North Dakota Constitution

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===== Constitution of North Dakota. =====

==== Preamble ====

We, the people of North Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of
civil and religious liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

==== Article I. Declaration of Rights ====

=== Section 1. ===

All individuals are by nature equally free and independent and have certain
inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and
liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation; pursuing
and obtaining safety and happiness; and to keep and bear arms for the defense of
their person, family, property, and the state, and for lawful hunting,
recreational, and other lawful purposes, which shall not be infringed.

=== Section 2. ===

All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the
protection, security and benefit of the people, and they have a right to alter
or reform the same whenever the public good may require.

=== Section 3. ===

The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference shall be forever guaranteed in this state, and no
person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness or juror on account of his
opinion on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby
secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or
justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this state.

=== Section 4. ===

Every man may freely write, speak and publish his opinions on all subjects,
being responsible for the abuse of that privilege. In all civil and criminal
trials for libel the truth may be given in evidence, and shall be a sufficient
defense when the matter is published with good motives and for justifiable ends;
and the jury shall have the same power of giving a general verdict as in other
cases; and in all indictments or informations for libels the jury shall have the
right to determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court as in
other cases.

=== Section 5. ===

The citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together for the
common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for
the redress of grievances, or for other proper purposes, by petition, address or
remonstrance.

=== Section 6. ===

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime,
shall ever be tolerated in this state.

=== Section 7. ===

Every citizen of this state shall be free to obtain employment wherever
possible, and any person, corporation, or agent thereof, maliciously interfering
or hindering in any way, any citizen from obtaining or enjoying employment
already obtained, from any other corporation or person, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor.

=== Section 8. ===

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and
no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons
and things to be seized.

=== Section 9. ===

All courts shall be open, and every man for any injury done him in his lands,
goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due process of law, and right
and justice administered without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought
against the state in such manner, in such courts, and in such cases, as the
legislative assembly may, by law, direct.

=== Section 10. ===

Until otherwise provided by law, no person shall, for a felony, be proceeded
against criminally, otherwise than by indictment, except in cases arising in the
land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or
public danger. In all other cases, offenses shall be prosecuted criminally by
indictment or information. The legislative assembly may change, regulate or
abolish the grand jury system.

=== Section 11. ===

All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital
offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail
shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor shall cruel or unusual
punishments be inflicted. Witnesses shall not be unreasonably detained, nor be
confined in any room where criminals are actually imprisoned.

=== Section 12. ===

In criminal prosecutions in any court whatever, the party accused shall have the
right to a speedy and public trial; to have the process of the court to compel
the attendance of witnesses in his behalf; and to appear and defend in person
and with counsel. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense,
nor be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.

=== Section 13. ===

The right of trial by jury shall be secured to all, and remain inviolate. A
person accused of a crime for which he may be confined for a period of more than
one year has the right of trial by a jury of twelve. The legislative assembly
may determine the size of the jury for all other cases, provided that the jury
consists of at least six members. All verdicts must be unanimous.

=== Section 14. ===

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless, when
in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require.

=== Section 15. ===

No person shall be imprisoned for debt unless upon refusal to deliver up his
estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall be prescribed
by law; or in cases of tort; or where there is strong presumption of fraud.

=== Section 16. ===

Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just
compensation having been first made to, or paid into court for the owner, unless
the owner chooses to accept annual payments as may be provided for by law. No
right of way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation until full
compensation therefor be first made in money or ascertained and paid into court
for the owner, unless the owner chooses annual payments as may be provided by
law, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such
corporation. Compensation shall be ascertained by a jury, unless a jury be
waived. When the state or any of its departments, agencies or political
subdivisions seeks to acquire right of way, it may take possession upon making
an offer to purchase and by depositing the amount of such offer with the clerk
of the district court of the county wherein the right of way is located. The
clerk shall immediately notify the owner of such deposit. The owner may
thereupon appeal to the court in the manner provided by law, and may have a jury
trial, unless a jury be waived, to determine the damages, which damages the
owner may choose to accept in annual payments as may be provided for by law.
Annual payments shall not be subject to escalator clauses but may be
supplemented by interest earned.

For purposes of this section, a public use or a public purpose does not include
public benefits of economic development, including an increase in tax base, tax
revenues, employment, or general economic health. Private property shall not be
taken for the use of, or ownership by, any private individual or entity, unless
that property is necessary for conducting a common carrier or utility business.

=== Section 17. ===

Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering
to its enemies or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of
treason unless on the evidence of two witnesses to the same overt act, or
confession in open court.

=== Section 18. ===

No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligations of
contracts shall ever be passed.

=== Section 19. ===

The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. No standing army shall be
maintained by this state in time of peace, and no soldiers shall, in time of
peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time
of war, except in the manner prescribed by law.

=== Section 20. ===

To guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we
declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of
government and shall forever remain inviolate.

=== Section 21. ===

No special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted which may not be
altered, revoked or repealed by the legislative assembly; nor shall any citizen
or class of citizens be granted privileges or immunities which upon the same
terms shall not be granted to all citizens.

=== Section 22. ===

All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation.

=== Section 23. ===

The state of North Dakota is an inseparable part of the American union and the
Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.

=== Section 24. ===

The provisions of this constitution are mandatory and prohibitory unless, by
express words, they are declared to be otherwise.

==== Article II. Elective Franchise ====

=== Section 1. ===

The general election of the state shall be held biennially as provided by law.

Only a citizen of the United States, who has attained the age of eighteen years
and who is a North Dakota resident, shall be a qualified elector. When an
elector moves within the state, he shall be entitled to vote in the precinct
from which he moves until he establishes voting residence in another precinct.
The legislative assembly shall provide by law for the determination of residence
for voting eligibility, other than physical presence.  No elector shall lose his
residency for voting eligibility solely by reason of his absence from the state.

The legislative assembly shall provide by law for secrecy in voting, for
absentee voting, for administration of elections and for the nomination of
candidates.

=== Section 2. ===

No person who has been declared mentally incompetent by order of a court or
other authority having jurisdiction, which order has not been rescinded, shall
be qualified to vote. No person convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote
until his or her civil rights are restored.

=== Section 3. ===

Only a qualified elector may vote in any general, special, or primary election
for a federal, statewide, state legislative, district, county, township, city,
or school district office, or for a statewide, district, or political
subdivision ballot measure.

==== Article III. Powers Reserved To The People ====

=== Section 1. ===

While the legislative power of this state shall be vested in a legislative
assembly consisting of a senate and a house of representatives, the people
reserve the power to propose and enact laws by the initiative, including the
call for a constitutional convention; to approve or reject legislative Acts, or
parts thereof, by the referendum; to propose and adopt constitutional amendments
by the initiative; and to recall certain elected officials. This article is
self-executing and all of its provisions are mandatory. Laws may be enacted to
facilitate and safeguard, but not to hamper, restrict, or impair these powers.

=== Section 2. ===

A petition to initiate or to refer a measure must be presented to the secretary
of state for approval as to form. A request for approval must be presented over
the names and signatures of twenty-five or more electors as sponsors, one of
whom must be designated as chairman of the sponsoring committee. The secretary
of state shall approve the petition for circulation if it is in proper form and
contains the names and addresses of the sponsors and the full text of the
measure. The legislative assembly may provide by law for a procedure through
which the legislative council may establish an appropriate method for
determining the fiscal impact of an initiative measure and for making the
information regarding the fiscal impact of the measure available to the public.

=== Section 3. ===

The petition shall be circulated only by electors. They shall swear thereon that
the electors who have signed the petition did so in their presence. Each elector
signing a petition shall also write in the date of signing and his post-office
address. No law shall be enacted limiting the number of copies of a petition.
The copies shall become part of the original petition when filed.

=== Section 4. ===

The petition may be submitted to the secretary of state if signed by electors
equal in number to two percent of the resident population of the state at the
last federal decennial census.

=== Section 5. ===

An initiative petition shall be submitted not less than ninety days
before the statewide election at which the measure is to be voted upon. A
referendum petition may be submitted only within ninety days after the filing of
the measure with the secretary of state. The submission of a petition shall
suspend the operation of any measure enacted by the legislative assembly except
emergency measures and appropriation measures for the support and maintenance of
state departments and institutions. The submission of a petition against one or
more items or parts of any measure shall not prevent the remainder from going
into effect. A referred measure may be voted upon at a statewide election or at
a special election called by the governor.

=== Section 6. ===

The secretary of state shall pass upon each petition, and if he finds it
insufficient, he shall notify the "committee for the petitioners" and allow
twenty days for correction or amendment. All decisions of the secretary of
state in regard to any such petition shall be subject to review by the supreme
court. But if the sufficiency of such petition is being reviewed at the time
the ballot is prepared, the secretary of state shall place the measure on the
ballot and no subsequent decision shall invalidate such measure if it is at
such election approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon. If proceedings
are brought against any petition upon any ground, the burden of proof shall be
upon the party attacking it.

=== Section 7. ===

All decisions of the secretary of state in the petition process are subject to
review by the supreme court in the exercise of original jurisdiction.  If his
decision is being reviewed at the time the ballot is prepared, he shall place
the measure on the ballot and no court action shall invalidate the measure if
it is approved at the election by a majority of the votes cast thereon.

=== Section 8. ===

If a majority of votes cast upon an initiated or a referred measure are
affirmative, it shall be deemed enacted. An initiated or referred measure which
is approved shall become law thirty days after the election, and a referred
measure which is rejected shall be void immediately.  If conflicting measures
are approved, the one receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall be
law. A measure approved by the electors may not be repealed or amended by the
legislative assembly for seven years from its effective date, except by a
two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house.

=== Section 9. ===

A constitutional amendment may be proposed by initiative petition. If signed by
electors equal in number to four percent of the resident population of the state
at the last federal decennial census, the petition may be submitted to the
secretary of state. All other provisions relating to initiative measures apply
hereto.

=== Section 10. ===

Any elected official of the state, of any county or of any legislative or county
commissioner district shall be subject to recall by petition of electors equal
in number to twenty-five percent of those who voted at the preceding general
election for the office of governor in the state, county, or district in which
the official is to be recalled. The petition shall be filed with the official
with whom a petition for nomination to the office in question is filed, who
shall call a special election if he finds the petition valid and sufficient. No
elector may remove his name from a recall petition. The name of the official to
be recalled shall be placed on the ballot unless he resigns within ten days
after the filing of the petition.  Other candidates for the office may be
nominated in a manner provided by law.  When the election results have been
officially declared, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall
be deemed elected for the remainder of the term. No official shall be subject
twice to recall during the term for which he was elected.

==== Article IV. Legislative Branch ====

=== Section 1. ===

The senate must be composed of not less than forty nor more than fifty-four
members, and the house of representatives must be composed of not less than
eighty nor more than one hundred eight members. These houses are jointly
designated as the legislative assembly of the state of North Dakota.

=== Section 2. ===

The legislative assembly shall fix the number of senators and representatives
and divide the state into as many senatorial districts of compact and contiguous
territory as there are senators. The districts thus ascertained and determined
after the 1990 federal decennial census shall continue until the adjournment of
the first regular session after each federal decennial census, or until changed
by law. The legislative assembly shall guarantee, as nearly as is practicable,
that every elector is equal to every other elector in the state in the power to
cast ballots for legislative candidates. A senator and at least two
representatives must be apportioned to each senatorial district and be elected
at large or from subdistricts from those districts. The legislative assembly may
combine two senatorial districts only when a single member senatorial district
includes a federal facility or federal installation, containing over two-thirds
of the population of a single member senatorial district, and may provide for
the election of senators at large and representatives at large or from
subdistricts from those districts.

=== Section 3. ===

The legislative assembly shall establish by law a procedure whereby one-half of
the members of the senate and one-half of the members of the house of
representatives, as nearly as is practicable, are elected biennially.

=== Section 4. ===

Senators and representatives must be elected for terms of four years.

=== Section 5. ===

Each person elected to the legislative assembly must be, on the day of the
election, a qualified elector in the district from which the member was chosen
and must have been a resident of the state for one year immediately prior to
that election.

=== Section 6. ===

While serving in the legislative assembly, no member may hold any full-time
appointive state office established by this constitution or designated by law.
During the term for which elected, no member of the legislative assembly may be
appointed to any full-time office which has been created, or to any office for
which the compensation has been increased, by the legislative assembly during
that term.

=== Section 7. ===

The terms of members of the legislative assembly begin on the first day of
December following their election.

The legislative assembly shall meet at the seat of government in the month of
December following the election of the members thereof for organizational and
orientation purposes as provided by law and shall thereafter recess until twelve
noon on the first Tuesday after the third day in January or at such other time
as may be prescribed by law but not later than the eleventh day of January.

No regular session of the legislative assembly may exceed eighty natural days
during the biennium. The organizational meeting of the legislative assembly may
not be counted as part of those eighty natural days, nor may days spent in
session at the call of the governor or while engaged in impeachment proceedings,
be counted. Days spent in regular session need not be consecutive, and the
legislative assembly may authorize its committees to meet at any time during the
biennium. As used in this section, a "natural day" means a period of twenty-four
consecutive hours.

Neither house may recess nor adjourn for more than three days without consent of
the other house.

=== Section 8. ===

The house of representatives shall elect one of its members to act as presiding
officer at the beginning of each organizational session.

=== Section 9. ===

If any person elected to either house of the legislative assembly shall offer or
promise to give his vote or influence, in favor of, or against any measure or
proposition pending or proposed to be introduced into the legislative assembly,
in consideration, or upon conditions, that any other person elected to the same
legislative assembly will give, or will promise or assent to give, his vote or
influence in favor of or against any other measure or proposition, pending or
proposed to be introduced into such legislative assembly, the person making such
offer or promise shall be deemed guilty of solicitation of bribery. If any
member of the legislative assembly, shall give his vote or influence for or
against any measure or proposition, pending or proposed to be introduced into
such legislative assembly, or offer, promise or assent so to do upon condition
that any other member will give, promise or assent to give his vote or influence
in favor of or against any other such measure or proposition pending or proposed
to be introduced into such legislative assembly, or in consideration that any
other member hath given his vote or influence, for or against any other measure
or proposition in such legislative assembly, he shall be deemed guilty of
bribery.  And any person, member of the legislative assembly or person elected
thereto, who shall be guilty of either such offenses, shall be expelled, and
shall not thereafter be eligible to the legislative assembly, and, on the
conviction thereof in the civil courts, shall be liable to such further penalty
as may be prescribed by law.

=== Section 10. ===

No member of the legislative assembly, expelled for corruption, and no person
convicted of bribery, perjury or other infamous crime shall be eligible to the
legislative assembly, or to any office in either branch thereof.

