Article 4, Indiana Constitution
| Indiana Constitution |
|---|
|
| Preamble |
| Articles |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 |
Article 4 of the Indiana Constitution is entitled Legislative and consists of 30 sections.
Section 1
| Text of Section 1:
General Assembly The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The style of every law shall be: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana;" and no law shall be enacted, except by bill.[1] |
Section 2
| Text of Section 2:
Number of Members The Senate shall not exceed fifty, nor the House of Representatives one hundred members; and they shall be chosen by the electors of the respective districts into which the State may, from time to time, be divided.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 3
| Text of Section 3:
Term of Office Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and Representatives for the term of two years, from the day next after their general election. One half of the Senators, as nearly as possible, shall be elected biennially.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 4
| Text of Section 4:
Vacancies The General Assembly may provide by law for the filling of such vacancies as may occur in the General Assembly.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on March 14, 1881.
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 5
| Text of Section 5:
Apportionment The General Assembly elected during the year in which a federal decennial census is taken shall fix by law the number of Senators and Representatives and apportion them among districts according to the number of inhabitants in each district, as revealed by that federal decennial census. The territory in each district shall be contiguous.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on March 14, 1881.
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 6
| Text of Section 6:
Repealed |
Repealed on November 6, 1984.[1]
Section 7
| Text of Section 7:
Qualifications No person shall be a Senator or a Representative, who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States; nor any one who has not been for two years next preceding his election, an inhabitant of this State, and, for one year next preceding his election, an inhabitant of the district whence he may be chosen. Senators shall be at least twenty-five, and Representatives at least twenty-one years of age.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 8
| Text of Section 8:
Privileges Senators and Representatives, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and shall not be subject to any civil process, during the session of the General Assembly, nor during the fifteen days next before the commencement thereof. For any speech or debate in either House, a member shall not be questioned in any other place.[1] |
Section 9
| Text of Section 9:
Sessions The sessions of the General Assembly shall be held at the capitol of the State, commencing on the Tuesday next after the second Monday in January of each year in which the General Assembly meets unless a different day or place shall have been appointed by law. But if, in the opinion of the Governor, the public welfare shall require it, he may, at any time by proclamation, call a special session. The length and frequency of the sessions of the General Assembly shall be fixed by law.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 3, 1970. The schedule adopted with the 1970 amendment to Article 4, Section 9 was stricken out by a November 6, 1984, amendment.
Section 10
| Text of Section 10:
Organization and Procedure Each House, when assembled, shall choose its own officers, the President of the Senate excepted; judge the elections, qualifications, and returns of its own members; determine its rules of proceeding, and sit upon its own adjournment. But neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any place other than that in which it may be sitting.[1] |
Section 11
| Text of Section 11:
Quorum Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may meet, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members. A quorum being in attendance, if either House fail to effect an organization within the first five days thereafter, the members of the House so failing, shall be entitled to no compensation, from the end of the said five days until an organization shall have been effected.[1] |
Section 12
| Text of Section 12:
Journals Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same. The yeas and nays, on any question, shall, at the request of any two members, be entered, together with the names of the members demanding the same, on the journal; Provided, that on a motion to adjourn, it shall require one-tenth of the members present to order the yeas and nays.[1] |
Section 13
| Text of Section 13:
Public Sessions The doors of each House, and of Committees of the Whole, shall be kept open, except in such cases, as, in the opinion of either House, may require secrecy.[1] |
Section 14
| Text of Section 14:
Discipline of Members Either House may punish its members for disorderly behavior, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause.[1] |
Section 15
| Text of Section 15:
Contempt Either House, during its session, may punish, by imprisonment, any person not a member, who shall have been guilty of disrespect to the House, by disorderly or contemptuous behavior, in its presence; but such imprisonment shall not, at any one time, exceed twenty-four hours.[1] |
Section 16
| Text of Section 16:
General Powers Each House shall have all powers, necessary for a branch of the Legislative department of a free and independent State.[1] |
Section 17
| Text of Section 17:
Origin of Bills Bills may originate in either House, but may be amended or rejected in the other; except that bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.[1] |
Section 18
| Text of Section 18:
Reading of Bills Every bill shall be read, by title, on three several days, in each House; unless, in case of emergency, two-thirds of the House where such bill may be pending shall, by a vote of yeas and nays, deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; but the reading of a bill, by title, on its final passage, shall, in no case, be dispensed with; and the vote on the passage of every bill or joint resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 19
| Text of Section 19:
Subject-Matter of Bills An act, except an act for the codification, revision or rearrangement of laws, shall be confined to one subject and matters properly connected therewith.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 8, 1960.
- As amended on November 5, 1974.
Section 20
| Text of Section 20:
Wording Every act and joint resolution shall be plainly worded, avoiding, as far as practicable, the use of technical terms.[1] |
Section 21
| Text of Section 21:
Repealed |
Repealed on November 8, 1960.[1]
Section 22
| Text of Section 22:
Local and Special Laws The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws:
|
Amendments
- As amended on March 14, 1881.
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 23
| Text of Section 23:
Generality of Laws In all the cases enumerated in the preceding section, and in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, all laws shall be general, and of uniform operation throughout the State.[1] |
Section 24
| Text of Section 24:
Suits Against the State Provision may be made, by general law, for bringing suit against the State; but no special law authorizing such suit to be brought, or making compensation to any person claiming damages against the State, shall ever be passed.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 6, 1984.
Section 25
| Text of Section 25:
Passage of Bills A majority of all the members elected to each House, shall be necessary to pass every bill or joint resolution; and all bills and joint resolutions so passed, shall be signed by the Presiding Officers of the respective Houses.[1] |
Section 26
| Text of Section 26:
Protests Any member of either House shall have the right to protest, and to have his protest, with his reasons for dissent, entered on the journal.[1] |
Section 27
| Text of Section 27:
Public Laws Every statute shall be a public law, unless otherwise declared in the statute itself.[1] |
Section 28
| Text of Section 28:
Date Acts Take Effect No act shall take effect, until the same shall have been published and circulated in the several counties of the State, by authority, except in case of emergency, which emergency shall be declared in the preamble, or in the body, of the law.[1] |
Section 29
| Text of Section 29:
Compensation The members of the General Assembly shall receive for their services a compensation to be fixed by law; but no increase of compensation shall take effect during the session at which such increase may be made.[1] |
Amendments
- As amended on November 3, 1970. The schedule adopted with the 1970 amendment to Article 4, Section 9 was stricken out by a November 6, 1984, amendment.
Section 30
| Text of Section 30:
Eligibility for Office No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, be eligible to any office, the election to which is vested in the General Assembly; nor shall he be appointed to any civil office of profit, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during such term; but this latter provision shall not be construed to apply to any office elective by the People.[1] |
See also
- State constitution
- Constitutional article
- Constitutional amendment
- Constitutional revision
- Constitutional convention
- Amendments
External links
- Indiana.gov, "Indiana Constitution"
- Indiana.gov, "State Constitutions"
- Indiana.gov, "Original Constitution of 1816"
- Indiana.gov, "Constitution of 1851"
- Indiana Public Media, "Posts tagged Indiana Constitution"
Additional reading
- McLauchlan, William P. (1996). The Indiana State Constitution: A Reference Guide Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press
- Indiana.gov, "The 1851 Indiana Constitution" by David G. Vanderstel
- Indiana.gov, "Indiana Bill of Rights" by Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice, Indiana Supreme Court
- Indiana.gov, "Indiana's Constitutional Past" by Justice Brent E. Dickson, Justice, Indiana Supreme Court
Footnotes
| |||||
 |
State of Indiana Indianapolis (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
