Article 4, LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Each house shall elect its own officers, and shall judge of the qualifications, return and election of its own members.

The senate shall choose a president pro tempore to act in the absence or disability of its presiding officer. QUALIFICATIONS AND PRIVILEGES OF LEGISLATORS.

Members of the legislature before entering upon ​the discharge of their duties shall take the following oath: “I, .mw-parser-output .wst-bar{text-decoration:line-through}.mw-parser-output .wst-bar-inner{color:transparent}————, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully …

No person shall be a member of the house of representatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall not be a qualified elector of the State, and who shall not have been a resident citizen of the State four years, and of the county two years, immedia…

No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, who shall not have been a qualified elector of the State four years, and who shall not be an actual resident of the district or territory he may be chosen to represent, for two years before his…

No person liable as principal for public moneys unaccounted for shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the legislature, or to any office of profit or trust, until he shall have accounted for and paid over all sums for which he may have been liable.

No person shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the legislature, or to any office of profit or trust, who shall have been convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime; and any person who shall have been convicted of giving, or offering, directly, or indirectly,…

No senator or representative during the term for which he was elected, shall be eligible to any office of profit, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which have been increased, during the time such senator or representative was in office, except to such offices as…

​ . The members of the legislature shall severally receive from the State treasury, compensation for their services, to be prescribed by law, which may be increased or diminished, but no alteration of such compensation of members shall take effect during the session at which it i…

No member of the legislature shall take any fee or reward, or be counsel in any measure pending before either house of the legislature, under penalty of forfeiting his seat, upon proof thereof to the satisfaction of the house, of which he is a member.

Senators and representatives shall in all cases, except treason, felony, theft or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the legislature, and for fifteen days before the commencement and after the termination of each session. TRIAL OF OFFICERS.

The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment; but two-thirds of all the members present must concur therein. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate, and, when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be sworn to do justice according to law and …

The governor, and all other civil officers of this State, shall be liable to impeachment for treason, bribery, or any high crime or misdemeanor in office.

Judgment in such cases shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit in this State; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.

When the governor shall be tried, the chief justice of the supreme court shall preside; and when the chief justice is disabled, disqualified, or refuses to act, the judge of the supreme court, next oldest in commission, shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the …

For reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient ground of impeachment, the governor shall, on the joint address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, remove from office the judges of the supreme and inferior courts; but the cause or causes of removal shall be sprea…

A majority of each house shall constitute a quo​rum to do business; but a less number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each shall provide.

Each house may determine rules of its own proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior; and with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present, expel a member; but no member, unless expelled for theft, bribery or corruption, shall be expelled a second time for t…

The style of the laws of the State shall be: “Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Mississippi.”

Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

The doors of each house, when in session, or in committee of the whole, shall be kept open, except in cases which may require secrecy; and each house may punish by fine and imprisonment, any person not a member, who shall be .mw-parser-output .wst-tooltip{cursor:help;border-botto…

Bills may originate in either house and be amended or rejected in the other; and every bill shall be read on three different days in each house unless two-thirds of the house where the same is pending shall dispense with the rules; and every bill shall be read in full immediately…

No bill shall be so amended in its passage through either house as to change its original purpose, and no law shall be passed except by bill; but orders, votes and resolutions of both houses, affecting the prerogatives and duties thereof, or relating to adjournment, to amendments…

No law shall be revived or amended by reference to its title only, but the section or sections as amended, or revived, shall be inserted at length.

No amendment to bills by one house shall be concurred in by the other, except by a vote of a majority thereof, taken by yeas and nays and the names of those voting for and against recorded upon the journals; and reports of committees of conference shall in like manner be adopted …

No appropriation bill shall be passed by the legislature which does not fix definitely the maximum sum thereby authorized to be drawn from the treasury.

No bill passed after the adoption of this constitution to make appropriations of money out of the State treasury, shall continue in force more than six months after the meeting of the legislature at its next regular session; nor shall such bill be passed except by the votes of a …

All votes on the final passage of any measure shall be subject to reconsideration for at least one whole legislative day, and no motion to reconsider such vote shall be disposed of adversely on the day on which the original vote was taken, except on the last day of the session.

No law granting a donation, or gratuity, in favor of any person or object shall be enacted, except by the concurrence of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, nor by any vote for a sectarian purpose or use.

No new bills shall be introduced into either house of the legislature during the last three days of the session.

Appropriation and revenue bills shall, at regular sessions of the legislature, have precedence in both houses over all other business, and no such bills shall be passed during the last five days of the session.

General appropriation bills shall contain only the appropriations to defray the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the government, to pay interest on State bonds, and to support the common schools. All other appropriations shall be made by…

No revenue bill nor any bill providing for assessments of property for taxation, shall become a law, ex​cept by a vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each house present, and voting.

Every bill introduced into the legislature shall have a title, and the title ought to indicate clearly the subject matter, or matters, of the proposed legislation. Each committee to which a bill may be referred, shall express in writing its judgment of the sufficiency of the titl…

Every bill which shall pass both houses shall be presented to the governor of the State. If he approve, he shall sign it, but if he does not approve, he shall return it, with his objection, to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon its jo…

The governor may veto parts of any appropriation bill, and approve parts of the same, and the portions approved shall be law.

No bill shall become a law until it shall have been referred to a committee of each house and returned therefrom with a recommendation in writing.

No law of a general nature, unless therein otherwise provided, shall be enforced until sixty days after its passage.

In all elections by the legislature the members shall vote viva voce, and the votes shall be entered on the journals.

The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in either house of the legislature, and the persons thereupon chosen shall hold their seats for the unexpired term. INJUNCTIONS.

It shall be the duty of the legislature to regulate ​by law the cases in which deductions shall be made from salaries of public officers, for neglect of official duty and the amount of said deduction.

The legislature shall provide by law for the sale of all delinquent tax lands. The courts shall apply the same liberal principles in favor of such titles as in sale by execution. The right of redemption from all sales of real estate, for the non-payment of taxes, or special asses…

Provision shall be made by general laws to prevent the abuse by cities, towns and other municipal corporations of their powers of assessment, taxation, borrowing money and contracting debts.

The legislature shall never authorize the permanent obstruction of any of the navigable waters of this State; but may provide for the removal of such obstructions as now exist, whenever the public welfare demands; this section shall not prevent the construction, under proper auth…

The legislature shall fix the amount of the penalty of all official bonds, and may, as for as practicable, provide that the whole or a part of the security required for the faithful discharge of official duty shall be made by some guarantee company or companies.