=== Section 11. ===

The legislative assembly may provide by law a procedure to fill vacancies
occurring in either house of the legislative assembly.

=== Section 12. ===

A majority of the members elected to each house constitutes a quorum. A smaller
number may adjourn from day to day and may compel attendance of absent members
in a manner, and under a penalty, as may be provided by law.

Each house is the judge of the qualifications of its members, but election
contests are subject to judicial review as provided by law. If two or more
candidates for the same office receive an equal and highest number of votes, the
secretary of state shall choose one of them by the toss of a coin.

Each house shall determine its rules of procedure, and may punish its members or
other persons for contempt or disorderly behavior in its presence. With the
concurrence of two-thirds of its elected members, either house may expel a
member.

=== Section 13. ===

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and a recorded vote on any
question shall be taken at the request of one-sixth of those members present. No
bill may become law except by a recorded vote of a majority of the members
elected to each house, and the lieutenant governor is considered a member-elect
of the senate when the lieutenant governor votes.

No law may be enacted except by a bill passed by both houses, and no bill may be
amended on its passage through either house in a manner which changes its
general subject matter. No bill may embrace more than one subject, which must be
expressed in its title; but a law violating this provision is invalid only to
the extent the subject is not so expressed.

Every bill must be read on two separate natural days, and the readings may be by
title only unless a reading at length is demanded by one-fifth of the members
present.

No bill may be amended, extended, or incorporated in any other bill by reference
to its title only, except in the case of definitions and procedural provisions.

The presiding officer of each house shall sign all bills passed and resolutions
adopted by the legislative assembly, and the fact of signing shall be entered at
once in the journal.

Every law, except as otherwise provided in this section, enacted by the
legislative assembly during its eighty natural meeting days takes effect on
August first after its filing with the secretary of state, or if filed on or
after August first and before January first of the following year ninety days
after its filing, or on a subsequent date if specified in the law unless, by a
vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, the legislative
assembly declares it an emergency measure and includes the declaration in the
Act. Every appropriation measure for support and maintenance of state
departments and institutions and every tax measure that changes tax rates
enacted by the legislative assembly take effect on July first after its filing
with the secretary of state or on a subsequent date if specified in the law
unless, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, the
legislative assembly declares it an emergency measure and includes the
declaration in the Act. An emergency measure takes effect upon its filing with
the secretary of state or on a date specified in the measure. Every law enacted
by a special session of the legislative assembly takes effect on a date
specified in the Act.

The legislative assembly shall enact all laws necessary to carry into effect the
provisions of this constitution. Except as otherwise provided in this
constitution, no local or special laws may be enacted, nor may the legislative
assembly indirectly enact special or local laws by the partial repeal of a
general law but laws repealing local or special laws may be enacted.

=== Section 14. ===

All sessions of the legislative assembly, including the committee of the whole
and meetings of legislative committees, must be open and public.

=== Section 15. ===

Members of the legislative assembly are immune from arrest during their
attendance at the sessions, and in going to or returning from the sessions,
except in cases of felony. Members of the legislative assembly may not be
questioned in any other place for any words used in any speech or debate in
legislative proceedings.

=== Section 16. ===

Any amendment to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the
legislative assembly, and if agreed to upon a roll call by a majority of the
members elected to each house, must be submitted to the electors and if a
majority of the votes cast thereon are in the affirmative, the amendment is a
part of this constitution. Sections 17 and 18. Repealed.

=== Section 17. ===

Renumbered. Sections 20 to 46. Repealed.

==== Article V. Executive Branch ====

=== Section 1. ===

The executive power is vested in the governor, who shall reside in the state
capital and shall hold the office for the term of four years beginning in the
year 2000, and until a successor is elected and qualified.

=== Section 2. ===

The qualified electors of the state at the times and places of choosing members
of the legislative assembly shall choose a governor, lieutenant governor,
agriculture commissioner, attorney general, auditor, insurance commissioner,
three public service commissioners, secretary of state, superintendent of public
instruction, tax commissioner, and treasurer. The legislative assembly may by
law provide for a department of labor to be administered by a public official
who may be either elected or appointed.

The powers and duties of the agriculture commissioner, attorney general,
auditor, insurance commissioner, public service commissioners, secretary of
state, superintendent of public instruction, tax commissioner, and treasurer
must be prescribed by law. If the legislative assembly establishes a labor
department, the powers and duties of the officer administering that department
must be prescribed by law.

=== Section 3. ===

The governor and the lieutenant governor must be elected on a joint ballot. Each
vote cast for a candidate for governor is deemed cast also for the candidate for
lieutenant governor running jointly with the candidate for governor. The joint
candidates having the highest number of votes must be declared elected. If two
or more joint candidates have an equal and highest number of votes for governor
and lieutenant governor, the legislative assembly in joint session at its next
regular session shall choose one pair of joint candidates for the offices. The
returns of the election for governor and lieutenant governor must be made in the
manner prescribed by law.

=== Section 4. ===

To be eligible to hold an elective office established by this article, a person
must be a qualified elector of this state, must be at least twenty-five years of
age on the day of the election, and must have been a resident of this state for
the five years preceding election to office. To be eligible to hold the office
of governor or lieutenant governor, a person must be at least thirty years old
on the day of the election. The attorney general must be licensed to practice
law in this state.

=== Section 5. ===

The qualified electors shall choose the elected state officials at a time
designated by the legislative assembly. The elected state officials shall serve
until their successors are duly qualified. Terms of office of the elected
officials except the public service commissioners are four years, except that in
2004 the agriculture commissioner, attorney general, secretary of state, and tax
commissioner are elected to a term of two years. The terms of the public service
commissioners are six years, so arranged that one of them is elected every two
years. The terms of the governor and lieutenant governor begin on December
fifteenth following their election.

If two or more candidates for any executive office other than for governor and
lieutenant governor receive an equal and highest number of votes, the
legislative assembly in joint session shall choose one of them for the office.

=== Section 6. ===

The elected state officials and the chief executive officers of the principal
departments shall hold office in the state capital.

=== Section 7. ===

The governor is the chief executive of the state. The governor shall have the
responsibility to see that the state's business is well administered and that
its laws are faithfully executed.

The governor is commander-in-chief of the state's military forces, except when
they are called into the service of the United States, and the governor may
mobilize them to execute the laws and maintain order.

The governor shall prescribe the duties of the lieutenant governor in addition
to those prescribed in this article.

The governor may call special sessions of the legislative assembly.

The governor shall present information on the condition of the state, together
with any recommended legislation, to every regular and special session of the
legislative assembly.

The governor shall transact and supervise all necessary business of the state
with the United States, the other states, and the officers and officials of this
state.

The governor may grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons. The governor may
delegate this power in a manner provided by law.

=== Section 8. ===

The governor may fill a vacancy in any office by appointment if no other method
is provided by this constitution or by law. If, while the senate is recessed or
adjourned, a vacancy occurs in any office that is filled by appointment with
senate confirmation, the governor shall make a temporary appointment to the
office. When the senate reconvenes the governor shall make a nomination to fill
the office. Except on request of the senate, no nominee rejected by the senate
may again be nominated for that office at the same session, nor may the nominee
be appointed to that office during a recess or adjournment of the senate.

=== Section 9. ===

Every bill passed by the legislative assembly must be presented to the governor
for the governor's signature. If the governor signs the bill, it becomes law.

The governor may veto a bill passed by the legislative assembly. The governor
may veto items in an appropriation bill. Portions of the bill not vetoed become
law.

The governor shall return for reconsideration any vetoed item or bill, with a
written statement of the governor's objections, to the house in which it
originated. That house shall immediately enter the governor's objections upon
its journal. If, by a recorded vote, two-thirds of the members elected to that
house pass a vetoed item or bill, it, along with the statement of the governor's
objections, must immediately be delivered to the other house. If, by a recorded
vote, two-thirds of the members elected to the other house also pass it, the
vetoed item or bill becomes law.

While the legislative assembly is in session, a bill becomes law if the governor
neither signs nor vetoes it within three legislative days after its delivery to
the governor. If the legislative assembly is not in session, a bill becomes law
if the governor neither signs nor vetoes it within fifteen days, Saturdays and
Sundays excepted, after its delivery to the governor.

=== Section 10. ===

A governor who asks, receives, or agrees to receive any bribe upon any
understanding that the governor's official opinion, judgment, or action shall be
influenced thereby, or who gives or offers, or promises the governor's official
influence in consideration that any member of the legislative assembly shall
give the member's official vote or influence on any particular side of any
question or matter upon which the member may be required to act in the member's
official capacity, or who menaces any member by the threatened use of the
governor's veto power, or who offers or promises any member that the governor
will appoint any particular person or persons to any office created or
thereafter to be created, in consideration that any member shall give the
member's official vote or influence on any matter pending or thereafter to be
introduced into either house of the legislative assembly, or who threatens any
member that the governor will remove any person or persons from office or
position with intent in any manner to influence the action of that member, must
be punished in the manner now, or that may hereafter be, provided by law, and
upon conviction thereof forfeits all right to hold or exercise any office of
trust or honor in this state.

=== Section 11. ===

The lieutenant governor shall succeed to the office of governor when a vacancy
occurs in the office of governor. If, during a vacancy in the office of
governor, the lieutenant governor is unable to serve because of death,
impeachment, resignation, failure to qualify, removal from office, or
disability, the secretary of state shall act as governor until the vacancy is
filled or the disability removed.

=== Section 12. ===

The lieutenant governor shall serve as president of the senate. If the senate is
equally divided on a question, the lieutenant governor may vote on procedural
matters and on substantive matters if the lieutenant governor's vote would be
decisive.

==== Article VI. Judicial Branch ====

=== Section 1. ===

The judicial power of the state is vested in a unified judicial system
consisting of a supreme court, a district court, and such other courts as may be
provided by law.

=== Section 2. ===

The supreme court shall be the highest court of the state.  It shall have
appellate jurisdiction, and shall also have original jurisdiction with authority
to issue, hear, and determine such original and remedial writs as may be
necessary to properly exercise its jurisdiction.  The supreme court shall
consist of five justices, one of whom shall be designated chief justice in the
manner provided by law.

=== Section 3. ===

The supreme court shall have authority to promulgate rules of procedure,
including appellate procedure, to be followed by all the courts of this state;
and, unless otherwise provided by law, to promulgate rules and regulations for
the admission to practice, conduct, disciplining, and disbarment of attorneys at
law. The chief justice shall be the administrative head of the unified judicial
system. He may assign judges, including retired judges, for temporary duty in
any court or district under such rules and regulations as may be promulgated by
the supreme court. The chief justice shall appoint a court administrator for the
unified judicial system. Unless otherwise provided by law, the powers, duties,
qualifications, and terms of office of the court administrator, and other court
officials, shall be as provided by rules of the court.

=== Section 4. ===

A majority of the supreme court shall be necessary to constitute a quorum or to
pronounce a decision, provided that the supreme court shall not declare a
legislative enactment unconstitutional unless at least four of the members of
the court so decide.

=== Section 5. ===

When a judgment or order is reversed, modified, or confirmed by the supreme
court, the reasons shall be concisely stated in writing, signed by the justices
concurring, filed in the office of the clerk of the supreme court, and preserved
with a record of the case. Any justice dissenting may give the reason for his
dissent in writing over his signature.

=== Section 6. ===

Appeals shall be allowed from decisions of lower courts to the supreme court as
may be provided by law.

=== Section 7. ===

The justices of the supreme court shall be chosen by the electors of the state
for ten-year terms, so arranged that one justice is elected every two years.
They shall hold office until their successors are duly qualified, and shall
receive compensation as provided by law, but the compensation of any justice
shall not be diminished during his term of office.

=== Section 8. ===

The district court shall have original jurisdiction of all causes, except as
otherwise provided by law, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by
law or by rule of the supreme court. The district court shall have authority to
issue such writs as are necessary to the proper exercise of its jurisdiction.

=== Section 9. ===

The state shall be divided into judicial districts by order of the supreme
court. In each district, one or more judges, as provided by law, shall be chosen
by the electors of the district. The term of office shall be six years, and a
district judge shall hold office until his successor is duly qualified. The
compensation of district judges shall be fixed by law, but the compensation of
any district judge shall not be diminished during his term of office.

=== Section 10. ===

Supreme court justices and district court judges shall be citizens of the United
States and residents of this state, shall be learned in the law, and shall
possess any additional qualifications prescribed by law. Judges of other courts
shall be selected for such terms and shall have such qualifications as may be
prescribed by law. No justice of the supreme court or judge of the district
court of this state shall engage in the practice of law, or hold any public
office, elective or appointive, not judicial in nature. No duties shall be
imposed by law upon the supreme court or any of the justices thereof, except
such as are judicial, nor shall any of the justices exercise any power of
appointment except as herein provided. No judge of any court of this state shall
be paid from the fees of his office, nor shall the amount of his compensation be
measured by fees, other moneys received, or the amount of judicial activity of
his office.

=== Section 11. ===

When any justice or judge has a conflict of interest in a pending cause or is
unable to sit in court because he is physically or mentally incapacitated, the
chief justice, or a justice acting in his stead, shall assign a judge, or
retired justice or judge, to hear the cause.

=== Section 12. ===

The legislative assembly may provide for the retirement, discipline, and removal
of judges. The removal procedure provided for herein may be used in addition to
the impeachment proceedings provided for in article XI, sections 8, 9, and 10,
and removal provided for in article XI, section 11.

=== Section 12.1. ===

The legislative assembly may provide for the retirement, discipline and removal
of judges of the supreme court and district court. The removal procedure
provided for herein may be used in addition to the impeachment proceedings
provided for in article XI, sections 8, 9, and 10.

=== Section 13. ===

1. A judicial nominating committee must be established by law. The governor
shall fill any vacancy in the office of supreme court justice or district court
judge by appointment from a list of candidates nominated by the committee,
unless the governor calls a special election to fill the vacancy for the
remainder of the term. Except as provided in subsection 2, an appointment must
continue until the next general election, when the office must be filled by
election for the remainder of the term.

2. An appointment must continue for at least two years. If the term of the
appointed judgeship expires before the judge has served at least two years, the
judge shall continue in the position until the next general election immediately
following the service of at least two years.

3. Notwithstanding sections 7 and 9 of this article, the term of the judge
elected at the subsequent general election provided for in subsection 2 is
reduced to the number of years remaining in the subsequent term after the
appointee has served at least two years.

==== Article VII. Political Subdivisions ====

=== Section 1. ===

The purpose of this article is to provide for maximum local self-government by
all political subdivisions with a minimum duplication of functions.

=== Section 2. ===

The legislative assembly shall provide by law for the establishment and the
government of all political subdivisions. Each political subdivision shall have
and exercise such powers as provided by law.

