Page images
PDF
EPUB

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

other, adjourn for more than seven days at any one time, nor to another place than that in which the two houses may be sitting. The Assembly shall hold its sessions in the City Hall, subject to temporary change as aforesaid.

SEC. 9. Journal to Be Kept.-Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the desire of any two members, be taken and entered therein.

SEC. 10. Members Ineligible to Office During Term.— No member of the Assembly shall, during the term for which he is elected, be eligible or appointed to any office under the city, nor shall any member of the Assembly, while such, be an employe of the city, or of either branch of the Assembly, in any capacity whatever, and no compensation shall be audited or paid for services as such officer or employe.

*SEC. 11. One Annual Session.-One session of the Assembly shall be held annually, beginning on the third Tuesday of April.

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS.

SEC. 12. Style of Ordinances.-The style of ordinances of this city shall be: "Be it ordained by the Municipal AssemLouis, as follows:"

bly of the City of St.

†SEC. 13. Origin, Amendment and Passage of BillsReport on Public Improvement Bills Required Within Limited Time.-No ordinance shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so amended in its passage through either house as to change its original purpose. Bills may originate in either house, and may be amended or rejected by the other; and every bill shall be read on three different days in each house. Except as hereinafter specifically provided, no bill shall be considered for final passage unless the same has been reported upon by a committee. No bill (except general appropriation bills, which may embrace the various subjects and accounts for and on account of which moneys are appropriated), shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly ex

*This section is an amendment to the Charter, adopted at the charter amendment election held on October 6, 1885.

This section is an amendment to the Charter, adopted at the charter amend ment election held October 22, 1901.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

pressed in its title. Any bill or matter recommended by the Board of Public Improvements and referred to either a standing or special committee of the Council or House of Delegates shall be reported upon by that committee within forty days from the time it was so referred. In the event of failure of such committee to so report within the time specified, the bill or subject matter shall be considered as before the Council or House of Delegates, as the case may be, and shall be referred to a committee of the whole Council or House of Delegates, and acted upon by said committee of the whole.

SEC. 14. Compensation of Members.-Each member of the Assembly shall be entitled to receive, for his official services of every kind, annually, during his term of office, three hundred dollars, and no more; but may be paid his reasonable expenses, authorized and incurred in any such service, to be approved by the house of which he is a member. Whenever a member of the Assembly is absent, without leave from his house first obtained therefor, for an entire sitting of any meeting, he shall forfeit one dollar of his official compensation ; and for this purpose the roll of each house shall be called at each meeting thereof, and the names of such absentees shall be entered upon the journal, and be reported at the close of each meeting to the auditor, who shall deduct from each member's allowance the amount of forfeitures incurred as aforesaid.

SEC. 15. Engrossment of Bills. All amendments adopted by either house, to a bill pending and originating in the same, shall be incorporated with the bill by engrossment. The engrossing shall be under the supervision of a committeeof three, whose report to the house shall set forth, in writing, that they find the bill truly engrossed, and correct.

SEC. 16. Majority Vote Necessary to Pass Bill.-Nobill shall become an ordinance unless on its final passage the majority of the members elected to each house vote in its favor, and the vote be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the same be entered on the journal.

SEC. 17. Amendments, Conference Reports.-No amendment to bills by either house shall be concurred in by the other,

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

except by a vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting for and against, recorded upon the journal thereof; and reports of committees of conference shall be adopted in either house only by the vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting recorded upon the journal.

SEC. 18. Reference to Title Insufficient to Re-Enact. -No ordinance shall be revived or re-enacted by mere reference to the title thereof, but the same shall be set forth at length, as if it were an original ordinance.

SEC. 19. Form of Amendment.-No ordinance shall be amended by providing that designated words thereof be stricken out, or that designated words be inserted, or that designated words be stricken out and others inserted in lieu thereof; but the ordinance or section amended shall be set forth in full, as amended.

SEC. 20. Motion to Reconsider. When a bill is put upon its final passage in either house, and failing to pass, a motion is made to reconsider the vote by which it was defeated, the vote upon such motion to reconsider shall be immediately taken, and the subject finally disposed of before the house proceeds to any other business.

