California Constitution
| California Constitution |
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| Preamble |
| Articles |
| I • II • III • IV • V • VI VII • VIII • IX • X • XA XB • XI • XII • XIII • XIII A XIII B • XIII C • XIII D • XIV • XV • XVI • XVIII • XIX • XIX A • XIX B • XIX C XX • XXI • XXII XXXIV • XXXV |
The California Constitution is the state constitution of California.
- The current California Constitution was adopted in 1879.
- California has had two state constitutions.
- The current state constitution has 35 articles.
- The current constitution has been amended 524 times.[1]
- Voters last approved a new amendment to the California Constitution on November 5, 2024, when voters approved Proposition 3.
The California Constitution can be amended with a legislative, citizen-initiated, or covention-referred constitutional amendment, all of which require voter approval.
A state constitution is the fundamental document that outlines a state's framework for governance, including the powers, structure, and limitations of the state government, individual and civil rights, and other matters.
Background
California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. The state's first constitution was adopted in 1849 and was used until 1879, which was when the second constitution became effective. California has held two state constitutional conventions in 1849 and 1879.[2]
The convention of 1849 consisted of 49 delegates and met for six weeks. The 1849 constitution was approved by a vote of 12,061 to 811.[2]
In February 1878, the state legislature passed a bill calling for a convention of 152 delegates (three from each senate district and 32 at-large delegates). On May 7, 1879, the constitution was approved with nearly 78,000 in favor to 67,000 opposed.[2]
Voters rejected proposals for a constitutional convention in 1898, 1914, 1920, and 1930. In 1934, voters approved a proposal for a constitutional convention. However, the state legislature did not pass any enabling legislation, therefore the convention was never held.[2]
In 1947, the state legislature created the Joint Interim Committee on Constitutional Revision that submitted a report to voters reducing the state constitution by approximately 14,500 words. It was approved. A similar constitutional revision commission was created in 1963. The commission's work ended in June 1976 when the last proposal was approved. The proposals removed a total of 40,000 words from all but two articles.[2]
Preamble
Article I
- See also: Article I, California Constitution
Article I is labeled the "Declaration of Rights." It contains 32 sections. The first section declares: "All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy."[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article II
- See also: Article II, California Constitution
Article II is labeled, "Voting, Initiative and Referendum, and Recall." It has 20 sections, many of which are short and even one-sentence declarations, such as Section 7 which says "Voting shall be secret."[3]
Section 8, Section 10, Section 11 and Section 12 govern ballot initiatives, including defining the signature requirements for initiatives, the single-subject rule, a provision (added in 1998) that says approved initiatives must apply equally to all subdivisions once they take effect, what to do in the case of conflicting initiatives and the California Attorney General's ballot title authorities.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article III
- See also: Article III, California Constitution
Article III is labeled, "State of California." It has nine sections that lay out some basic, definitional characteristics of how the government of California is organized. It includes provisions on how to sue the state of California. It has been amended over the years to include some very specific provisions such as Section 6, which defines English as the official language of California, and Section 8, which establishes a compensation commission.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article IV
- See also: Article IV, California Constitution
Article IV is labeled "Legislative." It has 23 sections.
Article IV lays out the powers, privileges and responsibilities of the California State Legislature, the California State Assembly and the California State Senate.
Section 1.5 makes a strong statement in favor of term limits, saying, "The ability of legislators to serve unlimited number of terms, to establish their own retirement system, and to pay for staff and support services at state expense contribute heavily to the extremely high number of incumbents who are re-elected. These unfair incumbent advantages discourage qualified candidates from seeking public office and create a class of career politicians, instead of the citizen representatives envisioned by the Founding Fathers. These career politicians become representatives of the bureaucracy, rather than of the people whom they are elected to represent."[3]
Section 2 defines the exact nature of those term limits.[3]
Section 9 says that statutes passed by the legislature can concern themselves with only one subject.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article V
- See also: Article V, California Constitution
Article V is labeled "Executive." It has 13 sections, which go from Section 1-Section 14, with no section 12.
Article V lays out the duties and authorities of the executive branch of the California government, including those of the governor.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article VI
- See also: Article VI, California Constitution
Article VI is the article of the constitution that lays out the scope, responsibilities, powers and authorities of the judicial branch of the California government. It has 22 sections.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article VII
- See also: Article VII, California Constitution
Article VII is labeled "Public Officers and Employees." It has eleven sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article VIII
There is no Article VIII.
Article IX
- See also: Article IX, California Constitution
Article IX is labeled "Education." It is numbered in Sections 1 through Sections 16. Over the years, six sections have been interpolated in the article (2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 6.5 and 7.5), while Sections 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 have been deleted.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article X
- See also: Article X, California Constitution
Article X is labeled "Water." It has seven sections.
- Section 1 asserts that the right of eminent domain exists with respect to all frontages on navigable waters in California.
- Section 2 says that the right of access to water in the state is limited to "such water as shall be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served."[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XA
- See also: Article XA, California Constitution
Article XA is labeled "Water Resources Development." It includes eight sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XB
- See also: Article XB, California Constitution
Article XB is labeled "Marine Resources Protection Act of 1990." It became part of the state's constitution as the result of California Proposition 132 (1990).
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XI
- See also: Article XI, California Constitution
Article XI is labeled "Local Government." It has 15 sections, which define the powers and constraints of local governments.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XII
- See also: Article XII, California Constitution
Article XII is labeled "Public Utilities." It has nine sections. These sections define the scope of the state's Public Utilities Commission.
