A year ago we updated researchers on new material that was added to State Constitutions Illustrated. In the last 11 months, we’ve added more material! Read below for an update to see what’s new in this database.
Updates from December to Date
Since December, 96 additional current documents have been added to 35 states. All states are up to date as of the elections of November 8, 2022.
We will continue to post state constitutional content news right here in the HeinOnline Blog. Be sure to subscribe to our blog to receive notifications when new posts are published.
From the November 8, 2022 Elections
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Alabama Legislature:
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2021-201], which authorizes the state legislature to enumerate in state law offenses for which bail may be denied (including murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, and more).
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2022-117], which allows the state and local governments to grant federal awards funds or other state-designated broadband funds to public or private entities to provide or expand broadband internet infrastructure.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2022-256], which requires the governor to provide notice to the attorney general and the victim’s family before granting a commutation or reprieve of a death sentence.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2021-284], which requires that any legislation changing the conduct of a general election must be implemented at least six months before the next affected general election.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2021-202], which removes orphans’ business from the jurisdiction of county probate courts.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2021-327], which allows certain cities that were previously authorized to pass a special property tax to pay for bonds or other forms of debt to fund capital improvements to instead use the tax revenue to pay for capital improvements directly and to validate previous such use.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2022-286], which supports changing the requirements for counties and municipalities to provide for financing economic and industrial development through the use of public funds, issuing bonds, and leasing property or lending bonds to a private entity, including exempting local governments from seeking voter approval for issuing bonds unless the bond issue includes a repayment provision such as a tax increase.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2021-199], which supports having the state Public Service Commission regulate privately owned sewer systems and plants, including their rates and charges, in Shelby County, Alabama.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2022-288], which supports having the state Public Service Commission regulate privately owned sewer systems and plants in Lake View, Alabama, from 2023 through 2027.
- Amendment [Statewide] [Act No. 2022-177], which authorizes the Code Commissioner to incorporate voter-approved constitutional amendments at the May 24 and November 8 elections into the new state constitution if the ratification question is also approved.
- Alabama Recompiled Constitution Ratification Question, which supports ratifying the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, an updated and recompiled state constitution that was drafted to do the following: arrange it in proper articles, parts, and sections; remove all racist language; delete duplicative and repealed provisions; consolidate provisions regarding economic development; and arrange all local amendments by county of application.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Secretary of State and Arizona Legislature:
- House Concurrent Resolution 2001/Proposition 129, which requires that citizen-initiated ballot measures embrace a single subject.
- Senate Concurrent Resolution 1011/Proposition 130, which supports allowing the legislature to set certain property tax exemption amounts and qualifications (including property tax exemptions for widows and widowers; those with total and permanent disabilities; disabled veterans; and property used for trade, business, or agriculture) and consolidating the constitution’s property tax exemption provisions into a single article.
- Senate Concurrent Resolution 1024/Proposition 131, which creates the position of lieutenant governor, who would be elected on a joint ticket with the governor, and who would succeed the governor in case of a vacancy.
- House Concurrent Resolution 2015/Proposition 132, which requires a 60% vote for voters to pass ballot measures to approve taxes.
We have added the text of the amendment from the California State Legislature:
- Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 10/Proposition 1, which prohibits the state from interfering with or denying an individual’s reproductive freedom, which is defined to include a right to an abortion and a right to contraceptives.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Colorado General Assembly:
- House Concurrent Resolution 22-1005/Amendment D, which directs the governor to assign judges from the 18th Judicial District to the new 23rd Judicial District by November 30, 2024, and requires these judges to establish residence in the new 23rd Judicial District by January 7, 2025.
- House Concurrent Resolution 22-1003/Amendment E, which supports extending an existing primary residency property tax exemption available to qualifying seniors and disabled veterans to the surviving spouses of military service members who died in the line of duty and the surviving spouses of veterans who died as a result of service-related injury or disease.
We have added the text of the amendment from the General Assembly and Secretary of State:
- House Joint Resolution 59/Question 1, which authorizes the state legislature to provide by law for in-person early voting before an election.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the General Assembly:
- Senate Resolution 134/Amendment 1, which suspends compensation for the following public officials while the individual is suspended from office for being indicted for a felony: any member of the General Assembly; Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Secretary of State; Attorney General; State School Superintendent; Commissioner of Insurance; Commissioner of Agriculture; or Commissioner of Labor.
