Civil Government of Virginia Part 31

SEC. 133. Each magisterial district shall const.i.tute a separate school district, unless otherwise provided by law. In each school district there shall be three trustees selected, in the manner and for the term of office prescribed by law.

SEC. 134. The General a.s.sembly shall set apart as a permanent and perpetual literary fund, the present literary fund of the State; the proceeds of all public lands donated by Congress for public free school purposes; of all escheated property; of all waste and unappropriated lands; of all property accruing to the State by forfeiture, and all fines collected for offences committed against the State, and such other sums as the General a.s.sembly may apppropriate.

SEC. 135. The General a.s.sembly shall apply the annual interest on the literary fund; that portion of the capitation tax provided for in the Const.i.tution to be paid into the state treasury, and not returnable to the counties and cities; and an annual tax on property of not less than one nor more than five mills on the dollar to the schools of the primary and grammar grades, for the equal benefit of all of the people of the State, to be apportioned on a basis of school population; the number of children between the ages of seven and twenty years in each school district to be the basis of such apportionment: but if at any time the several kinds or cla.s.ses of property shall be segregated for the purposes of taxation, so as to specify and determine upon what subjects state taxes and upon what subjects local taxes may be levied, then the General a.s.sembly may otherwise provide for a fixed appropriation of state revenue to the support of the schools not less than that provided in this section.

SEC. 136. Each county, city, town if the same be a separate school district, and school district is authorized to raise additional sums by a tax on property, not to exceed in the aggregate five mills on the dollar in any one year, to be apportioned and expended by the local school authorities of said counties, cities, towns and district in establis.h.i.+ng and maintaining such schools as in their judgment the public welfare may require: provided, that such primary schools as may be established in any school year, shall be maintained at least four months of that school year, before any part of the fund a.s.sessed and collected may be devoted to the establishment of schools of higher grade. The boards of supervisors of the several counties, and the councils of the several cities, and towns if the same be separate schools districts, shall provide for the levy and collection of such local school taxes.

SEC. 137. The General a.s.sembly may establish agricultural, normal, manual training and technical schools, and such grades of schools as shall be for the public good.

SEC. 138. The General a.s.sembly may, in its discretion, provide for the compulsory education of children between the ages of eight and twelve years, except such as are weak in body or mind, or can read and write, or are attending private schools, or are excused for cause by the district school trustees.

SEC. 139. Provision shall be made to supply children attending the public schools with necessary text-books in cases where the parent or guardian is unable, by reason of poverty, to furnish them.

SEC. 140. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school.

SEC. 141. No appropriation of public funds shall be made to any school or inst.i.tution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the State or some political subdivision thereof: provided, first, that the General a.s.sembly may, in its discretion, continue the appropriations to the College of William and Mary; second, that this section shall not be construed as requiring or prohibiting the continuance or discontinuance by the General a.s.sembly of the payment of interest on certain bonds held by certain schools and colleges as provided by an act of the General a.s.sembly, approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, relating to bonds held by schools and colleges; third, that counties, cities, towns, and districts may make appropriations to non-sectarian schools of manual, industrial, or technical training, and also to any school or inst.i.tution of learning owned or exclusively controlled by such county, city, town, or school district.

SEC. 142. Members of the boards of visitors or trustees of educational inst.i.tutions shall be appointed as may be provided by law, and shall hold for the term of four years: provided, that at the first appointment, if the board be of an even number, one-half of them, or, if of an odd number, the least majority of them, shall be appointed for two years.

ARTICLE X.

AGRICULTURE AND IMMIGRATION.

SEC. 143. There shall be a Department of Agriculture and Immigration, which shall be permanently maintained at the capital of the State, and which shall be under the management and control of a Board of Agriculture and Immigration, composed of one member from each congressional district, who shall be a practical farmer, appointed by the Governor for a term of four years, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and the president of the Virginia Polytechnic Inst.i.tute, who shall be ex-officio a member of the board: provided, that members of the board first appointed under this Const.i.tution from the congressional districts bearing odd numbers shall hold office for two years.

SEC. 144. The powers and duties of the board shall be prescribed by law: provided, that it shall have power to elect and remove its officers, and establish elsewhere in the State subordinate branches of said department.

SEC. 145. There shall be a Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration, whose term of office shall be four years, and who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the State, and whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by the Board of Agriculture and Immigration until otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 146. The president of the Board of Agriculture and Immigration shall be ex-officio a member of the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Polytechnic Inst.i.tute.

ARTICLE XII

PUBLIC INSt.i.tUTIONS AND PRISONS.

SEC. 147. There shall be a state penitentiary,--with such branch prisons and prison farms as may be provided by law.

