The Text

Except the debts specified in sections two and three of this article, no debts shall be hereafter contracted by or on behalf of this state, unless such debts shall be authorized by law, for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay, the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within fifty years from the time of the contracting thereof. No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election. On the final passage of such bill in either house of the legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall be: “Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people?” The legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may, at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any further debt or liability under such law; but the tax imposed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted in pursuance of such law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be annually collected, until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision hereinbefore specified to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and liability. The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorizing such debt or liability, or for the payment of such debt or liability, and for no other purpose whatever. No such law shall be submitted to be voted on, within three months after its passage or at any general election when any other law, or any bill shall be submitted to be voted for or against. The legislature may provide for the issue of bonds of the state to run for a period not exceeding fifty years in lieu of bonds heretofore authorized but not issued and shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax for the payment of the same as hereinbefore required. When any sinking fund created under this section shall equal in amount the debt for which it was created, no further direct tax shall be levied on account of said sinking fund and the legislature shall reduce the tax to an amount equal to the accruing interest on such debt. The legislature may from time to time alter the rate of interest to be paid upon any state debt, which has been or may be authorized pursuant to the provisions of this section, or upon any part of such debt, provided, however, that the rate of interest shall not be altered upon any part of such debt or upon any bond or other evidence thereof, which has been, or shall be created or issued before such alteration. In case the legislature increases the rate of interest upon any such debt, or part thereof, it shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay and sufficient to pay the increased or altered interest оп such debt as it falls due and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within fifty years from the time of the contracting thereof, and shall appropriate annually to the sinking fund moneys in amount sufficient to pay such interest and pay and discharge the principal of such debt when it shall become due and payable.
In case any annual tax heretofore imposed for the payment of a debt authorized by vote of the people under the constitution will, if continued, provide for the payment of the interest on such debt as it falls due and also the payment of the principal of such debt before it becomes due, the legislature may amend the law by reducing the rate of such tax, provided that the same shall not be reduced below a sum sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due and also the principal of such debt when it becomes due.
The supreme court shall have jurisdiction to direct the comptroller or any officer of the state to impose a tax sufficient to comply with the provisions of this section for the protection of any sinking fund.