- House Resolution 594/Amendment 2, which authorizes local governments “to grant temporary tax relief,” with additional details to be defined in statute, to properties that are damaged or destroyed due to a disaster and located within a nationally declared disaster area.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Idaho State Legislature:
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 102, which allows the Senate president and House speaker to convene a special legislative session upon receiving a joint written request from 60% of each chamber’s legislators.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Illinois General Assembly:
- Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment No. 11/Amendment 1, which amends the Constitution of Illinois to: state that employees have a “fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work,” and prohibit any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.”
We have added the text of the amendment from the Iowa Legislature:
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 7, which adds Sec. 1A to the Constitution of Iowa, supports adding a right to own and bear firearms to the Iowa Constitution and requires strict scrutiny for any alleged violations of the right brought before a court.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Kansas Legislature:
- House Concurrent Resolution No. 5022, which amends the constitution to require the election of county sheriffs in counties that had not abolished the office as of January 2022 and provide that sheriffs may be recalled from office or removed by a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Louisiana State Legislature:
- Act No. 172/Amendment No. 2, which concerns changes to property tax exemptions for certain disabled veterans and their surviving spouses. The changes include: after the first $7,500 homestead property tax exemption, exempting the next $2,500 of assessed value from property taxes for veterans with a service-related disability rating of 50% or more but below 70%; after the first $7,500 homestead property tax exemption, exempting the next $4,500 of assessed value from property taxes for veterans with a service-related disability rating of 70% or more but below 100%; exempting the total assessed value from property taxes for veterans that are totally disabled or that are 100% unemployable; and extending the property tax exemptions to the surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran whether or not the exemption was claimed on the property prior to the veteran’s death.
- Act No. 155/Amendment No. 4, which allows local governments to waive water charges for customers if water is lost due to water delivery infrastructure damages that were not caused by the customer’s actions or the customer’s failure to act.
- Act No. 171/Amendment No. 8, which supports removing the requirement to annually recertify income for homeowners that are permanently and totally disabled in order to keep their special assessment level for property taxes.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Maryland General Assembly:
- House Bill 885/Question 1, which concerns renaming the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of Maryland and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland.
- Senate Bill 55/Question 2, which amends the state constitution to require beginning in January 2024 that candidates for the state legislature maintain a primary place of abode in the district they wish to represent for at least six months prior to the date of their election or for as long as the district has been in existence and changing all gendered language in the amended sections to gender-neutral language.
- Senate Bill 669/Question 3, which amends the state constitution to increase from $15,000 to $25,000 the minimum amount in controversy that guarantees a right to a jury trial in civil cases.
- House Bill 1/Question 4, which supports legalizing marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older beginning in July 2023 and directing the Maryland State Legislature to pass laws for the use, distribution, regulation, and taxation of marijuana.
- House Bill 868/Question 5, which supports amending the state constitution to require that Howard County Circuit Court judges serve as orphans’ court judges and remove the election requirement of three orphans’ court judges.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Massachusetts Legislature:
- House Bill No. 86/Question 1, which amends the state constitution to create an additional tax of 4% for income over $1 million, in addition to the existing 5% flat-rate income tax, and dedicate revenue to education and transportation purposes.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Michigan State Legislature:
- Amendment/Proposal 1, which changes the term limits for state legislators from three 2-year terms (6 years) in the state House and two 4-year terms (8 years) in the state Senate to 12 combined years in the Legislature, and also provides that elected state legislative and state executive officials must file annual financial disclosure reports on their income, assets, liabilities, gifts from lobbyists, positions held in certain organizations, and agreements on future employment.
- Citizen Initiative/Proposal 2, which concerns adding several election and voting policies to the Michigan Constitution. These include: creating a nine-day early voting period; requiring voters to present photo identification or sign an affidavit when voting in person or applying for an absentee ballot; requiring that military and overseas ballots postmarked by election day are counted; providing voters with a right to request an absentee ballot; requiring the state to fund prepaid stamps and a tracking system for absentee ballots; requiring the state to fund a number of absentee ballot dropboxes; providing that local governments can accept charitable and in-kind donations to assist with running elections as long as donations are disclosed and aren’t from foreign entities; and providing that election officials are responsible for election audits, requiring election audits to be conducted in public, and requiring election results to be certified based on votes cast. Proposal 2 also adds constitutional language saying that “harassing, threatening, or intimidating conduct,” as well as laws, regulations, and practices, that have “the intent or effect of denying, abridging, interfering with, or unreasonably burdening the fundamental right to vote” are prohibited.
