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TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 9, ARTICLE III OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1895, RELATING TO SESSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO PROVIDE FOR THE BIENNIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO PROVIDE FOR A SINE DIE ADJOURNMENT DATE, TO PROVIDE THE MEANS AND THE LIMIT TO WHICH THE SINE DIE ADJOURNMENT DATE MAY BE EXTENDED, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONVENING OF THE FIRST BIENNIAL SESSION.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. It is proposed that Section 9, Article III of the Constitution of this State be amended to read:
"Section 9. The annual biennial session of the General Assembly shall convene at the State Capitol Building in the City of Columbia on the second Tuesday of January of each every other year. After the convening of the General Assembly, nothing in this section shall prohibit the Senate or the House of Representatives, or both, from receding for a time period not to exceed thirty consecutive calendar days at a time by a majority vote of the members of the body of the General Assembly seeking to recede for a time period not to exceed thirty consecutive calendar days, or from receding for a time period of more than thirty consecutive calendar days at a time by a two-thirds vote of the members of the body of the General Assembly seeking to recede for more than thirty consecutive calendar days at a time. Each body shall sit in session at the State Capitol Building in the City of Columbia and may provide for meetings during the legislative session as it shall consider appropriate. Furthermore, the Senate or the House of Representatives, or both, may meet on the first Tuesday following the certification of the election of its members for not more than three days following the general election in even-numbered years for the purpose of organizing. The biennial session of the General Assembly must be adjourned sine die no later than the first Thursday in June following the convening of the session unless extended by a concurrent resolution adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the membership of each house. The sine die adjournment date for each biennial session shall not be extended beyond December thirty-first of the year in which it is convened. If the casualties of war or contagious disease render it unsafe to meet at the seat of government, the Governor, by proclamation, may appoint a more secure and convenient place of meeting. Members of the General Assembly shall not receive any compensation for more than forty days of any one session. The first biennial session convened pursuant to this section shall be on the second Tuesday in January 2013."
SECTION 2. The proposed amendment in Section 1 must be submitted to the qualified electors at the next general election for representatives. Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with following words:
"Must Section 9, Article III of the South Carolina Constitution, relating to sessions of the General Assembly be amended to provide that the General Assembly shall meet every two years rather than every year, to provide that the biennial session of the General Assembly must adjourn by the first Thursday in June in the year in which it is convened unless extended by a two-thirds vote of the membership of the House and Senate, to provide that the biennial session must not be extended past December thirty-first of the year in which it is convened, and to provide that the first biennial session shall convene on the first Tuesday in January 2013?
Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word 'Yes', and those voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word, 'No'."
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