AJR137: Joint Resolution Text

AJR137, s. 18 Section 18. Section 17 (4) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,10,6 [Article IV] Section 17 (4) No act passed by the legislature shall go into effect until 90 days after the governor has filed it in the office of the secretary of state, except as provided in sub. (5).

AJR137, s. 19 Section 19. Section 17 (5) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,10,15 [Article IV] Section 17 (5) Acts or portions of acts providing only for tax levies, acts or portions of acts that expand or promote the rights of the people, and emergency acts necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, shall go into effect on the date or dates provided in the acts and shall not be subject to referendum. To be exempt from referendum, an emergency act must receive the vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house of the legislature, and the reasons for the necessity of the emergency act must be set forth in one section of the act, which section must be passed upon a separate roll call vote.

AJR137, s. 20 Section 20. Section 17 (6) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,10,22 [Article IV] Section 17 (6) The electors may petition for a referendum on any act, section of an act, or item of appropriation in an act, except as provided in sub. (5). The petition for a referendum shall be signed by electors equaling at least 25 percent of the vote cast for the office of governor at the last preceding election and shall be filed with the government accountability board within 60 days after the governor files the act with the secretary of state.

AJR137, s. 21 Section 21. Section 17 (7) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,11,3 [Article IV] Section 17 (7) After verifying the sufficiency of the signatures, the government accountability board shall order to be submitted to the electors of the state, for their approval or rejection, the act, section of the act, or item of appropriation the act specified in the petition, at the first general election occurring subsequent to 125 days after the filing of the petition.

AJR137, s. 22 Section 22. Section 17 (8) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,11,9 [Article IV] Section 17 (8) No such act, section, or item subject to referendum shall go into effect until and unless approved by a majority of those voting upon the same. If, however, a referendum petition is filed against any such section or item, the remainder of the act shall not thereby be prevented or delayed from going into effect.

AJR137, s. 23 Section 23. Section 17 (9) of article IV of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,11,12 [Article IV] Section 17 (9) No act, section, or item rejected in a referendum may be reenacted during the legislative session in which it was rejected.

AJR137, s. 24 Section 24. Section 4 (1) of article VII of the constitution is amended to read:

AJR137,11,20 [Article VII] Section 4 (1) The supreme court shall have 7 members who shall be known as justices of the supreme court. Justices shall be elected for 10-year terms of office commencing with the August 1 next succeeding the election. Only one justice may be elected in any year. Candidates for the office of justice shall finance their election campaigns with public funding. Any 4 justices shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of the court's business. All deliberations of the supreme court shall be open to the public.

AJR137, s. 25 Section 25. Section 1 of article VIII of the constitution is amended to read:

AJR137,12,10 [Article VIII] Section 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform but the legislature may empower cities, villages or towns to collect and return taxes on real estate located therein by optional methods. Taxes shall be levied upon such property with such classifications as to forests and minerals including or separate or severed from the land, as the legislature shall prescribe. Taxation of agricultural land and undeveloped land, both as defined by law, need not be uniform with the taxation of each other nor with the taxation of other real property. Taxation of merchants' stock-in-trade, manufacturers' materials and finished products, and livestock need not be uniform with the taxation of real property and other personal property, but the taxation of all such merchants' stock-in-trade, manufacturers' materials and finished products and livestock shall be uniform, except that the legislature may provide that the value thereof shall be determined on an average basis. Taxes may also be imposed on incomes, privileges and occupations, which taxes may shall be graduated and progressive, and reasonable exemptions may be provided.

AJR137, s. 26 Section 26. Section 1 of article IX of the constitution is renumbered section 1 (1) of article IX and amended to read:

AJR137,12,21 [Article IX] Section 1 (1) The state shall have concurrent jurisdiction on all rivers and lakes bordering on this state so far as such rivers or lakes shall form a common boundary to the state and any other state or territory now or hereafter to be formed, and bounded by the same; and the river Mississippi and the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the state as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost or duty therefor. Every person shall have the right to a clean, healthy environment, safe drinking water, and clean air.

AJR137, s. 27 Section 27. Section 1 (2) of article IX of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,13,6 [Article IX] Section 1 (2) There is created a department of natural resources to oversee the laws for the protection, development, and use of forests, fish and game, lakes, streams, plant life, flowers, and other outdoor resources of this state. The department shall be overseen by a board of natural resources of 5 members to be appointed by the governor, the attorney general, the superintendent of public instruction, the state treasurer, and the secretary of state, respectively. Board members shall serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority. The board shall appoint the secretary of natural resources who shall administer the department of natural resources.

AJR137, s. 28 Section 28. Section 1 of article X of the constitution is amended to read:

AJR137,13,17 [Article X] Section 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a state superintendent and such other officers as the legislature shall direct; and their qualifications, powers, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. The state superintendent shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the state at the same time and in the same manner as members of the supreme court, and shall hold office for 4 years from the succeeding first Monday in July. The state superintendent shall be independent of the other officers of the executive branch. The term of office, time and manner of electing or appointing all other officers of supervision of public instruction shall be fixed by law. The state superintendent shall have the authority to require minimum staffing levels and minimum funding levels for public schools.

AJR137, s. 29 Section 29. Section 3 of article X of the constitution is amended to read:

AJR137,13,25 [Article X] Section 3. The legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable; and such schools shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of 4 and 20 years; and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein; but the legislature by law may, for the purpose of religious instruction outside the district schools, authorize the release of students during regular school hours. Public funds shall not be appropriated to support sectarian schools.

AJR137, s. 30 Section 30. Section 1 of article XI of the constitution is amended to read:

AJR137,14,7 [Article XI] Section 1. Corporations without banking powers or privileges may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All general laws or special acts enacted under the provisions of this section may be altered or repealed by the legislature at any time after their passage. The state shall not recognize any constitutional rights asserted by corporations except as required by federal law.

AJR137, s. 31 Section 31. Section 14 of article XIII of the constitution is created to read:

AJR137,14,10 [Article XIII] Section 14. All employees shall have the right to collectively bargain on the subjects of wages, hours, and working conditions.

AJR137, s. 32 Section 32. Numbering of new provisions. If another constitutional amendment ratified by the people creates the number of any provision created in this joint resolution, the chief of the legislative reference bureau shall determine the sequencing and the numbering of the provisions whose numbers conflict and adjust any cross-references thereto.

AJR137,14,18 Be it further resolved, That this proposed amendment be referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election and that it be published for three months previous to the time of holding such election.

AJR137,14,19 (End)