=== Section 3. ===

The several counties of the state of North Dakota as they now exist are hereby
declared to be counties of the state of North Dakota.

=== Section 4. ===

The legislative assembly shall provide by law for relocating county seats within
counties, but it shall have no power to remove the county seat of any county.

=== Section 5. ===

Methods and standards by which all or any portion of a county or counties may be
annexed, merged, consolidated, reclassified, or dissolved shall be as provided
by law. No portion of any county or counties shall be annexed, merged,
consolidated, or dissolved unless a majority of the electors of each affected
county voting on the question so approve.

=== Section 6. ===

The legislative assembly shall provide by law for the establishment and exercise
of home rule in counties and cities. No home rule charter shall become operative
in any county or city until submitted to the electors thereof and approved by a
majority of those voting thereon. In granting home rule powers to cities, the
legislative assembly shall not be restricted by city debt limitations contained
in this constitution.

=== Section 7. ===

The legislative assembly shall also provide by law for optional forms of
government for counties, but no optional form of government shall become
operative in any county until submitted to the electors thereof at a special or
general election, and approved by a majority of those voting thereon. Until one
of the optional forms of county government is adopted by any county, the fiscal
and administrative affairs of the county shall be governed by a board of county
commissioners as provided by law.

=== Section 8. ===

Each county shall provide for law enforcement, administrative and fiscal
services, recording and registration services, educational services, and any
other governmental services or functions as may be provided by law. Any elective
office provided for by the counties shall be for a term of four years. Elective
officers shall be elected by the electors in the jurisdiction in which the
elected officer is to serve. A candidate for election for sheriff must be a
resident in the jurisdiction in which the candidate is to serve at the time of
the election. The office of sheriff shall be elected. The legislative assembly
may provide by law for the election of any county elective officer, other than
the sheriff, to serve one or more counties provided the affected counties agree
to the arrangement and any candidate elected to the office is a qualified
elector of one of the affected counties.

=== Section 9. ===

Questions of the form of government to be adopted by any county or on the
elimination or reinstatement of elective county offices may be placed upon the
ballot by petition of electors of the county equal in number to twenty-five
percent of the votes cast in the county for the office of governor at the
preceding gubernatorial election.

=== Section 10. ===

Agreements, including those for cooperative or joint administration of any
powers or functions, may be made by any political subdivision with any other
political subdivision, with the state, or with the United States, unless
otherwise provided by law or home rule charter. A political subdivision may by
mutual agreement transfer to the county in which it is located any of its powers
or functions as provided by law or home rule charter, and may in like manner
revoke the transfer.

=== Section 11. ===

The power of the governing board of a city to franchise the construction and
operation of any public utility or similar service within the city shall not be
abridged by the legislative assembly.

==== Article VIII. Education ====

=== Section 1. ===

A high degree of intelligence, patriotism, integrity and morality on the part of
every voter in a government by the people being necessary in order to insure the
continuance of that government and the prosperity and happiness of the people,
the legislative assembly shall make provision for the establishment and
maintenance of a system of public schools which shall be open to all children of
the state of North Dakota and free from sectarian control. This legislative
requirement shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and
the people of North Dakota.

=== Section 2. ===

The legislative assembly shall provide for a uniform system of free public
schools throughout the state, beginning with the primary and extending through
all grades up to and including schools of higher education, except that the
legislative assembly may authorize tuition, fees and service charges to assist
in the financing of public schools of higher education.

=== Section 3. ===

In all schools instruction shall be given as far as practicable in those
branches of knowledge that tend to impress upon the mind the vital importance of
truthfulness, temperance, purity, public spirit, and respect for honest labor of
every kind.

=== Section 4. ===

The legislative assembly shall take such other steps as may be necessary to
prevent illiteracy, secure a reasonable degree of uniformity in course of study,
and to promote industrial, scientific, and agricultural improvements.

=== Section 5. ===

All colleges, universities, and other educational institutions, for the support
of which lands have been granted to this state, or which are supported by a
public tax, shall remain under the absolute and exclusive control of the state.
No money raised for the support of the public schools of the state shall be
appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.

=== Section 6. ===

<WRAP indent>

<wrap outdent> 1. </wrap> A board of higher education, to be officially known as
the state board of higher education, is hereby created for the control and
administration of the following state educational institutions, to wit: a. The
state university and school of mines, at Grand Forks, with their substations.
b. The state agricultural college and experiment station, at Fargo, with their
substations.  c. The school of science, at Wahpeton. d. The state normal schools
and teachers colleges, at Valley City, Mayville, Minot, and Dickinson. e. The
school of forestry, at Bottineau. f. And such other state institutions of higher
education as may hereafter be established.

<wrap outdent> 2. a. The state board of higher education consists of eight
members. The governor shall appoint seven members who are qualified electors and
taxpayers of the state, and who have resided in this state for not less than
five years immediately preceding their appointments. These seven appointments
are subject to confirmation by the senate. </wrap>

The governor shall appoint as the eighth member of the board a full-time
resident student in good academic standing at an institution under the
jurisdiction of the state board. Except for the student member, no more than two
persons holding a bachelor's degree from a particular institution under the
jurisdiction of the state board of higher education may serve on the board at
any one time. Except for the student member, no person employed by any
institution under the control of the board shall serve as a member of the board
and no employee of any such institution may be eligible for membership on the
state board of higher education for a period of two years following the
termination of employment.

The governor shall nominate from a list of three names for each position,
selected by action of four of the following five persons: the president of the
North Dakota education association, the chief justice of the supreme court, the
superintendent of public instruction, the president pro tempore of the senate,
and the speaker of the house of representatives and, with the consent of a
majority of the members-elect of the senate, shall appoint from the list to the
state board of higher education seven members. The governor shall ensure that
the board membership is maintained in a balanced and representative manner.

The term of office of members appointed to fill vacancies at the expiration of
said terms shall be for four years, and in the case of vacancies otherwise
arising, appointments shall be made only for the balance of the term of the
members whose places are to be filled. A member may not be appointed to serve
for more than two terms. If a member is appointed to fill a vacancy and serves
two or more years of that term, the member is deemed to have served one full
term.

b. In the event any nomination made by the governor is not consented to and
confirmed by the senate, the governor shall again nominate a candidate selected
from a new list. The nomination shall be submitted to the senate for
confirmation and the proceedings shall continue until an appointee has been
confirmed by the senate or the session of the legislature has adjourned.

c. If a term expires or a vacancy occurs when the legislature is not in session,
the governor may appoint from a list selected as provided, a member who shall
serve until the opening of the next session of the legislature, at which time
the appointment must be certified to the senate for confirmation. If the
appointee is not confirmed by the thirtieth legislative day of the session, the
office shall be deemed vacant and the governor shall nominate another candidate
for the office. The same proceedings shall be followed as are set forth in this
section. If the legislature is in session at any time within six months prior to
the date of the expiration of the term of any member, the governor shall
nominate a successor from a list selected as above set forth, within the first
thirty days of the session and upon confirmation by the senate the successor
shall take office at the expiration of the incumbent's term. No person who has
been nominated and whose nomination the senate has failed to confirm is eligible
for an interim appointment. On or before July first of each year, beginning in
1995, the governor shall appoint a student member from a list of names
recommended by the executive board of the North Dakota student association for a
term of one year, beginning on July first. A student member may not serve more
than two consecutive terms.

<wrap outdent> 3. </wrap> The members of the state board of higher education may
only be removed by impeachment for the offenses and in the manner and according
to the procedure provided for the removal of the governor by impeachment
proceedings.

<wrap outdent> 4. </wrap> Each appointive member of the state board of higher
education, except the student member, shall receive compensation set by the
legislative assembly for the time actually spent devoted to the duties of the
member's office. All members shall receive necessary expenses in the same manner
and amounts as other state officials for attending meetings and performing other
functions of their office.

<wrap outdent> 5. </wrap> The legislature shall provide adequate funds for the
proper carrying out of the functions and duties of the state board of higher
education.

<wrap outdent> 6. a. The state board of higher education shall hold its first
meeting at the office of the state board of administration at Bismarck, on the
6th day of July, 1939, and shall organize and elect one of its members as
president of such board for a term of one year. It shall also at said meeting,
or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, elect a competent person as
secretary, who shall reside during his term of office in the city of Bismarck,
North Dakota.  Said secretary shall hold office at the will of the board. As
soon as said board is established and organized, it shall assume all the powers
and perform all the duties now conferred by law upon the board of administration
in connection with the several institutions hereinbefore mentioned, and the said
board of administration shall immediately upon the organization of said state
board of higher education, surrender and transfer to said state board of higher
education all duties, rights, and powers granted to it under the existing laws
of this state concerning the institutions hereinbefore mentioned, together with
all property, deeds, records, reports, and appurtenances of every kind belonging
or appertaining to said institutions. </wrap>

b. The said state board of higher education shall have full authority over the
institutions under its control with the right, among its other powers, to
prescribe, limit, or modify the courses offered at the several institutions.  In
furtherance of its powers, the state board of higher education shall have the
power to delegate to its employees details of the administration of the
institutions under its control. The said state board of higher education shall
have full authority to organize or reorganize within constitutional and
statutory limitations, the work of each institution under its control, and do
each and everything necessary and proper for the efficient and economic
administration of said state educational institutions.

c. Said board shall prescribe for all of said institutions standard systems of
accounts and records and shall biennially, and within six (6) months immediately
preceding the regular session of the legislature, make a report to the governor,
covering in detail the operations of the educational institutions under its
control.

d. It shall be the duty of the heads of the several state institutions
hereinbefore mentioned, to submit the budget requests for the biennial
appropriations for said institutions to said state board of higher education;
and said state board of higher education shall consider said budgets and shall
revise the same as in its judgment shall be for the best interests of the
educational system of the state; and thereafter the state board of higher
education shall prepare and present to the state budget board and to the
legislature a single unified budget covering the needs of all the institutions
under its control. "Said budget shall be prepared and presented by the board of
administration until the state board of higher education organizes as provided
in subsection 6a." The appropriations for all of said institutions shall be
contained in one legislative measure. The budgets and appropriation measures for
the agricultural experiment stations and their substations and the extension
division of the North Dakota state university of agriculture and applied science
may be separate from those of state educational institutions.

e. The said state board of higher education shall have the control of the
expenditure of the funds belonging to, and allocated to such institutions and
also those appropriated by the legislature, for the institutions of higher
education in this state; provided, however, that funds appropriated by the
legislature and specifically designated for any one or more of such
institutions, shall not be used for any other institution.

<wrap outdent> 7. a. The state board of higher education shall, as soon as
practicable, appoint for a term of not to exceed three (3) years, a state
commissioner of higher education, whose principal office shall be at the state
capitol, in the city of Bismarck. Said commissioner of higher education shall be
responsible to the state board of higher education and shall be removable by
said board for cause.  </wrap>

b. The state commissioner of higher education shall be a graduate of some
reputable college or university, and who by training and experience is familiar
with the problems peculiar to higher education.

c. Such commissioner of higher education shall be the chief executive officer of
said state board of higher education, and shall perform such duties as shall be
prescribed by the board.

<wrap outdent> 8. </wrap> This constitutional provision shall be self-executing
and shall become effective without the necessity of legislative action.

</WRAP>

==== Article IX. Trust Lands ====

=== Section 1. ===

All proceeds of the public lands that have been, or may be granted by the United
States for the support of the common schools in this state; all such per centum
as may be granted by the United States on the sale of public lands; the proceeds
of property that fall to the state by escheat; all gifts, donations, or the
proceeds thereof that come to the state for support of the common schools, or
not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the gift, and all other property
otherwise acquired for common schools, must be and remain a perpetual trust fund
for the maintenance of the common schools of the state. All property, real or
personal, received by the state from whatever source, for any specific
educational or charitable institution, unless otherwise designated by the donor,
must be and remain a perpetual trust fund for the creation and maintenance of
such institution, and may be commingled only with similar funds for the same
institution. If a gift is made to an institution for a specific purpose, without
designating a trustee, the gift may be placed in the institution's fund;
provided that such a donation may be expended as the terms of the gift provide.
Revenues earned by a perpetual trust fund must be deposited in the fund. The
costs of administering a perpetual trust fund may be paid out of the fund. The
perpetual trust funds must be managed to preserve their purchasing power and to
maintain stable distributions to fund beneficiaries.

=== Section 2. ===

Distributions from the common schools trust fund, together with the net proceeds
of all fines for violation of state laws and all other sums which may be added
by law, must be faithfully used and applied each year for the benefit of the
common schools of the state and no part of the fund must ever be diverted, even
temporarily, from this purpose or used for any purpose other than the
maintenance of common schools as provided by law. Distributions from an
educational or charitable institution's trust fund must be faithfully used and
applied each year for the benefit of the institution and no part of the fund may
ever be diverted, even temporarily, from this purpose or used for any purpose
other than the maintenance of the institution, as provided by law. For the
biennium during which this amendment takes effect, distributions from the
perpetual trust funds must be the greater of the amount distributed in the
preceding biennium or ten percent of the five-year average value of trust
assets, excluding the value of lands and minerals. Thereafter, biennial
distributions from the perpetual trust funds must be ten percent of the
five-year average value of trust assets, excluding the value of lands and
minerals. The average value of trust assets is determined by using the assets'
ending value for the fiscal year that ends one year before the beginning of the
biennium and the assets' ending value for the four preceding fiscal years.
Equal amounts must be distributed during each year of the biennium.

=== Section 3. ===

The superintendent of public instruction, governor, attorney general, secretary
of state and state treasurer comprise a board of commissioners, to be
denominated the "board of university and school lands". Subject to the
provisions of this article and any law that may be passed by the legislative
assembly, the board has control of the appraisement, sale, rental, and disposal
of all school and university lands, and the proceeds from the sale of such lands
shall be invested as provided by law.

=== Section 4. ===

The public officers designated by law shall constitute boards of appraisal and
under the authority of the state board of university and school lands shall
appraise all school lands within their respective counties which they may from
time to time recommend for sale at their actual value under the prescribed terms
and shall first select and designate for sale the most valuable lands.

=== Section 5. ===

After one year from the assembling of the first legislative assembly the lands
granted to the state from the United States for the support of the common
schools, may be sold upon the following conditions and no other: No more than
one-fourth of all such lands shall be sold within the first five years after the
same become salable by virtue of this section. No more than one-half of the
remainder within ten years after the same become salable as aforesaid.  The
residue may be sold at any time after the expiration of said ten years. The
legislative assembly shall provide for the sale of all school lands subject to
the provisions of this article. In all sales of lands subject to the provisions
of this article all minerals therein, including but not limited to oil, gas,
coal, cement materials, sodium sulphate, sand and gravel, road material,
building stone, chemical substances, metallic ores, uranium ores, or colloidal
or other clays, shall be reserved and excepted to the state of North Dakota,
except that leases may be executed for the extraction and sale of such materials
in such manner and upon such terms as the legislative assembly may provide.