- Citizen Initiative/Proposal 3, which supports providing a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, which is defined as “the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Missouri General Assembly and the Initiative Petition Amendment from the Secretary of State:
- Initiative Petition/Constitutional Amendment No. 3, which amends the Missouri Constitution to legalize the purchase, possession, consumption, use, delivery, manufacture, and sale of marijuana for personal use for adults over the age of twenty-one; and allow individuals with certain marijuana-related offenses to petition for release from prison or parole and probation and have their records expunged. The amendment also enacts a six percent tax on the retail price of recreational marijuana.
- SJR 38/Constitutional Amendment No. 4, which allows the legislature to increase minimum funding for a police force established by a state board of police commissioners.
- HJR 116/Constitutional Amendment No. 5, which concerns providing the state’s national guard with an executive department called the Missouri Department of the National Guard.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Montana Legislature:
- Constitutional Amendment/C-48, which amends the state constitution to require a search warrant to access electronic data or electronic communications.
We have added the text of the constitutional amendment from the Nebraska State Legislature and the Nebraska Initiative Amendment from the Secretary of State:
- Legislative Resolution 283CA/Amendment 1, which amends the state constitution to authorize any city, county, or other political subdivision that operates an airport to spend revenue to develop commercial air travel at the local airport.
- Nebraska Initiative 432, which amends the state constitution to require valid photo identification in order to vote and authorize the state legislature to pass laws to specify the photo identification requirements.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Nevada State Legislature and the Initiative Petition Amendment from the Secretary of State:
- SJR8/Question 1, which adds language to the Nevada Constitution that prohibits the denial or abridgment of rights on account of an individual’s race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.
- AJR10/Question 2, which increases the minimum wage for all employees in Nevada to $12 per hour by July 1, 2024; removes the existing annual inflation adjustments to the minimum wage; and allows the state legislature to pass a minimum wage law setting the rate higher than the constitutionally mandated minimum.
- Initiative Petition/Question 3, which concerns establishing open top-five primaries and ranked-choice voting for general elections, which would apply to congressional, gubernatorial, state executive official, and state legislative elections.
We added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the New Mexico Legislature:
- HJR 1/Amendment 1, which concerns allocating 1.25% of the five-year average of year-end market values of the money in the Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) to early childhood education and the public school permanent fund and providing that the allocation would not occur if the average year-end market value for the preceding five years of the LGPF fund balance was below $17 billion.
- HJR 1/Amendment 2, which authorizes the legislature to appropriate state funds for infrastructure that provides services primarily for residential use—such as internet, electric, natural gas, water, and wastewater—through a majority vote in each chamber.
- SJR 3/Amendment 3, which provides that an appointed judge shall be up for election at the first general election one year after being appointed.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Secretary of State:
- Citizen Initiative/Measure 1, which creates a new Article to the Constitution of 1889 concerning limiting the governor to serving two four-year terms and limiting state legislators to serving eight years in the state House and eight years in the state Senate.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Ohio Legislature:
- HJR 2/Issue 1, which supports amending the Ohio Constitution to require courts to consider factors such as public safety, the seriousness of the offense, a person’s criminal record, and a person’s likelihood of returning to court when setting the amount of bail.
- HJR 4/Issue 2, which prohibits local governments from allowing noncitizens or those who lack the qualifications of an elector to vote in local elections.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Oregon Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Absenteeism Initiative from the Secretary of State:
- SJR 12/Measure 111, which requires that the state “ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.”
- SJR 10/Measure 112, which repeals language from the state constitution that allows the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments and adds language that authorizes an Oregon court or a probation or parole agency to order alternatives to incarceration for a convicted individual as part of their sentencing.
- Legislative Absenteeism Initiative/Measure 113, which supports disqualifying legislators from re-election following the end of their term if they are absent from 10 legislative floor sessions without permission or excuse.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the South Carolina Legislature:
- SJR 1106/Amendment 1, which increases the General Reserve Fund from 5% of state general fund revenue to 7% incrementally by a one-half percent increase each year.