One section (Section 7) notes that transportation companies are not allowed to "grant free passes or discounts" to any public officeholders in the state, other than the members of the Public Utilities Commission.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIII
- See also: Article XIII, California Constitution
Article XIII is labeled "Taxation." It is numbered in Sections 1-35, but it consists of 38 sections since three half-sections (3.5, 8.5 and 25.5) have been added over time. Taken together, the 38 sections of Article XIII lay out a number of detailed provisions about what kind of property in California is taxable, along with some property that the Article holds to be exempt from taxation.[3]
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIII A
- See also: Article XIII A, California Constitution
Article XIII A is labeled "Tax Limitation" and contains seven sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIII B
- See also: Article XIII B, California Constitution
Article XIII B is labeled "Government Spending Limitation" and contains 15 sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIII C
- See also: Article XIII C, California Constitution
Article XIII C is labeled "Voter Approval for Local Tax Levies" and contains three sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIII D
- See also: Article XIII D, California Constitution
Article XIII D is labeled "Assessment and Property-Related Fee Reform" and contains six sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIV
- See also: Article XIV, California Constitution
Article XIV is labeled "Labor Relations." It has five sections that lay out the powers of the legislature and regulations relating to minimum wage, overtime, workers compensation, and other labor-related provisions.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XV
- See also: Article XV, California Constitution
Article XV is labeled "Usury." It has one section related to interest rates.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XVI
- See also: Article XVI, California Constitution
Article XVI is labeled "Public Finance" and relates to public loans, appropriations, expenditures, and other public finance-related provisions.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XVIII
- See also: Article XVIII, California Constitution
Article XVIII is labeled "Amending and Revising the Constitution." It has four sections that relate to amending the state constitution, specifically through the process of initiated constitutional amendment, legislatively referred constitutional amendment, and Constitutional convention.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIX
- See also: Article XIX, California Constitution
Article XIX is labeled "Motor Vehicle Revenues" and has ten sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIX A
- See also: Article XIX A, California Constitution
Article XIX A is labeled "Loans from the Public Transportation Account or Local Transportation Funds" and has two sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIX B
- See also: Article XIX B, California Constitution
Article XIX B is labeled "Motor Vehicle Fuel Sales Tax Revenues and Transportation Improvement Funding" and has two sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIX C
- See also: Article XIX C, California Constitution
Article XIX C is labeled "Enforcement of Certain Provisions" and has four sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XIX D
- See also: Article XIX D, California Constitution
Article XIX D is labeled "Vehicle License Fee Revenues for Transportation Purposes" and has one section.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XX
- See also: Article XX, California Constitution
Article XX is labeled "Miscellaneous Subjects" relates to a variety of subjects from provisions specific to one local jurisdiction and the language to be used to swear in certain public officials to the duties and powers of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and providing that the Speaker of the Assembly be an ex officio member of any state agency created to manage the state's college system.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XXI
- See also: Article XXI, California Constitution
Article XXI is labeled "Redistricting of Senate, Assembly, Congressional and Board of Equalization Districts" and has three sections.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XXII
- See also: Article XXII, California Constitution
Article XXII is labeled "Architectural and Engineering Services." Article XXII in its entirety was added to the California Constitution in November 2000, when Proposition 35 was approved by the state's voters.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XXXIV
- See also: Article XXXIV, California Constitution
Article XXXIV is labeled "Public Housing Project Law." It has four sections that relate to local voter approval of low-rent housing projects for which the construction or operation is at least partially by the Federal government.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Article XXXV
- See also: Article XXXV, California Constitution
Article XXXV is labeled "Medical Research." It has seven sections. The entire article was added to the constitution in 2004 when Proposition 71, the Stem Cell Research Initiative, was approved.
Click here to read this article of the California Constitution.
Amending the constitution
- See also: Amending state constitutions
The California Constitution can be amended in these ways:
- Through the process of a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. This procedure is defined in Section 1 of Article XVIII of the California Constitution. According to that section:
- Two-thirds of the membership of each chamber of the California State Legislature must propose an amendment, which then goes on a statewide ballot to be ratified or rejected by the state's voters.
- The state legislature is allowed to propose revisions (not just amendments) to the constitution.
- If measures conflict, and they both get more than 50 percent of the vote, the one with the highest number of votes prevails.
- Ratified amendments take effect the day after the election.
- Through the process of an initiated constitutional amendment, according to Section 3 of Article XVIII and Section 8 of Article II.
- Petitioners can collect signatures equaling eight percent of the most recent total number of votes cast for the office of governor to qualify a proposed amendment for the ballot.
- See Ballotpedia's page on laws governing the initiative process in California for full details on the process and requirements of an initiated constitutional amendment in California.
- Through the process of a constitutional convention. According to Section 2 of Article XVIII, if two-thirds of the members of each chamber of the state legislature agree, a question as to whether to call a convention or revise the constitution goes on the state's next general election ballot.
- California Electors Right to Call for Constitutional Convention Act (2010)
- California Call for a Limited Constitutional Convention (2010)
See also
- State constitution
- Constitutional article
- Constitutional amendment
- Constitutional revision
- Constitutional convention
- Amendments
External links
- California Constitution
- California Secretary of State, "1849 California Constitution from the California State Archives"
- California Secretary of State, "Inventory of the Constitutional Revision Commission Records, 1964-1972"
Footnotes
- ↑ Carillo, D., et al. (2019). CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: DIRECT DEMOCRACY. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Cunningham, J., et al. (2011). The California State Constitution. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Cite error: Invalid
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