=== Section 6. ===

No original grant school or institutional land shall be sold for less than the
fair market value thereof, and in no case for less than ten dollars ($10.00) per
acre, provided that when lands have been sold on contract and the contract has
been canceled, such lands may be resold without reappraisement by the board of
appraisal. The purchaser shall pay twenty (20) percent of the purchase price at
the time the contract is executed; thereafter annual payments shall be made of
not less than six (6) percent of the original purchase price. An amount equal to
not less than three (3) percent per annum of the unpaid principal shall be
credited to interest and the balance shall be applied as payment on principal as
credit on purchase price. The purchaser may pay all or any installment or
installments not yet due to any interest paying date. If the purchaser so
desires, he may pay the entire balance due on his contract with interest to date
of payment at any time and he will then be entitled to proper conveyance. All
sales shall be held at the county seat of the county in which the land to be
sold is situated, and shall be at public auction and to the highest bidder, and
notice of such sale shall be published once each week for a period of three
weeks prior to the day of sale in a legal newspaper published nearest the land
and in the newspaper designated for the publication of the official proceedings
and legal notices within the county in which said land is situated. No grant or
patent for such lands shall issue until payment is made for the same; provided
that the land contracted to be sold by the state shall be subject to taxation
from the date of the contract. In case the taxes assessed against any of said
lands for any year remain unpaid until the first Monday in October of the
following year, the contract of sale for such land shall, if the board of
university and school lands so determine, by it, be declared null and void. No
contract of sale heretofore made under the provisions of this section of the
constitution as then providing shall be affected by this amendment, except
prepayment of principal may be made as herein provided. Any of said lands that
may be required for townsite purposes, schoolhouse sites, church sites, cemetery
sites, sites for other educational or charitable institutions, public parks,
airplane landing fields, fairgrounds, public highways, railroad right of way, or
other railroad uses and purposes, reservoirs for the storage of water for
irrigation, irrigation canals, and ditches, drainage ditches, or for any of the
purposes for which private lands may be taken under the right of eminent domain
under the constitution and laws of this state, may be sold under the provisions
of this article, and shall be paid for in full at the time of sale, or at any
time thereafter as herein provided. Any of said lands and any other lands
controlled by the board of university and school lands, including state coal
mineral interests, may, with the approval of said board, be exchanged for lands
and coal mineral interests of the United States, the state of North Dakota or
any county or municipality thereof as the legislature may provide, and the lands
so acquired shall be subject to the trust to which the lands exchanged therefor
were subject, and the state shall reserve all mineral and water power rights in
land so transferred, except coal mineral interests approved for exchange by the
board of university and school lands under this section. When any of said lands
have been heretofore or may be hereafter sold on contract, and the purchaser or
his heirs or assigns is unable to pay in full for the land purchased within
twenty years after the date of purchase and such contract is in default and
subject to being declared null and void as by law provided, the board of
university and school lands may, after declaring such contract null and void,
resell the land described in such contract to such purchaser, his heirs or
assigns, for the amount of the unpaid principal, together with interest thereon
reckoned to the date of such resale at the rate of not less than three (3%)
percent, but in no case shall the resale price be more than the original sale
price; such contract of resale shall be upon the terms herein provided, provided
this section shall be deemed self-executing insofar as the provisions for resale
herein made are concerned.

=== Section 7. ===

All lands received by the state for any specific educational or charitable
institution shall be appraised and sold in the same manner and under the same
limitations and subject to all the conditions as to price and sale as provided
in this constitution for the appraisal and sale of lands for the benefit of
common schools. However, a distinct and separate account shall be kept by the
proper officers of each of said funds and the limitations as to the time in
which school land may be sold shall apply only to lands granted for the support
of common schools.

=== Section 8. ===

The legislative assembly shall have authority to provide by law for the leasing
of lands granted to the state for educational and charitable purposes; but no
such law shall authorize the leasing of said lands for a longer period than five
years. Said lands shall only be leased for pasturage and meadow purposes and at
a public auction after notice as heretofore provided in case of sale; provided,
that all of said school lands now under cultivation may be leased, at the
discretion and under the control of the board of university and school lands,
for other than pasturage and meadow purposes until sold. All rents shall be paid
in advance. Provided, further, that coal lands may also be leased for
agricultural cultivation upon such terms and conditions and for such a period,
not exceeding five years, as the legislature may provide.

=== Section 9. ===

No law shall ever be passed by the legislative assembly granting to any person,
corporation or association any privileges by reason of the occupation,
cultivation or improvement of any public lands by said person, corporation or
association subsequent to the survey thereof by the general government. No claim
for the occupation, cultivation or improvement of any public lands shall ever be
recognized, nor shall such occupation, cultivation or improvement of any public
lands ever be used to diminish either directly or indirectly, the purchase price
of said lands.

=== Section 10. ===

The legislative assembly may provide by law for the sale or disposal of all
public lands that have been, or may hereafter be granted by the United States to
the state for purposes other than set forth in article IX, section 1.  The
legislative assembly in providing for the appraisal, sale, rental, and disposal
of the same shall not be subject to the provisions and limitations of article
IX, sections 1 through 11.

=== Section 11. ===

The legislative assembly shall pass suitable laws for the safekeeping, transfer
and disbursement of the state school funds; and shall require all officers
charged with the same or the safekeeping thereof to give ample bonds for all
moneys and funds received by them, and if any of said officers shall convert to
his own use in any manner or form, or shall loan with or without interest or
shall deposit in his own name, or otherwise than in the name of the state of
North Dakota, or shall deposit in any banks or with any person or persons, or
exchange for other funds or property any portion of the school funds aforesaid
or purposely allow any portion of the same to remain in his own hands
uninvested, except in the manner prescribed by law, every such act shall
constitute an embezzlement of so much of the aforesaid school funds as shall be
thus taken or loaned, or deposited, or exchanged, or withheld and shall be a
felony; and any failure to pay over, produce or account for, the state school
funds or any part of the same entrusted to any such officer, as by law required
or demanded, shall be held and be taken to be prima facie evidence of such
embezzlement.

=== Section 12. ===

The following public institutions of the state are permanently located at the
places hereinafter named, each to have the lands specifically granted to it by
the United States in the Act of Congress approved February 22, 1889, to be
disposed of and used in such manner as the legislative assembly may prescribe
subject to the limitations provided in the article on school and public lands
contained in this constitution. 1. The seat of government at the city of
Bismarck in the county of Burleigh. 2. The state university and the school of
mines at the city of Grand Forks, in the county of Grand Forks. 3. The North
Dakota state university of agriculture and applied science at the city of Fargo,
in the county of Cass. 4. A state normal school at the city of Valley City, in
the county of Barnes, and the legislative assembly, in apportioning the grant of
eighty thousand acres of land for normal schools made in the Act of Congress
referred to shall grant to the said normal school at Valley City, as
aforementioned, fifty thousand (50,000) acres, and said lands are hereby
appropriated to said institution for that purpose. 5.  The school for the deaf
and dumb of North Dakota at the city of Devils Lake, in the county of Ramsey. 6.
A state training school at the city of Mandan, in the county of Morton. 7. A
state normal school at the city of Mayville, in the county of Traill, and the
legislative assembly in apportioning the grant of lands made by Congress in the
Act aforesaid for state normal schools shall assign thirty thousand (30,000)
acres to the institution hereby located at Mayville, and said lands are hereby
appropriated for said purpose. 8. A state hospital for the insane at the city of
Jamestown, in the county of Stutsman.  And the legislative assembly shall
appropriate twenty thousand acres of the grant of lands made by the Act of
Congress aforesaid for other educational and charitable institutions to the
benefit and for the endowment of said institution, and there shall be located at
or near the city of Grafton, in the county of Walsh, an institution for the
feebleminded, on the grounds purchased by the secretary of the interior for a
penitentiary building.

=== Section 13. ===

The following public institutions are located as provided, each to have so much
of the remaining grant of one hundred seventy thousand acres of land made by the
United States for "other educational and charitable institutions" as is allotted
by law: 1. A soldiers' home, when located, or such other charitable institution
as the legislative assembly may determine, at the city of Lisbon in the county
of Ransom, with a grant of forty thousand acres of land. 2. The school for the
blind at the city of Grand Forks in the county of Grand Forks or at such other
location as may be determined by the legislative assembly to be in the best
interests of the students of such institution and the state of North Dakota. 3.
A school of forestry, or such other institution as the legislative assembly may
determine, at such place in one of the counties of McHenry, Ward, Bottineau, or
Rolette, as the electors of said counties may determine by an election for that
purpose, to be held as provided by the legislative assembly. 4. A school of
science or such other educational or charitable institution as the legislative
assembly may prescribe, at the city of Wahpeton in the county of Richland, with
a grant of forty thousand acres. 5. A state college at the city of Minot in the
county of Ward. 6. A state college at the city of Dickinson in the county of
Stark.  7. A state hospital for the mentally ill at such place within this state
as shall be selected by the legislative assembly. No other institution of a
character similar to any one of those located by article IX, section 12, or this
section shall be established or maintained without an amendment of this
constitution.

==== Article X. Finance and Public Debt ====

=== Section 1. ===

The legislative assembly shall be prohibited from raising revenue to defray the
expenses of the state through the levying of a tax on the assessed value of real
or personal property.

=== Section 2. ===

The power of taxation shall never be surrendered or suspended by any grant or
contract to which the state or any county or other municipal corporation shall
be a party.

=== Section 3. ===

No tax shall be levied except in pursuance of law, and every law imposing a tax
shall state distinctly the object of the same, to which only it shall be
applied. Notwithstanding the foregoing or any other provisions of this
constitution, the legislative assembly, in any law imposing a tax or taxes on,
in respect to or measured by income, may define the income on, in respect to or
by which such tax or taxes are imposed or measured or may define the tax itself
by reference to any provision of the laws of the United States as the same may
be or become effective at any time or from time to time, and may prescribe
exceptions or modifications to any such provision.

=== Section 4. ===

All taxable property except as hereinafter in this section provided, shall be
assessed in the county, city, township, village or district in which it is
situated, in the manner prescribed by law. The property, including franchises of
all railroads operated in this state, and of all express companies, freight line
companies, dining car companies, sleeping car companies, car equipment
companies, or private car line companies, telegraph or telephone companies, the
property of any person, firm or corporation used for the purpose of furnishing
electric light, heat or power, or in distributing the same for public use, and
the property of any other corporation, firm or individual now or hereafter
operating in this state, and used directly or indirectly in the carrying of
persons, property or messages, shall be assessed by the state board of
equalization in a manner prescribed by such state board or commission as may be
provided by law. But should any railroad allow any portion of its railway to be
used for any purpose other than the operation of a railroad thereon, such
portion of its railway, while so used shall be assessed in a manner provided for
the assessment of other real property.

=== Section 5. ===

Taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property including franchises
within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax. The legislative
assembly may by law exempt any or all classes of personal property from taxation
and within the meaning of this section, fixtures, buildings and improvements of
every character, whatsoever, upon land shall be deemed personal property. The
property of the United States, to the extent immunity from taxation has not been
waived by an act of Congress, property of the state, county, and municipal
corporations, to the extent immunity from taxation has not been waived by an act
of the legislative assembly, and property used exclusively for schools,
religious, cemetery, charitable or other public purposes shall be exempt from
taxation. Real property used for conservation or wildlife purposes is not exempt
from taxation unless an exemption is provided by the legislative assembly.
Except as restricted by this article, the legislative assembly may provide for
raising revenue and fixing the situs of all property for the purpose of
taxation. Provided that all taxes and exemptions in force when this amendment is
adopted shall remain in force until otherwise provided by statute.

=== Section 6. ===

The legislative assembly may provide for the levy, collection and disposition
of an annual poll tax of not more than one dollar and fifty cents on every male
inhabitant of this state over twenty-one and under fifty years of age, except
paupers, idiots, insane persons and Indians not taxed.

=== Section 7. ===

The legislature may by law provide for the levy and collection of an acreage tax
on lands within the state in addition to the limitations specified in article X,
section 1, of the constitution. The proceeds of such tax shall be used to
indemnify the owners of growing crops against damages by hail, provided that
lands used exclusively for public roads, rights of way of common carriers,
mining, manufacturing or pasturage may be exempt from such tax.

=== Section 8. ===

The legislative assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry out the
provisions of this article.

=== Section 9. ===

The legislative assembly may provide for the levy of a tax upon lands within the
state for the purpose of creating a fund to insure the owners of growing crops
against losses by hail. The legislative assembly may classify lands within the
state, and divide the state into districts on such basis as shall seem just and
necessary, and may vary the tax rates in such districts in accordance with the
risk, in order to secure an equitable distribution of the burden of the tax
among the owners of such lands.

=== Section 10. ===

1. Upon the adoption of this amendment to the Constitution of the State of North
Dakota there shall be annually levied by the state of North Dakota one mill upon
all of the taxable property within the state of North Dakota which, when
collected, shall be covered into the state treasury of the state of North Dakota
and placed to the credit of the North Dakota state medical center at the
university of North Dakota; said fund shall be expended as the legislature shall
direct for the development and maintenance necessary to the efficient operation
of the said North Dakota state medical center. 2. This amendment shall be
self-executing, but legislation may be enacted to facilitate its operation.

=== Section 11. ===

Revenue from gasoline and other motor fuel excise and license taxation, motor
vehicle registration and license taxes, except revenue from aviation gasoline
and unclaimed aviation motor fuel refunds and other aviation motor fuel excise
and license taxation used by aircraft, after deduction of cost of administration
and collection authorized by legislative appropriation only, and statutory
refunds, shall be appropriated and used solely for construction, reconstruction,
repair and maintenance of public highways, and the payment of obligations
incurred in the construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of public
highways.