- SJR 1106/Amendment 2, which increases the Capital Reserve Fund from 2% to 3% of state general fund revenue and providing that the first use of the Capital Reserve Fund is to offset midyear budget reductions.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Secretary of State:
- Constitutional Amendment D, which concerns amending the state constitution to require the state to expand Medicaid to adults between 18 and 65 with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level beginning July 1, 2023.
- We have also included the 2022 Ballot Pamphlet from the Secretary of State.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the General Assembly:
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 2/Amendment 1, which amends the state constitution to add a new section to make it illegal for workplaces to require mandatory labor union membership for employees as a condition for employment.
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 10/Amendment 2, which supports amending the state constitution to provide a process, along with a line of succession, for an acting governor when the governor is unable to perform the office’s powers and duties.
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 159/Amendment 3, which amends the state constitution to remove language that allows the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments and replace it with the statement, “Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited.”
- Senate Joint Resolution No. 178/Amendment 4, which supports repealing Section 1 of Article IX of the Tennessee Constitution, which stated that religious ministers were disqualified from being elected to the state General Assembly.
We have added the texts of the constitutional amendments from the Vermont Legislature:
- Proposal 2, which amends the Vermont Constitution to repeal language stating that persons could be held as servants, slaves, or apprentices with the person’s consent or “for the payments of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like” and add “slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited.”
- Proposal 5, which amends the Vermont Constitution to add language protecting the right to personal reproductive autonomy and prohibiting government infringement unless justified by a compelling state interest.
We have added the text of the amendment from the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
- House Joint Resolution No. HJ0009, which allows the Wyoming State Legislature to provide by law for local governments (county, city, township, town, school district, or other political subdivision) to invest funds in stocks and equities and requiring a two-thirds vote of the legislature to establish or increase the percentage of funds a local government could invest.
From the May 7, 2022 Elections
We have added the text of the following amendments from the Texas State Legislature:
- SJR 2/Proposition 1, which amends the state constitution to authorize the state legislature to reduce the property tax limit for school maintenance and operations taxes imposed on the homesteads of elderly or disabled residents to reflect any tax rate reduction enacted by law from the preceding tax year.
- SJR 2/ Proposition 2, which amends the constitution to increase the homestead exemption for school district property taxes from $25,000 to $40,000.
We have also added the Texas Legislative Council List of Amendments, updated through 2022, as well as a Bill Analysis from the Texas House Research Organization. Additionally, we have added the consolidated text of the Constitution of Texas.
From the November 2, 2021 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of Maine from the Main State Legislature, including amendments from the election.
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of New York, as amended January 1, 2022 , from the New York Department of State.
Now included is the consolidated text of the Constitution of Texas, including amendments from the Texas Legislative Council.
From the May 18, 2021 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, as amended from the General Assembly.
From the June 30, 2020 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1907, as amended to 2020, from the Oklahoma State Legislature.
From the November 3, 2020 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1876, as amended to 2020, from the Secretary of State.
Now included is the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1890, as amended to 2020, from the Secretary of State.
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1910/1911/1912, as amended to 2020, from the Secretary of State.
Now included is the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1864, as amended to 2020, from the Nevada Legislature. This text includes the proposed amendments to be ratified on November 8, 2022 and November 5, 2024.
From the November 6, 2018 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1983, as amended to 2018, from the Secretary of State.
From the May 8, 2018 Elections
We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1851, as amended to 2018, from the Secretary of State.
Other Added Texts:
- Illinois: We added the annotated consolidated text of the Constitution of 1870, as amended to 1890, from the Secretary of State.
- New Jersey: We included the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1844, as amended to 1947, from the Law Revision Commission.
- New Mexico: We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1910/1911/1912, as amended to 1955, from the Secretary of State.
- New York: Now available is the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1938/1939, as amended to 1 January 1994, from the Department of State.
- Ohio: We added the annotated consolidated text of the Constitution of 1851, as amended to 1948, from the Secretary of State.
- Oklahoma: We included the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1907, as amended to 1957, from West Publishing Co.
- Utah: We added the consolidated text of the Constitution of 1895/1896, as amended to 2004, from the Legislative Printing Office.
State Constitutions Illustrated LibGuide
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