SEC. 21. When Ordinances to Take Effect.-No ordinance passed by the Assembly, except the general appropriation ordinance, shall take effect or go in force until ten days after its approval, unless in case of an emergency, (which emergency must be expressed in the preamble or in the body of the ordinance,) the Assembly shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, otherwise direct; said vote to be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal.

SEC. 22. Signing of Bills-Reading-Objections.—No bill shall become an ordinance until the same shall have been signed by the presiding officer of each of the two houses in open session; and before such officer shall affix his signature to any bill, he shall suspend all other business, declare that such bill will now be read and that, if no objections be made, he will sign the same to the end that it may become an ordi

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

nance. The bill shall then be read at length, and if no objections be made, he shall, in the presence of the house in open session, and before any other business is entertained, affix his signature, which fact shall be noted on the journal, and the bill immediately sent to the other house. When it reaches the other house, the presiding officer thereof shall announce the reception of the bili, and the same proceedings shall thereupon be observed, in every respect, as in the house in which it was first signed. If in either house any member shall object that any substitution, omission or insertion has occurred, so that the bill proposed to be signed is not the same in substance and form as when considered and passed by the house, such objection shall be påssed upon by the house, and if sustained, the presiding officer shall withhold his signature.

*SEC. 23. Return of Bills by Mayor.-Every bill, immediately after its passage in both houses, shall be presented to the Mayor, for his approval or disapproval. And the Mayor shall, within ten days after such presentation, consider and return such bill to the house in which it originated with his approval indorsed thereon or accompanied by his objection. If he approves the same it shall become a law, or in case the Municipal Assembly remain in session for ten days after such. presentation, and the Mayor fails to return such bill as herein required, it shall become a law as if approved by him. Provided, that if the Municipal Assembly shall finally adjourn within ten days after any such presentation, the Mayor shall, within ten days after such adjournment, return such bill to the Register, with his approval or reasons for disapproval, otherwise it shall become a law as if approved.

SEC. 24. Executive Privilege as to Items of Appropriation.--If any ordinance presented to the Mayor contain several items of appropriation, he may object to one or more items while approving other portions of the bill. In such case, he shall append to the ordinance at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects, and the appropriation so objected to shall not take effect. If the Assembly be in ses

*This section is an amendment to the Charter, adopted at the charter amendment election held on October 6, 1885.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

sion, he shall transmit to the house in which the ordinance originated, a copy of such statement, and the items objected to shall be separately reconsidered. If it be not in session, then he shall transmit the same within ten days to the Register, with his approval, or reasons for disapproval.

SEC. 25. Action on Vetoes.-Every bill presented as aforesaid, but returned without the approval of the Mayor, and with his objections thereto, shall stand as reconsidered in the house to which it is returned. The house shall cause the objections of the Mayor to be entered at large upon the journal, and proceed, at its convenience, to consider the question pending, which shall be in this form: "Shall the bill pass, the objections of the Mayor thereto notwithstanding?" The vote upon this question shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names entered upon the journal, and if two-thirds of all the members elected to the house vote in the affirmative, the presiding officer of that house shall certify that fact on the rolls, attesting the same by his signature, and send the bill, with the objections of the Mayor, to the other house, in which like proceedings shall be had in relation thereto, and if the bill receives a like majority of the votes of all the members elected to that house, the vote being taken by yeas and nays, the presiding officer thereof shall in like manner certify the fact upon the bill. This bill, thus certified, shall be deposited in the office of the Register, as an authentic act, and shall become an ordinance in the same manner, and with like effect, as if it had received the approval of the Mayor.

LEGISLATIVE POWERS ENUMERATED-LIMITATIONS.

SEC. 26. Legislative Powers Vested in Mayor and Assembly. The Mayor and Assembly shall have power within the city, by ordinance not inconsistent with the constitution, or any law of this State, or of this charter

*First-To Levy and Collect Taxes, Borrow and Appropriate Money.---To assess, levy and collect all taxes for general

*This paragraph is an amendment to the Charter, adopted at the charter amendment election, held October 22, 1901.

City of St. Louis authorized to issue $5,000,000.00 of bonds to aid World's Fair, by amendment of the Constitution, Article X, Section 12, adopted at election held November 6, 1900.

« PreviousContinue »