=== Section 12. ===

1. All public moneys, from whatever source derived, shall be paid over monthly
by the public official, employee, agent, director, manager, board, bureau, or
institution of the state receiving the same, to the state treasurer, and
deposited by him to the credit of the state, and shall be paid out and disbursed
only pursuant to appropriation first made by the legislature; provided, however,
that there is hereby appropriated the necessary funds required in the financial
transactions of the Bank of North Dakota, and required for the payment of
losses, duly approved, payable from the state hail insurance fund, state bonding
fund, and state fire and tornado fund, and required for the payment of
compensation to injured employees or death claims, duly approved, payable from
the workmen's compensation fund, and required for authorized investments made by
the board of university and school lands, and required for the financial
operations of the state mill and elevator association, and required for the
payment of interest and principal of bonds and other fixed obligations of the
state, and required for payments required by law to be paid to beneficiaries of
the teachers' insurance and retirement fund, and required for refunds made under
the provisions of the Retail Sales Tax Act, and the State Income Tax Law, and
the State Gasoline Tax Law, and the Estate and Succession Tax Law, and the
income of any state institution derived from permanent trust funds, and the
funds allocated under the law to the state highway department and the various
counties for the construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of public roads.
This constitutional amendment shall not be construed to apply to fees and moneys
received in connection with the licensing and organization of physicians and
surgeons, pharmacists, dentists, osteopaths, optometrists, embalmers, barbers,
lawyers, veterinarians, nurses, chiropractors, accountants, architects,
hairdressers, chiropodists, and other similarly organized, licensed trades and
professions; and this constitutional amendment shall not be construed to amend
or repeal existing laws or Acts amendatory thereof concerning such fees and
moneys. 2. No bills, claims, accounts, or demands against the state or any
county or other political subdivision shall be audited, allowed, or paid until a
full itemized statement in writing shall be filed with the officer or officers
whose duty it may be to audit the same, and then only upon warrant drawn upon
the treasurer of such funds by the proper officer or officers. 3.  This
amendment shall become effective on July 1, 1939.

=== Section 13. ===

The state may issue or guarantee the payment of bonds, provided that all bonds
in excess of two million dollars shall be secured by first mortgage upon real
estate in amounts not to exceed sixty-five percent of its value; or upon real
and personal property of state-owned utilities, enterprises, or industries, in
amounts not exceeding its value, and provided further, that the state shall not
issue or guarantee bonds upon property of state-owned utilities, enterprises, or
industries in excess of ten million dollars. No further indebtedness shall be
incurred by the state unless evidenced by a bond issue, which shall be
authorized by law for certain purposes, to be clearly defined. Every law
authorizing a bond issue shall provide for levying an annual tax, or make other
provision, sufficient to pay the interest semiannually, and the principal within
thirty years from the date of the issue of such bonds and shall specially
appropriate the proceeds of such tax, or of such other provisions to the payment
of said principal and interest, and such appropriation shall not be repealed nor
the tax or other provisions discontinued until such debt, both principal and
interest, shall have been paid.  No debt in excess of the limit named herein
shall be incurred except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing
insurrection, defending the state in time of war or to provide for the public
defense in case of threatened hostilities.

=== Section 14. ===

1. Notwithstanding any other provision in the constitution, and for the purpose
of promoting the economic growth of the state, the development of its natural
resources, and the prosperity and welfare of its people, the state may issue
bonds and use the proceeds thereof to make loans to privately or cooperatively
owned enterprises to plan, construct, acquire, equip, improve, and extend
facilities for converting natural resources into power and generating and
transmitting such power, and to acquire real and personal property and water and
mineral rights needed for such facilities. 2. The state may issue general
obligation bonds for this purpose to an amount which, with all outstanding
general obligation bonds, less the amount of all money on hand and taxes in
process of collection which are appropriated for their payment, will not exceed
five percent of the full and true value of all of the taxable property in the
state, to be ascertained by the last assessment made for state and county
purposes: but nothing herein shall increase or diminish the limitations
established by other provisions of the constitution on the amount of bonds
therein authorized to be issued. 3. The state may also issue revenue bonds for
the purpose of providing part or all of the funds required for any project
undertaken under subsection 1, payable solely from sums realized from payments
of principal and interest on money loaned for such project, and from other
similar projects if so determined by the legislature, and from the liquidation
of security given for such payments. Revenue bonds issued for any project shall
not exceed the cost thereof, including all expenses reasonably incurred to
complete and finance the project, but shall not be subject to any other
limitation of amount. 4. The full faith and credit of the state shall be pledged
for the prompt and full payment of all bonds issued under subsection 2.  Its
obligation with respect to bonds issued under subsection 3 shall be limited to
the prompt and full performance of such covenants as the legislature may
authorize to be made respecting the enforcing of the provisions of underlying
loan agreements and the segregation, accounting, and application of bond
proceeds and of loan payments and other security pledged for the payment of the
bonds. All bonds authorized by subsections 1 to 3, inclusive, shall mature
within forty years from their respective dates of issue, but may be refunded at
or before maturity in such manner and for such term and upon such conditions as
the legislature may direct. Any such bonds may, but need not be, secured by
mortgage upon real or personal property acquired with the proceeds of the same
or any other issue of general obligation or revenue bonds, or upon other
property mortgaged by the debtor. Pledges of revenues and mortgages of property
securing bonds of any issue may be prior or subordinate to or on a parity with
pledges and mortgages securing any other issue of general obligation or revenue
bonds, as determined by the legislature from time to time in conformity with any
provisions made for the security of outstanding bonds. 5. The legislature shall
pass such laws as are appropriate to implement this amendment. 6. If any
subsection of this amendment, or any part of a subsection, or any application
thereof to particular circumstances should be held invalid for any reason, such
invalidity shall not affect the validity of all remaining provisions of this
amendment which may be given effect without that which is declared invalid, as
applied to any circumstances and for this purpose all subsections and parts of
subsections and applications thereof are declared to be severable.

=== Section 15. ===

The debt of any county, township, city, town, school district or any other
political subdivision, shall never exceed five per centum upon the assessed
value of the taxable property therein; provided that any incorporated city may,
by a two-thirds vote, increase such indebtedness three per centum on such
assessed value beyond said five per centum limit, and a school district, by a
majority vote may increase such indebtedness five percent on such assessed value
beyond said five per centum limit; provided also that any county or city by a
majority vote may issue bonds upon any revenue-producing utility owned by such
county or city, or for the purchasing or acquiring the same or building or
establishment thereof, in amounts not exceeding the physical value of such
utility, industry or enterprise. In estimating the indebtedness which a city,
county, township, school district or any other political subdivision may incur,
the entire amount, exclusive of the bonds upon said revenue-producing utilities,
whether contracted prior or subsequent to the adoption of this constitution,
shall be included; provided further that any incorporated city may become
indebted in any amount not exceeding four per centum of such assessed value
without regard to the existing indebtedness of such city for the purpose of
constructing or purchasing waterworks for furnishing a supply of water to the
inhabitants of such city, or for the purpose of constructing sewers, and for no
other purposes whatever. All bonds and obligations in excess of the amount of
indebtedness permitted by this constitution, given by any city, county,
township, town, school district, or any other political subdivision shall be
void.

=== Section 16. ===

Any city, county, township, town, school district or any other political
subdivision incurring indebtedness shall, at or before the time of so doing,
provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest and
also the principal thereof when due, and all laws or ordinances providing for
the payment of the interest or principal of any debt shall be irrepealable until
such debt be paid.

=== Section 17. ===

No bond or evidence of indebtedness of the state is valid unless it has endorsed
thereon a certificate, signed by the auditor and secretary of state showing that
the bond or evidence of debt is issued pursuant to law and is within the debt
limit. No bond or evidence of debt of any county, or bond of any township or
other political subdivision is valid unless it has endorsed thereon a
certificate signed by the officer authorized by law to sign such certificate,
stating that said bond or evidence of debt is issued pursuant to law and is
within the debt limit.

=== Section 18. ===

The state, any county or city may make internal improvements and may engage in
any industry, enterprise or business, not prohibited by article XX of the
constitution, but neither the state nor any political subdivision thereof shall
otherwise loan or give its credit or make donations to or in aid of any
individual, association or corporation except for reasonable support of the
poor, nor subscribe to or become the owner of capital stock in any association
or corporation.

=== Section 19. ===

The legislative assembly is hereby authorized and empowered to provide by law
for the erection, purchasing or leasing and operation of one or more terminal
grain elevators in the states of Minnesota or Wisconsin, or both, to be
maintained and operated in such manner as the legislative assembly shall
prescribe, and provide for inspection, weighing and grading of all grain
received in such elevator or elevators.

=== Section 20. ===

The legislative assembly is hereby authorized and empowered to provide by law
for the erection, purchasing or leasing and operation of one or more terminal
grain elevators in the state of North Dakota, to be maintained and operated in
such manner as the legislative assembly shall prescribe, and provide for
inspection, weighing and grading of all grain received in such elevator or
elevators.

=== Section 21. ===

Not less than fifteen percent of the tax imposed for severing coal shall be
placed into a permanent trust fund in the state treasury to be held in trust and
administered by the board of university and school lands, which shall have full
authority to invest said trust funds as provided by law, and may loan moneys
from the fund to political subdivisions as provided by law. The interest earned
on the moneys in said trust fund shall be used first to replace uncollectable
loans made from the fund, and the balance shall be credited to the general fund
of the state. Up to fifty percent of the taxes collected and deposited in the
permanent trust fund during a biennium may be appropriated by the legislative
assembly for lignite research, development, and marketing as provided by law. An
additional twenty percent of the taxes collected and deposited in the permanent
trust fund during a biennium may be appropriated by the legislative assembly for
clean coal demonstration projects approved by the industrial commission.

=== Section 22. ===

The legislative assembly may provide by law for a percentage of revenue from
taxes imposed on the extraction or production of oil to be allocated and
credited to a special trust fund, to be known as the resources trust fund. The
principal and income of the resources trust fund may be expended only pursuant
to legislative appropriation for: 1. Constructing water-related projects,
including rural water systems; and 2. Funding of programs for energy
conservation.

=== Section 23. ===

The legislative assembly may provide for the payment of adjusted compensation to
North Dakota residents who were members of the regular active duty armed forces
and who served in the Persian Gulf theatre or in the Grenada, Lebanon, or Panama
areas of armed conflict as designated by the President of the United States or
to heirs of North Dakota residents who were members of the regular active duty
armed forces and who died while on orders to or from the Persian Gulf theatre or
in the Grenada, Lebanon, or Panama areas of armed conflict as designated by the
President of the United States. The legislative assembly may provide a direct
appropriation or provide for the issuance, sale, and delivery of bonds of the
state of North Dakota in such principal amounts as determined by the legislative
assembly to be necessary for the payment of adjusted compensation under this
section. Adjusted compensation under this section may be paid at such rates,
terms of service, and conditions as the legislative assembly provides.

=== Section 24. ===

Twenty percent of the revenue from oil extraction taxes from taxable oil
produced in this state must be allocated as follows:

1. Fifty percent must be deposited in the common schools trust fund.

2. Fifty percent must be deposited in the foundation aid stabilization fund in
the state treasury, the interest income of which must be transferred to the
state general fund on July first of each year. The principal of the foundation
aid stabilization fund may be expended only upon order of the governor, who may
direct such a transfer only to offset foundation aid reductions that were made
by executive action pursuant to law due to a revenue shortage.

=== Section 25. ===

The veterans' postwar trust fund shall be a permanent trust fund of the state of
North Dakota and shall consist of moneys transferred or credited to the fund as
authorized by legislative enactment. Investment of the fund shall be the
responsibility of the state treasurer who shall have full authority to invest
the fund only in the same manner as the state investment board is authorized to
make investments. All income received from investments is to be utilized for
programs which must be of benefit and service to veterans, who are defined by
legislative enactment, or their dependents, and such income is hereby
appropriated to the administrative committee on veterans' affairs on a
continuing basis for expenditure upon those programs selected at the discretion
of the administrative committee on veterans' affairs.

=== Section 26. ===

1. Thirty percent of total revenue derived from taxes on oil and gas production
or extraction must be transferred by the state treasurer to a special fund in
the state treasury known as the legacy fund. The legislative assembly may
transfer funds from any source into the legacy fund and such transfers become
part of the principal of the legacy fund.

2. The principal and earnings of the legacy fund may not be expended until
after June 30, 2017, and an expenditure of principal after that date requires a
vote of at least two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the
legislative assembly. Not more than fifteen percent of the principal of the
legacy fund may be expended during a biennium.

3.  Statutory programs, in existence as a result of legislation enacted through
2009, providing for impact grants, direct revenue allocations to political
subdivisions, and deposits in the oil and gas research fund must remain in
effect but the legislative assembly may adjust statutory allocations for those
purposes. The state investment board shall invest the principal of the North
Dakota legacy fund. The state treasurer shall transfer earnings of the North
Dakota legacy fund accruing after June 30, 2017, to the state general fund at
the end of each biennium.

==== Article XI. General Provisions ====

=== Section 1. ===

The name of this state shall be "North Dakota." The state of North Dakota shall
consist of all the territory included within the following boundary, to wit:
Commencing at a point in the main channel of the Red River of the North, where
the forty-ninth degree of north latitude crosses the same; thence south up the
main channel of the same and along the boundary line of the state of Minnesota
to a point where the seventh standard parallel intersects the same; thence west
along said seventh standard parallel produced due west to a point where it
intersects the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence
north on said meridian to a point where it intersects the forty-ninth degree of
north latitude; thence east along said line to place of beginning.

=== Section 2. ===

The following described seal is hereby declared to be and hereby constituted the
great seal of the state of North Dakota, to wit: A tree in the open field, the
trunk of which is surrounded by three bundles of wheat; on the right a plow,
anvil and sledge; on the left, a bow crossed with three arrows, and an Indian on
horseback pursuing a buffalo toward the setting sun; the foliage of the tree
arched by a half circle of forty-two stars, surrounded by the motto "Liberty and
Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable"; the words "Great Seal" at the top;
the words "State of North Dakota" at the bottom; "October 1st" on the left and
"1889" on the right. The seal to be two and one-half inches in diameter.

=== Section 3. ===

All flowing streams and natural watercourses shall forever remain the property
of the state for mining, irrigating and manufacturing purposes.

=== Section 4. ===

Members of the legislative assembly and judicial department,
except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted shall, before they enter on
the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following
oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that I
will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of North Dakota; and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the
office of _________ according to the best of my ability, so help me God" (if an
oath), (under pains and penalties of perjury) if an affirmation, and no other
oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualification for any office
or public trust.

=== Section 5. ===

Unless otherwise provided by law, all meetings of public or governmental bodies,
boards, bureaus, commissions, or agencies of the state or any political
subdivision of the state, or organizations or agencies supported in whole or in
part by public funds, or expending public funds, shall be open to the public.

=== Section 6. ===

Unless otherwise provided by law, all records of public or governmental bodies,
boards, bureaus, commissions, or agencies of the state or any political
subdivision of the state, or organizations or agencies supported in whole or in
part by public funds, or expending public funds, shall be public records, open
and accessible for inspection during reasonable office hours.

