Page:Iowa (codified).pdf/8

ART. III, §1, CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA (CODIFIED)

Section 1. Departments of government. The powers of the government of Iowa shall be divided into three separate departments — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial: and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others, except in cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

Section 1. General assembly. The legislative authority of this state shall be vested in a general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives; and the style of every law shall be, “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa.”

Sec. 2. Annual sessions of general assembly — special sessions. The general assembly shall meet in session on the second Monday of January of each year. Upon written request to the presiding officer of each house of the general assembly by two-thirds of the members of each house, the general assembly shall convene in special session. The governor of the state may convene the general assembly by proclamation in the interim.

Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 36 (1974)

Special sessions, see also this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. IV, §11

Referred to in Iowa Code §2B.13

Sec. 3. Representatives. The members of the house of representatives shall be chosen every second year, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, [***] and their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next after their election, and continue two years, and until their successors are elected and qualified.

For provisions relative to the time of holding the general election, see this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. II, §7; see also Iowa Code §39.1

Sec. 4. Qualifications. No person shall be a member of the house of representatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, be a citizen of the United States, and shall have been an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding his election, and at the time of his election shall have had an actual residence of sixty days in the county, or district he may have been chosen to represent.

Amended by Amendment 6 (1880) and Amendment 15 (1926)

Sec. 5. Senators — qualifications. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, at the same time and place as representatives; they shall be twenty-five years of age, and possess the qualifications of representatives as to residence and citizenship.

Sec. 6. Senators — number and classification. The number of senators shall total not more than one-half the membership of the house of representatives. Senators shall be classified so that as nearly as possible one-half of the members of the senate shall be elected every two years.

Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 26 (1968)

See also this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. III, §34

Referred to in Iowa Code §42.4

Sec. 7. Officers — elections determined. Each house shall choose its own officers, and judge of the qualification, election, and return of its own members. A contested election shall be determined in such manner as shall be directed by law.