.) The Governor shall call the Council to order at the Council and House. And the Secretary of the District shall call the House of Delegates to order at the opening of each new Legisla tive Assembly, and shall preside over it until a temporary presiding officer shall have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. Bills may origi (General Clause 32.) No member shall be expelled by either house except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members appointed or elected to that house. (General Clause 33.) Each house may punish, by imprisonment, any person not a member who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time. (General Clause 34.) Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, or to any other place than that in which such house shall be sitting. (General Clause 35.) At the request of any member the yeas and nays shall be taken upon any question and entered upon the Journal. (General Clause 36.) SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That bills may originate in either house. nate in either house, but may be altered, amended, or rejected by the other; and on the final passage of all bills the vote shall be by yeas and nays upon each bill separately, and shall be entered upon the Journal, and no bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each house. Majority concur to pass. must (General Clause 37.) SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That every bill shall Reading of bills. be read at large on three different days in each house. (General Clause 38.) No act shall embrace more than one subject, and that Subject of act to shall be expressed in its title; But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed in the title; be embraced in its title. And no act of the Legislative Assembly shall take Time of the tak effect until thirty days after its passage, unless, in case of ing effect of any act. emergency, (which emergency shall be expressed in the preamble or body of the act,) the Legislative Assembly shall by a vote of two-thirds of all the members appointed or elected to each house otherwise direct. (General Clause 39.) No money of District to be drawn, sembly. SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That no money shall be drawn from the treasury of the District, except in pur- except by act of Assuance of an appropriation made by law, and no bill making appropriations for the pay or salaries of the officers of the District government shall contain any provisions on any other subject. (General Clause 40.) trict government How provided for. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That each Legislative Expenses of DisAssembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the government of the District until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate amount of which shall not be increased without a vote of two-thirds of the members elected or appointed to each house as herein provided, nor exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in lawful revenue. such time, and all appropriations, general or special, requiring money to be paid out of the District treasury, from funds belonging to the District, shall end with such fiscal quarter; And no debt, by which the aggregate debt of the Dis Not to exceed the |