=== Section 7. ===

The legislative assembly, in order to ensure continuity of state and local
governmental operations in periods of emergency resulting from disasters caused
by enemy attack, shall have the power and immediate duty (1) to provide for
prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices, of
whatever nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents of
which may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such
offices, and (2) to adopt such other measures as may be necessary and proper for
ensuring the continuity of governmental operations including, but not limited
to, waiver of constitutional restrictions upon the place of transaction of
governmental business, upon the calling of sessions of the legislative assembly,
length of sessions, quorum and voting requirements, subjects of legislation and
appropriation bill requirements, upon eligibility of legislators to hold other
offices, residence requirements for legislators, and upon expenditures, loans or
donations of public moneys. In the exercise of the powers hereby conferred the
legislative assembly shall in all respects conform to the requirements of this
constitution except to the extent that in the judgment of the legislative
assembly so to do would be impracticable or would admit of undue delay.

=== Section 8. ===

The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. The
concurrence of a majority of all members elected shall be necessary to an
impeachment.

=== Section 9. ===

All impeachments shall be tried by the senate. When sitting for that purpose the
senators shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to the law
and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds
of the members elected. When the governor or lieutenant governor is on trial,
the presiding judge of the supreme court shall preside.

=== Section 10. ===

The governor and other state and judicial officers, except county judges,
justices of the peace and police magistrates, shall be liable to impeachment for
habitual drunkenness, crimes, corrupt conduct, or malfeasance or misdemeanor in
office, but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than removal from
office and disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under the
state. The person accused, whether convicted or acquitted, shall nevertheless be
liable to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.

=== Section 11. ===

All officers not liable to impeachment shall be subject to removal for
misconduct, malfeasance, crime or misdemeanor in office, or for habitual
drunkenness or gross incompetency in such manner as may be provided by law.

=== Section 12. ===

No officer shall exercise the duties of his office after he shall have been
impeached and before his acquittal.

=== Section 13. ===

On trial of impeachment against the governor, the lieutenant governor shall not
act as a member of the court.

=== Section 14. ===

No person shall be tried on impeachment before he shall have been served with a
copy thereof, at least twenty days previous to the day set for trial.

=== Section 15. ===

No person shall be liable to impeachment twice for the same offense.

=== Section 16. ===

The reserve militia of this state consists of all able-bodied individuals
eighteen years of age and older residing in the state, unless exempted by the
laws of the United States or of this state. The active militia is the national
guard of this state and consists of individuals who volunteer and are accepted
unless exempted by the laws of the United States or of this state. An individual
whose religious tenets or conscientious scruples forbid that individual to bear
arms may not be compelled to do so in times of peace, but that individual shall
pay an equivalent for a personal service.

=== Section 17. ===

The militia shall be enrolled, organized, uniformed, armed and disciplined in
such a manner as shall be provided by law, not incompatible with the
constitution or laws of the United States.

=== Section 18. ===

The legislative assembly shall provide by law for the establishment of volunteer
organizations of the several arms of the service, which shall be classed as
active militia; and no other organized body of armed men shall be permitted to
perform military duty in this state except the army of the United States,
without the proclamation of the governor of the state.

=== Section 19. ===

All militia officers shall be appointed or elected in such a manner as the
legislative assembly shall provide.

=== Section 20. ===

The commissioned officers of the militia shall be commissioned by the governor,
and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office except by sentence of
court-martial, pursuant to law.

=== Section 21. ===

The militia forces shall in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the
peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters, parades and
elections of officers, and in going to and returning from the same.

=== Section 22. ===

The right of the debtor to enjoy the comforts and necessaries of life shall be
recognized by wholesome laws, exempting from forced sale to all heads of
families a homestead, the value of which shall be limited and defined by law;
and a reasonable amount of personal property; the kind and value shall be fixed
by law. This section shall not be construed to prevent liens against the
homestead for labor done and materials furnished in the improvement thereof, in
such manner as may be prescribed by law.

=== Section 23. ===

The real and personal property of any woman in this state, acquired before
marriage, and all property to which she may, after marriage become in any manner
rightfully entitled, shall be her separate property, and shall not be liable for
the debts of her husband.

=== Section 24. ===

The labor of children under twelve years of age, shall be prohibited in mines,
factories and workshops in this state.

=== Section 25. ===

The legislative assembly shall not authorize any game of chance, lottery, or
gift enterprises, under any pretense, or for any purpose whatever.  However, the
legislative assembly shall authorize the state of North Dakota to join a
multi-state lottery for the benefit of the state of North Dakota, and, the
legislative assembly may authorize by law bona fide nonprofit veterans',
charitable, educational, religious, or fraternal organizations, civic and
service clubs, or such other public-spirited organizations as it may recognize,
to conduct games of chance when the entire net proceeds of such games of chance
are to be devoted to educational, charitable, patriotic, fraternal, religious,
or other public-spirited uses.

=== Section 26. ===

The legislative, executive, and judicial branches are coequal branches of
government. Elected members and officials of each branch shall receive as
compensation for their services only such amounts as may be specifically set by
law. Payment for necessary expenses shall not exceed those allowed for other
state employees.

=== Section 27. ===

Hunting, trapping, and fishing and the taking of game and fish are a valued part
of our heritage and will be forever preserved for the people and managed by law
and regulation for the public good.

=== Section 28. ===

Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman.  No other
domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given
the same or substantially equivalent legal effect.

=== Section 29. ===

The right of farmers and ranchers to engage in modern farming and ranching
practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state. No law shall be enacted
which abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural
technology, modern livestock production, and ranching practices.

==== Article XII. Corporations Other Than Municipal ====

=== Section 1. ===

The term "corporation", as used in this article, does not embrace municipalities
or political subdivisions of the state unless otherwise expressly stated.

=== Section 2. ===

All corporations existing or hereafter chartered hold the charter subject to the
provisions of this constitution. The legislative assembly may provide by general
laws for the organization and regulation of corporations, and any law, so
enacted, is subject to future repeal or amendment.

=== Section 3. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 4. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 5. ===

The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, or so
construed as to prevent the legislative assembly from taking the property and
franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use; the same
as the property of individuals; and the exercise of the police power of this
state shall never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to
conduct their business in such a manner as to infringe the equal rights of
individuals or the general well-being of the state.

=== Section 6. ===

Unless otherwise provided in the articles of incorporation, in all elections for
directors or managers of a corporation, each member or shareholder may cast the
whole number of the member's or shareholder's votes for one candidate, or
distribute them upon two or more candidates, as the member or shareholder may
prefer, provided, any cooperative corporation may adopt bylaws limiting the
voting power of its stockholders.

=== Section 7. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 8. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 9. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 10. ===

No law shall be passed by the legislative assembly granting the right to
construct and operate a street railroad, telegraph, telephone or electric light
plant within any city, town or incorporated village, without requiring the
consent of the local authorities having the control of the street or highway
proposed to be occupied for such purposes.

=== Section 11. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 12. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 13. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 14. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 15. ===

Repealed.

=== Section 16. ===

Any combination between individuals, corporations, associations, or either
having for its object or effect the controlling of the price of any product of
the soil or any article of manufacture of commerce, or the cost of exchange or
transportation, is prohibited and hereby declared unlawful and against public
policy; and any and all franchises heretofore granted or extended, or that may
hereafter be granted or extended in this state, whenever the owner or owners
thereof violate this article shall be deemed annulled and become void.

=== Section 17. ===

Repealed.

==== Article XIII. Compact With The United States ====

=== Section 1. ===

Perfect toleration of religious sentiment must be secured, and no inhabitant of
this state may ever be molested in person or property on account of that
person's mode of religious worship.

=== Section 2. ===

Jurisdiction is ceded to the United States over the military reservations of
Fort Abraham Lincoln, Fort Buford, Fort Pembina, and Fort Totten, heretofore
declared by the president of the United States; provided, legal process, civil
and criminal, of this state, extends over those reservations in all cases in
which exclusive jurisdiction is not vested in the United States, or of crimes
not committed within the limits of those reservations. The legislative assembly
may provide, upon the terms and conditions it adopts, for the acceptance of any
jurisdiction as may be delegated to the state by act of Congress.

=== Section 3. ===

The state of North Dakota hereby accepts the several grants of land granted by
the United States to the state of North Dakota by an Act of Congress entitled
"An act to provide for the division of Dakota into two states, and to enable the
people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington to form
constitutions and state governments, and to be admitted into the union on equal
footing with the original states, and to make donations of public lands to such
states," under the conditions and limitations therein mentioned; reserving the
right, however, to apply to Congress for modification of said conditions and
limitations in case of necessity.

=== Section 4. ===

All other provisions of the Enabling Act of Congress approved on February 22,
1889, 25 United States Statutes at Large 676, chapter 180, and section 1 of this
article of the Constitution of North Dakota, as section 1 existed immediately
before the adoption of this section, are continued in effect as though fully
recited and continue to be irrevocable without the consent of the United States
and the people of this state.

==== Transition Schedule ====

Sections 1 to 25. Repealed.

=== Section 26. ===

 The legislative assembly shall provide for the editing, and for the publication
in an independent volume, of this constitution as soon as it shall take effect,
and whenever it shall be altered or amended, and shall cause to be published in
the same volume the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United
States and the Enabling Act.

==== The Enabling Act ====

=== (Act of February 22, 1889, Ch. 180, 25 Statutes at Large 676.) ===

An act to provide for the division of Dakota into two states, and to enable the
people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington to form
constitutions and state governments, and to be admitted into the union on an
equal footing with the original states, and to make donations of public lands to
such states.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, that the inhabitants of all that part of the area
of the United States now constituting the territories of Dakota, Montana, and
Washington, as at present described, may become the states of North Dakota,
South Dakota, Montana, and Washington respectively, as hereinafter provided.

=== Section 2. ===

The area comprising the territory of Dakota shall, for the purposes of this act,
be divided on the line of the seventh standard parallel produced due west to the
western boundary of said territory; and the delegates elected as hereinafter
provided to the constitutional convention in districts north of said parallel
shall assemble in convention, at the time prescribed in this act, at the city of
Bismarck; and the delegates elected in districts south of said parallel shall,
at the same time, assemble in convention at the city of Sioux Falls.

=== Section 3. ===

That all persons who are qualified by the laws of said territories to vote for
representatives to the legislative assemblies thereof, are hereby authorized to
vote for and choose delegates to form conventions in said proposed states; and
the qualifications for delegates to such conventions shall be such as by the
laws of said territories, respectively, persons, are required to possess to be
eligible to the legislative assemblies thereof, and the aforesaid delegates to
form said conventions shall be apportioned within the limits of the proposed
states, in such districts as may be established as herein provided, in
proportion to the population in each of said counties and districts, as near as
may be, to be ascertained at the time of making said apportionments by the
persons hereinafter authorized to make the same, from the best information
obtainable, in each of which districts three delegates shall be elected, but no
elector shall vote for more than two persons for delegates to such conventions;
that said apportionments shall be made by the Governor, the chief justice and
the secretary of said territories; and the governors of said territories shall,
by proclamation, order an election of the delegates aforesaid in each of said
proposed states, to be held on the Tuesday after the second Monday in May, 1889,
which proclamation shall be issued on the fifteenth day of April 1889; and such
election shall be conducted, the returns made, the result ascertained and the
certificates to persons elected to such conventions issued in the same manner as
is prescribed by the laws of the said territories regulating elections therein
for delegates to Congress; and the number of votes cast for delegates in each
precinct shall also be returned. The number of delegates to said conventions
respectively, shall be seventy-five; and all persons resident in said proposed
states, who are qualified voters of said territories as herein provided, shall
be entitled to vote upon the election of delegates, and under such rules and
regulations as said conventions may prescribe, not in conflict with this act,
upon the ratification or rejection of the constitutions.

=== Section 4. ===

That the delegates to the conventions elected as provided for in this act shall
meet at the seat of government of each of said territories, except the delegates
elected in South Dakota, who shall meet at the city of Sioux Falls, on the
fourth day of July, 1889, and, after organization, shall declare on behalf of
the people of said proposed states, that they adopt the Constitution of the
United States; whereupon the said conventions shall be, and are hereby
authorized to form constitutions and state governments for said proposed states,
respectively. The Constitution shall be republican in form, and make no
distinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, except as
to Indians not taxed, and not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United
States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. And said
convention shall provide by ordinances irrevocable without the consent of the
United States and the people of said states:

First. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that
no inhabitant of said states shall ever be molested in person or property on
account of his or her mode of religious worship.

Second. That the people inhabiting said proposed states do agree and declare
that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public
lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said
limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that until the title
thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and
remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands
shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the
United States; that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States
residing without the said states shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the
lands belonging to residents thereof; that no taxes shall be imposed by the
states on lands or property therein belonging to or which may hereafter be
purchased by the United States or reserved for its use. But nothing herein, or
in the ordinances herein provided for, shall preclude the said states from
taxing as other lands are taxed any lands owned or held by any Indian who has
severed his tribal relations, and has obtained from the United States or from
any person a title thereto by patent or other grant, save and except such lands
as have been or may be granted to any Indian or Indians under any act of
Congress containing a provision exempting the lands thus granted from taxation;
but said ordinances shall provide that all such lands shall be exempt from
taxation by said states so long and to such extent as such act of Congress may
prescribe.

Third. That the debts and liabilities of said territories shall be assumed and
paid by said states, respectively.

Fourth. That provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of
systems of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of said
states, and free from sectarian control.

=== Indian Lands. ===

== -Federal Jurisdiction and Control. ==

Since jurisdiction and control of Indian lands remains in the United States
under section 4 of the Enabling Act, congress could enact an act making criminal
the introduction of intoxicating liquor upon an allotment within the limits of
an Indian reservation. United States v. Sutton, 215 U.S. 291, 30 S. Ct. 116, 54
L. Ed. 200 (1909).

Lands within South Dakota which were formerly a part of an Indian reservation
and not restored to the public domain and open to settlement, but held by an
Indian allottee under a trust patent, are Indian lands over which the United
States has exclusive jurisdiction. Ex Parte Van Moore, 221 F. 954 (D. S.D.
1915).

Under the Enabling Act and the disclaimer provision in the Constitution of South
Dakota, not only lands, but all other property issued by the United States
government to Indian allottees for use thereon, remained subject to federal
control until Congress relinquished the trust. United States v. Pearson, 231 F.
270 (D.S.D. 1916).

Whether Indian pantentees of land in a reservation, created by Indian treaty,
took to high or low watermark of a lake was not a question of state law.
Montana Power Co. v. Rochester, 127 F.2d 189 (9th Cir. 1942).

== -Jurisdiction of State. ==

The compact between the United States and North Dakota created by section 4 of
the Enabling Act and art. XIII, sec. 1 of the state Constitution did not reserve
to the United States exclusive jurisdiction of civil causes of action not
involving lands, between Indians residing on reservations. Vermilion v. Spotted
Elk, 85 N.W.2d 432 (N.D. 1957).

== -Voting Rights of Indians. ==

It was the duty of county commissioners to establish a voting precinct within or
for a territory situated within the county limits and also within the limits of
an Indian reservation, where the territory had, under an act of Congress, been
allotted to certain Indians and they were living upon the allotments and farming
the same. State ex rel. Tompton v. Denoyer, 6 N.D. 586, 72 N.W. 1014 (1897).

== Schools and School Districts ==

An act of the territorial legislature organizing an independent school district
was subject to amendment by the state legislature. Jones v. Brightwood Indep.
Sch. Dist., 63 N.D. 275, 247 N.W. 884 (1933).

== State Political and Governmental Control. ==

Section 4, subdivision 2, of the Enabling Act and the compact embraced in art.
XIII, sec. 1 of the state Constitution, vested in the state all jurisdiction not
expressly reserved in the Congress of the United States, over certain territory
embraced in what is known as the Ft. Berthold Indian reservation. State ex rel.
Baker v. Mountrail County, 28 N.D. 389, 149 N.W. 120 (1914).

The state may rightfully exercise political and governmental control over lands
formerly within a military reservation and reserved by the United States for
Indian school and Indian agency purposes, to the extent of including them within
its political subdivisions for political and governmental purposes. La Duke v.
Melin, 45 N.D. 349, 177 N.W. 673 (1920).

== Unappropriated Public Lands. ==

The beds of navigable streams are not "unappropriated public lands" included
within the disclaimer of title contained in section 4 of the Enabling Act.
State v. Loy, 74 N.D. 182, 20 N.W.2d 668 (1945).

=== Section 5. ===

That the convention which shall assemble at Bismarck shall form a Constitution
and state government for a state to be known as North Dakota, and the convention
which shall assemble at Sioux Falls shall form a Constitution and state
government for a state to be known as South Dakota; provided, that at the
election for delegates to the constitutional convention in South Dakota, as
hereinbefore provided, each elector may have written or printed on his ballot,
the words, "For the Sioux Falls Constitution," or the words, "Against the Sioux
Falls Constitution," and the votes on this question shall be returned and
canvassed in the same manner as for the election provided for in section 3 of
this act; and if a majority of all votes cast on this question shall be "For the
Sioux Falls Constitution," it shall be the duty of the convention which may
assemble at Sioux Falls, as herein provided, to resubmit to the people of South
Dakota, for ratification or rejection, at the election hereinafter provided for
in this act, the Constitution framed at Sioux Falls, and adopted November 3,
1885, and also the articles and propositions separately submitted at that
election, including the question of locating the temporary seat of government,
with such changes only as relate to the name and boundary of the proposed state,
to the reapportionment of the judicial and legislative districts, and such
amendments as may be necessary in order to comply with the provisions of this
act; and if a majority of the votes cast on the ratification or rejection of the
Constitution shall be for the Constitution irrespective of the article
separately submitted, the state of South Dakota shall be admitted as a state in
the union under said Constitution as hereinafter provided; but the archives,
records and books of the territory of Dakota shall remain at Bismarck, the
capital of North Dakota, until an agreement in reference thereto is reached by
said states. But if at the election for delegates to the constitutional
convention in South Dakota a majority of all that votes cast at that election
shall be "Against the Sioux Falls Constitution," then, and in that event, it
shall be the duty of the convention which will assemble at the city of Sioux
Falls on the fourth day of July, 1889, to proceed to form a Constitution and
state government as provided in this act the same as if that question had not
been submitted to a vote of the people of South Dakota.

=== Section 6. ===

It shall be the duty of the constitutional conventions of North Dakota and South
Dakota to appoint a joint commission, to be composed of not less than three
members to each convention, whose duty it shall be to assemble at Bismarck, the
present seat of government of said territory, and agree upon an equitable
division of all property belonging to the territory of Dakota, the disposition
of all public records, and also adjust and agree upon the amount of the debts
and liabilities of the territory, which shall be assumed and paid by each of the
proposed states of North Dakota and South Dakota; and the agreement reached
respecting the territorial debts and liabilities shall be incorporated into the
respective Constitutions, and each of said states shall obligate itself to pay
its proportion of such debts and liabilities the same as if they had been
created by such states respectively.

=== Section 7. ===

If the Constitutions formed for both North Dakota and South Dakota shall be
rejected by the people at the elections for the ratification or rejection of
their respective Constitutions as provided for in this act, the territorial
government of Dakota shall continue in existence the same as if this act had not
been passed. But if the Constitution formed for either North Dakota or South
Dakota shall be rejected by the people, that part of the territory so rejecting
its proposed Constitution shall continue under the territorial government of the
present territory of Dakota, but shall, after the state adopting its
Constitution is admitted into the union, be called by the name of the territory
of North Dakota or South Dakota, as the case may be; provided, that if either of
the proposed states provided for in this act shall reject the Constitution which
may be submitted for ratification or rejection at the election provided
therefor, the Governor of the territory in which such proposed Constitution was
rejected shall issue his proclamation reconvening the delegates ejected to the
convention which formed such rejected Constitution, fixing the time and place at
which said delegates shall assemble; and when so assembled they shall proceed to
form another Constitution or to amend the rejected Constitution, and shall
submit such new Constitution or amended Constitution to the people of the
proposed state for ratification or rejection, at such time as said convention
may determine; and all the provisions of this act, so far as applicable, shall
apply to such convention so reassembled and to the Constitution which may be
formed, its ratification or rejection, and to the admission of the proposed
state.

=== Section 8. ===

That the constitutional convention which may assemble in South Dakota shall
provide by ordinance for resubmitting the Sioux Falls Constitution of 1885,
after having amended the same as provided in section 5 of this act, to the
people of South Dakota for ratification or rejection at an election to be held
therein on the first Tuesday in October, 1889; but if said constitutional
convention is authorized and required to form a new Constitution for South
Dakota, it shall provide for submitting the same in like manner to the people of
South Dakota for ratification or rejection, at an election to be held in said
proposed state on the said first Tuesday in October. And the Constitutional
conventions which may assemble in North Dakota, Montana, and Washington, shall
provide in like manner for submitting the Constitutions formed by them to the
people of said proposed states respectively, for ratification or rejection, at
elections to be held in said proposed states on the first Tuesday in October. At
the elections provided for in this section the qualified voters of said proposed
states shall vote directly for or against the proposed Constitutions, and for or
against any articles or propositions separately submitted. The returns of said
elections shall be made to the secretary of each of said territories, who, with
the Governor and chief justice thereof, or any two of them, shall canvass the
same; and if a majority of the legal votes cast shall be for the Constitution,
the Governor shall certify the result to the president of the United States,
together with a statement of the votes cast thereon and upon separate articles
or propositions, and a copy of the said Constitution, articles, propositions,
and ordinances. And if the Constitutions and governments, of said proposed
states are republican in form, and if all the provisions of this act have been
complied with in the formation thereof, it shall be the duty of the president of
the United States to issue his proclamation announcing the result of the
election in each, and thereupon the proposed states which have adopted
Constitutions and formed state governments, as herein provided, shall be deemed
admitted by congress into the union, under and by virtue of this act, on an
equal footing with the original states from and after the state of said
proclamation.

== Adoption of Article ==

An article of the Constitution which received a majority of all the votes cast
upon the question of its adoption and upon the question of the adoption of the
Constitution was legally adopted though it failed to receive a majority of votes
cast for governor. State ex rel. Larabee v. Barnes, 3 N.D. 319, 55 N.W. 883
(1893).

=== Section 9. ===

That until the next general census, or until otherwise provided by law, said
states shall be entitled to one representative in the house of representatives
to the fifty-first Congress, together with the Governors and other officers
provided for in said Constitutions, may be elected on the same day of the
election for the ratification or rejection of the Constitutions; and until said
state officers are elected and qualified under the provisions of each
Constitution and the states, respectively, are admitted into the union, the
territorial officers shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective
offices in each of said territories.

=== Section 10. ===

That upon the admission of each of said states into the union, sections numbered
sixteen and thirty-six in every township of said proposed states, and where such
sections, or any parts thereof, have been sold or otherwise disposed of by or
under the authority of any act of Congress, other lands equivalent thereto, in
legal subdivisions of not less than one-quarter section, and as contiguous as
may be to the section in lieu of which the same is taken, are hereby granted to
said states for the support of common schools, such indemnity lands to be
selected within said states in such manner as the Legislature may provide, with
the approval of the secretary of the interior; provided, that the sixteenth and
thirty-sixth sections embraced in permanent reservations for national purposes
shall not, at any time, be subject to the grant nor to the indemnity provisions
of this act, nor shall any lands embraced in Indian, military or other
reservations of any character, be subject to the grants or to the indemnity
provisions of this act until the reservation shall have been extinguished and
such lands be restored to, and become a part of, the public domain.

== Bankruptcy Act Proceedings. ==

The fact that land being sold under contract to a bankrupt farmer was a part of
the trust funds created by the Enabling Act did not exclude the land from
administration under Bankruptcy Act proceedings. North Dakota v. Hegstad, 134
F.2d 598 (8th Cir. 1943).

A bankrupt whose land is sold to the state on foreclosure of a mortgage securing
a loan of permanent school funds may redeem by payment of the value of the land
as fixed under the provisions of the Federal Bankruptcy Act, even though for
less than the amount required for redemption under state law. North Dakota v.
Towner County, 142 F.2d 48 (8th Cir. 1944).

== Permanent School Fund. ==

The entire grant of land to the state for educational purposes was in trust and
the express terms of the grant required the state as trustee to maintain the
permanency of the funds acquired through the grant. The state is limited to the
use of the interest from the permanent fund and the interest shall be used only
for the support of schools. State ex rel. Bd. Of Univ. & Sch. Lands v.
McMillan, 12 N.D. 280, 96 N.W. 310 (1903), distinguished, Lang v. City of
Cavalier, 59 N.D. 75, 228 N.W. 819 (1930).

The assembly cannot divert nor authorize diversion of any part of the principal
or interest or income from the investment of funds under the control of the
board of university and school lands arising from the rental or sale of lands
granted by the United States to any purposes other than those for which grants
were made and any diversion to other purposes or any donation thereof in aid of
an individual, by the assembly directly, or by the board of university and
school lands by legislative enactment is unconstitutional. State ex rel. Sathre
v. Board of Univ. & Sch. Lands, 65 N.D. 687, 262 N.W. 60 (1935).

=== Section 11. ===

That all lands granted by this act shall be disposed of only at public sale
after advertising - tillable lands capable of producing agricultural crops for
not less than $10 per acre and lands principally valuable for grazing purposes
for not less than $5 per acre. Any of the said lands may be exchanged for other
lands, public or private, or equal value and as near as may be of equal area,
but if any of the said lands are exchanged with the United States such exchange
shall be limited to Federal lands that are surveyed, nonmineral, unreserved
public lands within the state or are reserved public lands within the State that
are subject to exchange under the laws governing the administration of such
Federal reserved public lands.

All exchanges heretofore made under section 11 of the Act approved February 22,
1889 (25 Stat. 676), as amended by the Act approved May 7, 1932 (47 Stat. 150),
for reserved public lands of the United States that were subject to exchange
under law pursuant to which they were being administered and the requirements
thereof have been met, are hereby approved to the same extent as though the
lands exchanged were unreserved public lands.

The said lands may be leased under such regulations as the legislature may
prescribe.

The state may also, upon such terms as it may prescribe, grant such easements or
rights in any of the lands granted by this act, as may be acquired in privately
owned lands through proceedings in eminent domain: provided, however, that none
of such lands, nor any estate or interest therein, shall ever be disposed of
except in pursuance of general laws providing for such disposition, nor unless
the full market value of the estate or interest disposed of, to be ascertained
in such manner as may be provided by law, has been paid or safely secured to the
state.

With the exception of the lands granted for public buildings, the proceeds from
the sale and other permanent disposition of any of the said lands and from every
part thereof, shall constitute permanent funds for the support and maintenance
of the public schools and the various state institutions for which the lands
have been granted. Rentals on leased land, proceeds from the sale of timber and
other crops, interest on deferred payments on land sold, interest on funds
arising from these lands, and all other actual income, shall be available for
the acquisition and construction of facilities, including the retirement of
bonds authorized by law for such purposes, and for the maintenance and support
of such schools and institutions. Any state may, however, in its discretion, add
a portion of the annual income to the permanent funds. Notwithstanding the
foregoing provisions of this section, each of the states of North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Washington may pool the moneys received by it from oil and gas and
other mineral leasing of said lands. The moneys so pooled shall be apportioned
among the public schools and the various state institutions shall receive an
amount which bears the same ratio to the total amount apportioned as the number
of acres (including any that may have been disposed of) granted for such public
schools or for such institutions bears to the total number of acres (including
any that may have been disposed of) granted by this act. Not less than fifty per
centum of each such amount shall be covered into the appropriate permanent fund.

The lands hereby granted shall not be subject to pre-emption, homestead entry,
or any other entry under the land laws of the United States whether surveyed or
unsurveyed, but shall be reserved for the purposes for which they have been
granted. History: As amended by Act of August 11, 1921, ch. 61, 42 Stat. 158;
Act of May 7, 1932, ch. 172, 47 Stat. 150; Act of June 25, 1938, ch. 700, 52
Stat. 1198; Act of April 13, 1948, ch. 183, 62 Stat. 170; Act of June 28, 1952,
ch. 480, 66 Stat. 283; Act of June 30, 1967, Public Law 90-41, 81 Stat. 106; Act
of October 16, 1970, Public Law 91-463, 84 Stat. 987.

== Condemnation of School Lands. ==

Where a state statute relating to the condemnation of right of way by the state
highway commission contemplates that title to lands shall be acquired, such
procedure cannot be resorted to acquire school land granted to the state. State
Hwy. Comm'n v. State, 70 N. D. 673, 297 N.W. 194 (1940).

== Oil and Gas Leases ==

Under the Enabling Act, as amended, the state has full power to provide for the
execution of oil and gas leases on school and university lands. State ex rel.
Rausch v. Amerada Petro. Corp., 78 N.D. 247, 49 N.W.2d 14 (1951).

== Taxation ==

When a contract for the sale of school land is canceled, the land reverts to the
state, and no interest in the land is subject to taxation until a resale or
redemption is made. Upon reversion of the land to the state, all unpaid taxes
levied thereon are canceled. State v. Towner County, 68 N.D. 629, 283 N.W. 63
(1938).

=== Section 12. ===

That upon the admission of each of said states into the union, in accordance
with the provisions of this act, fifty sections of the unappropriated public
lands within said states, to be selected and located in legal subdivisions as
provided in section 10 of this act, shall be, and are hereby granted to said
states for public buildings at the capital of said states for legislative,
executive, and judicial purposes, including construction, reconstruction,
repair, renovation, furnishings, equipment, and any other permanent improvement
of such buildings, and the acquisition of necessary land for such buildings, and
the payment of principal and interest on bonds issued for any of the above
purposes.

=== Section 13. ===

That five per centum of the proceeds of the sales of public lands lying within
said states which shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission
of said states into the union, after deducting all the expenses incident to the
same, shall be paid to the said states, to be used as a permanent fund, the
interest of which only shall be expended for the support of the common schools
within said states, respectively.

=== Section 14. ===

That the lands granted to the territories of Dakota and Montana by the Act of
February 18, 1881, entitled "An Act to grant lands to Dakota, Montana, Arizona,
Idaho, and Wyoming for university purposes," are hereby vested in the states of
South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana respectively, if such states are
admitted into the union as provided in this act, to the extent of the full
quantity of seventy-two sections to each of said states, and any portion of said
lands that may not have been selected by either of said territories of Dakota or
Montana may be selected by the respective states aforesaid; but said Act of
February 18, 1881, shall be so amended as to provide that none of said lands
shall be sold for less than $10 per acre, and the proceeds shall constitute a
permanent fund to be safely invested and held by said states severally, and the
income thereof be used exclusively for university purposes.  And such quantity
of the lands authorized by the fourth section of the Act of July 17, 1854, to be
reserved for university purposes in the territory of Washington, as together
with the lands confirmed to the vendees of the territory by the Act of March 14,
1864, will make the full quantity of seventy-two entire sections, are hereby
granted in like manner to the state of Washington for the purposes of a
university in said state. None of the lands granted in this section shall be
sold at less than $10 per acre; but said lands may be leased in the same manner
as provided in section 11 of this act. The schools, colleges and universities
provided for in this act shall forever remain under the exclusive control of the
said states, respectively, and no part of the proceeds arising from the sale or
disposal of any lands herein granted for educational purposes shall be used for
the support of any secretarian or denominational school, college, or university.
The section of land granted by the Act of June 16, 1880, to the territory of
Dakota, for an asylum for the insane shall, upon the admission of said state of
South Dakota into the union, become the property of said state.

=== Section 15. ===

That so much of the land belonging to the United States as have been acquired
and set apart for the purpose mentioned in "An act appropriating money for the
erection of a penitentiary in the territory of Dakota," approved March 2, 1881,
together with the buildings thereon, be, and the same is hereby granted,
together with any unexpended balances of the money appropriated therefor by said
act, to said state of South Dakota, for the purposes therein designated; and the
states of North Dakota and Washington shall, respectively, have like grants for
the same purpose, and subject to like terms and conditions as provided in said
Act of March 2, 1881, for the territory of Dakota. The penitentiary at Deer
Lodge City, Montana, and all lands connected therewith and set apart and
reserved therefor, are hereby granted to the state of Montana.

=== Section 16. ===

That ninety thousand acres of land, to be selected and located as provided in
section 10 of this act, are hereby granted to each of said states except to the
state of South Dakota, to which one hundred twenty thousand acres are granted
for the use and support of agricultural colleges in said states, as provided in
the acts of Congress making donations of lands for such purposes.

=== Section 17. ===

That in lieu of the grant of land for purposes of internal improvement made to
new states by the eighth section of the Act of September 4, 1841, which act is
hereby repealed as to the states provided for by this act, and in lieu of any
claim or demand by the said states, or either of them, under the Act of
September 28, 1850, and section 2479 of the Revised Statutes, making a grant of
swamp and overflowed lands to certain states, which grant it is hereby declared
is not extended to the states provided for in this act, and in lieu of any grant
of saline lands to said states, the following grants of land are hereby made, to
wit:

To the state of South Dakota: For the school of mines, forty thousand acres; for
the reform school, forty thousand acres; for the deaf and dumb asylum, forty
thousand acres; for the agricultural college, forty thousand acres; for the
university, forty thousand acres; for state normal school, eighty thousand
acres; for public buildings at the capital of said state, fifty thousand acres,
and for such other educational and charitable purposes as the Legislature of
said state may determine, one hundred seventy thousand acres; in all, five
hundred thousand acres.

To the state of North Dakota a like quantity of land as is in this section
granted to the state of South Dakota, and to be for like purposes, and in like
proportion as far as practicable.

To the state of Montana: For the establishment and maintenance of a school of
mines, one hundred thousand acres; for state normal schools, one hundred
thousand acres; for agricultural colleges, in addition to the grant hereinbefore
made for that purpose, fifty thousand acres; for the establishment of a state
reform school, fifty thousand acres; for the establishment of a deaf and dumb
asylum, fifty thousand acres; for public buildings at the capital of the state,
in addition to the grant hereinbefore made for that purpose, one hundred fifty
thousand acres.

To the state of Washington: For the establishment and maintenance of a
scientific school, one hundred thousand acres; for state normal schools, one
hundred thousand acres; for public buildings at the state capital in addition to
the grant hereinbefore made for that purpose, one hundred thousand acres; for
state, charitable, educational, penal, and reformatory institutions, two hundred
thousand acres.

That the states provided for in this act shall not be entitled to any further or
other grants of land for any purpose than as expressly provided in this act.
And the lands granted by this section shall be held, appropriated, and disposed
of exclusively for the purposes herein mentioned, in such manner as the
legislatures of the respective states may severally provide.

== In General. ==

The power to determine the manner of the use of public lands granted by the
Enabling Act is purely legislative and cannot be delegated to a commission.
State ex rel. Rusk v. Budge, 14 N.D. 532, 105 N.W. 724 (1905), distinguished,
More v. Western Grain Co., 37 N.D. 547, 164 N.W. 294 (1917).

== Charitable Purposes. ==

The words "charitable purposes" should be construed in a broad, and not limited
meaning, to include acts of public benefaction which are done for public
purposes, as well as mere almsgiving or benefaction to the poor, and, as so
construed, the section authorizes the maintenance of an institution which shall
care for all classes of aged and infirm soldiers, irrespective of their monetary
worth. State ex rel. Skeffington v. Seigfried, 40 N.D. 57, 168 N.W. 62 (1918).

== Governor's Residence. ==

The erection of a resident for the governor at the capital is within the
purposes of the grant of land made by congress to the state for public buildings
at the capital under the Enabling Act. State ex rel. Rusk v. Budge, 14 N.D.
532, 105 N.W. 724 (1905), distinguished, More v. Western Grain Co., 37 N.D. 547,
164 N.W. 294 (1917).

== Limitation on Legislative Disposal of Lands. ==

The Montana legislature must act in subordination to the state Constitution in
executing the authority entrusted to it in section 17 of the Enabling Act.
Montana ex rel. Haire v. Rice, 204 U.S. 291, 27 S. Ct. 281, 51 L. Ed. 490
(1907).

=== Section 18. ===

That all mineral lands shall be exempted from the grants made by this act. But
if sections sixteen and thirty-six, or any subdivision or portion of any
smallest subdivision thereof in any township shall be found by the department of
the interior to be mineral lands, said states are hereby authorized and
empowered to select, in legal subdivisions, an equal quantity of other
unappropriated lands in said states, in lieu thereof, for the use and benefit of
the common schools of said states.

=== Section 19. ===

That all lands granted in quantity or as indemnity by this act shall be
selected, under the direction of the secretary of the interior, from the
surveyed, unreserved, and unappropriated public lands of the United States
within the limits of the respective states entitled thereto. And there shall be
deducted from the number of acres of land donated by this act for specific
objects to said states the number of acres in each heretofore donated by
Congress to said territories for similar objects.

=== Section 20. ===

That the sum of twenty thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary,
is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise
appropriated, to each of said territories for defraying the expenses of the said
conventions, except to Dakota for which the sum of forty thousand dollars is so
appropriated, twenty thousand dollars each for South Dakota and North Dakota,
and for the payment of the members thereof, under the same rules and regulations
and at the same rates as are now provided by law for the payment of the
territorial legislatures. Any money hereby appropriated not necessary for such
purpose shall be covered into the treasury of the United States.

=== Section 21. ===

That each of said states, when admitted as aforesaid, shall constitute one
judicial district, the names thereof to be the same as the names of the states,
respectively; and the circuit and district courts thereof shall be held at the
capital of such state for the time being, and each of said districts shall, for
judicial purposes, until otherwise provided, be attached to the eighth judicial
circuit, except Washington and Montana, which shall be attached to the ninth
judicial circuit. There shall be appointed for each of said districts one
district judge, one United States attorney and one United States marshal. The
judge of each of said districts shall receive a yearly salary of three thousand
five hundred dollars payable in four equal installments, on the first days of
January, April, July, and October of each year, and shall reside in the
district. There shall be appointed clerks of said courts in each district, who
shall keep their offices at the capital of said state. The regular terms of said
courts shall be held in each district, at the place aforesaid on the first
Monday in April and the first Monday in November of each year, and only one
grand jury and one petit jury shall be summoned in both said circuit and
district courts. The circuit and district courts for each of said districts and
the judges thereof, respectively, shall possess the same powers and
jurisdiction, and perform the same duties required to be performed by the other
circuit and district courts and judges of the United States, and shall be
governed by the same laws and regulations. The marshal, district attorney, and
clerks of the circuit and district courts of each of said districts, and all
other officers and persons performing duties in the administration of justice
therein, shall severally possess the powers and perform the duties lawfully
possessed and required to be performed by similar officers in other districts of
the United States; and shall, for the services they may perform, receive the
fees and compensation allowed by law to other similar officers and persons
performing similar duties in the state of Nebraska.]

=== Section 22. ===

That all cases of appeal or writ of error heretofore prosecuted and now pending
in the Supreme Court of the United States upon any record from the Supreme Court
of either of the territories mentioned in this act, or that may hereafter
lawfully be prosecuted upon any record from either of said courts, may be heard
and determined by said Supreme Court of the United States. And the mandate of
execution or of further proceedings shall be directed by the Supreme Court of
the United States to the circuit or district court hereby established within the
state succeeding the territory from which such record is or may be pending, or
to the Supreme Court of such state, as the nature of the case may require;
provided, that the mandate of execution or of further proceedings shall, in
cases arising in the territory of Dakota, be directed by the Supreme Court of
the United States to the circuit or district court of the district of South
Dakota, or to the Supreme Court of the state of South Dakota, or to the circuit
or district court of the district of North Dakota, or to the Supreme Court of
the state of North Dakota, or to the Supreme Court of the territory of North
Dakota, as the nature of the case may require. And each of the circuit,
district, and state courts, herein named, shall, respectively, be the successor
of the Supreme Court of the territory, as to all such cases arising within the
limits embraced within the jurisdiction of such courts respectively, with full
power to proceed with the same, and award mesne or final process therein; and
that from all judgments and decrees of the Supreme Court of either of the
territories mentioned in this act, in any case arising within the limits of any
of the proposed states prior to admission, the parties to such judgment shall
have the same right to prosecute appeals and writs of error to the Supreme Court
of the United States as they shall have had by law prior to the admission of
said state into the union.

=== Section 23. ===

That in respect to all cases, proceedings, and matters now pending in the
Supreme or district Courts of either of the territories mentioned in this act at
the time of the admission into the union of either of the states mentioned in
this act, and arising within the limits of any such state, whereof the circuit
or district courts by this act established might have had jurisdiction under the
laws of the United States had such courts existed at the time of the
commencement of such cases, the said circuit and district courts, respectively,
shall be the successors of said Supreme and district Courts of said territory;
and in respect to all other cases, proceedings and matters pending in the
Supreme or district Courts of any of the territories mentioned in this act at
the time of the admission of such territory into the union, arising within the
limits of said proposed state, the courts established by such state shall,
respectively, be the successors of said Supreme and district territorial Courts;
and all the files, records, indictments, and proceedings relating to any such
cases, shall be transferred to such circuit, district, and state courts,
respectively, and the same shall be proceeded with therein in due courts of law;
but no writ, action, indictment, cause, or proceeding now pending, or that prior
to the admission of any of the states mentioned in this act, shall be pending in
any territorial court in any of the territories mentioned in this act, shall
abate by the admission of any such state into the union, but the same shall be
transferred and proceeded with, in the proper United States circuit, district,
or state court, as the case may be; provided, however, that in all civil
actions, causes, and proceedings, in which the United States is not a party,
transfers shall not be made to the circuit and district courts of the United
States except upon written request of one of the parties to such action or
proceeding filed in the proper court; and in the absence of such request, such
cases shall be proceeded with in the proper state courts.

=== Section 24. ===

That the constitutional conventions may, by ordinance, provide for the election
of officers for full state governments, including members of the Legislatures
and representatives in the fifty-first Congress; and said state governments
shall remain in abeyance until the states shall be admitted into the union,
respectively, as provided in this act. In case the Constitution of any of said
proposed states shall be ratified by the people, but not otherwise, the
Legislature thereof may assemble, organize, and elect two senators of the United
States, and the Governor and secretary of state of such proposed state shall
certify the election of the senators and representatives in the manner required
by law; and when such state is admitted into the union, the senators and
representatives shall be entitled to be admitted to seats in Congress, and to
all the rights and privileges of senators and representatives of other states in
the Congress of the United States; and the officers of the state governments
formed in pursuance of said Constitutions, as provided by the constitutional
conventions, shall proceed to exercise all the functions of such state officers;
and all laws in force made by said territories, at the time of their admission
into the union, shall be in force in said states, except as modified or changed
by this act, or by the Constitutions of the states, respectively.

=== Section 25. ===

That all acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act,
whether passed by the Legislatures of said territories or by Congress, are
hereby repealed.

=== Section 26. ===

North Dakota Trust Funds.

(a) DISPOSITION. - Notwithstanding section 11, the State of North Dakota shall,
with respect to any trust fund in which proceeds from the sale of public land
are deposited under this Act (referred to in this section as the 'trust fund')
-

<WRAP indent>

(1) deposit all revenues earned by a trust fund into the trust fund;

(2) deduct the costs of administering a trust fund from each trust fund; and

(3) manage each trust fund to -

<WRAP indent>

(A) preserve the purchasing power of the trust fund; and

(B) maintain stable distributions to trust fund beneficiaries.

</WRAP>

</WRAP>

(b) DISTRIBUTIONS. - Notwithstanding section 11, any distributions from trust
funds in the State of North Dakota shall be made in accordance with section 2 of
article IX of the Constitution of the State of North Dakota.

(c) MANAGEMENT OF PROCEEDS. - Notwithstanding section 13, the State of North
Dakota shall manage the proceeds referred to in that section in accordance with
subsections (a) and (b).

(d) MANAGEMENT OF LAND AND PROCEEDS. - Notwithstanding sections 14 and 16, the
State of North Dakota shall manage the land granted under that section,
including any proceeds from the land, and make distributions in accordance with
subsections (a) and (b).