SEC. 148. There shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, a board of five directors which, subject to such regulations and requirements as may be prescribed by law, shall have the government and control of the penitentiary, branch prisons, and prison farms, and shall appoint the superintendents and surgeons thereof. The respective superintendents shall appoint, and may remove, all other officers and employees of the penitentiary, branch prisons, and prison farms, subject to the approval of the board of directors. The superintendents and surgeons shall be appointed for a term of four years, and be removable by the board of directors for misbehavior, incapacity, neglect of official duty, or acts performed without authority of law. The terms of the directors first appointed shall be one, two, three, four, and five years respectively; and thereafter, upon the expiration of the term of a director, his successor shall be appointed for a term of five years.

SEC. 149. For each state hospital for the insane now existing, or hereafter established, there shall be a special board of directors, consisting of three members, who shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate; such board shall have the management of the hospital for which it is appointed, under the supervision and control of the general board of directors hereinafter const.i.tuted. The terms of the directors first appointed shall be two, four, and six years, respectively, and thereafter, upon the expiration of the term of a member, his successor shall be appointed for a term of six years.

SEC. 150. There shall be a general board of directors for the control and management of all the state hospitals for the insane now existing or hereafter established, which shall consist of all the directors appointed members of the several special boards. The general board of directors shall be subject to such regulations and requirements as the General a.s.sembly may from time to time prescribe, and shall have full power and control over the special boards of directors and all of the officers and employees of the said hospitals.

SEC. 151. The general board of directors shall appoint for a term of four years a superintendent for each hospital, who shall be removable by said board for misbehavior, incapacity, neglect of official duty, or acts performed without authority of law. The special board of each hospital, shall, subject to the approval of the general board, appoint for a term of four years all other resident officers. The superintendent of each hospital shall appoint, and may remove, with the approval of the special board, all other employees of such hospital.

SEC. 152. There shall be a Commissioner of State Hospitals for the Insane, who shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, for a term of four years. He shall be ex-officio chairman of the general and of each of the special boards of directors, and shall be responsible for the proper disburs.e.m.e.nt of all moneys appropriated or received from any source for the maintenance of such hospitals; he shall cause to be established and maintained at all of the hospitals a uniform system of keeping the records and the accounts of money received and disbursed and of making reports thereof. He shall perform such other duties and shall execute such bond and receive such salary as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XII.

CORPORATIONS.

SEC. 153. As used in this article, the term "corporation" or "company" shall include all trusts, a.s.sociations and joint stock companies having any powers or privileges not possessed by individuals or unlimited partners.h.i.+ps, and exclude all munic.i.p.al corporations and public inst.i.tutions owned or controlled by the State; the term "charter" shall be construed to mean the charter of incorporation by, or under, which any such corporation is formed; the term "transportation company" shall include any company, trustee, or other person owning, leasing or operating for hire a railroad, street railway, ca.n.a.l, steamboat or steams.h.i.+p line, and also any freight car company, car a.s.sociation, or car trust, express company, or company, trustee or person in any way engaged in business as a common carrier over a route acquired in whole or in part under the right of eminent domain; the term "rate" shall be construed to mean "rate of charge for any service rendered or to be rendered"; the terms "rate," "charge" and "regulation," shall include joint rates, joint charges, and joint regulations, respectively; the term "transmission company" shall include any company owning, leasing, or operating for hire, any telegraph or telephone line; the term "freight" shall be construed to mean any property transported, or received for transportation, by any transportation company; the term "public service corporation" shall include all transportation and transmission companies, all gas, electric light, heat and power companies, and all persons authorized to exercise the right of eminent domain, or to use or occupy any street, alley or public highway, whether along, over, or under the same, in a manner not permitted to the general public; the term "person," as used in this article, shall include individuals, partners.h.i.+ps and corporations, in the singular as well as plural number; the term "bond" shall mean all certificates, or written evidences, of indebtedness issued by any corporation and secured by mortgage or trust deed; the term "frank" shall be construed to mean any writing or token, issued by, or under authority of, a transmission company, ent.i.tling the holder to any service from such company free of charge. The provisions of this article shall always be so restricted in their application as not to conflict with any of the provisions of the Const.i.tution of the United States, and as if the necessary limitations upon their interpretation had been herein expressed in each case.

SEC. 154. The creation of corporations, and the extension and amendment of charters (whether heretofore or hereafter granted), shall be provided for by general laws, and no charter shall be granted, amended or extended by special act, nor shall authority in such matters be conferred upon any tribunal or officer, except to ascertain whether the applicants have, by complying with the requirements of the law, ent.i.tled themselves to the charier, amendment or extension applied for, and to issue, or refuse, the same accordingly. Such general laws may be amended or repealed by the General a.s.sembly; and all charters and amendments of charters, now existing and revocable, or hereafter granted or extended, may be repealed at any time by special act. Provision shall be made, by general laws, for the voluntary surrender of its charter by any corporation, and for the forfeiture thereof for non-user or mis- user. The General a.s.sembly shall not, by special act, regulate the affairs of any corporation, nor, by such act, give it any rights, powers or privileges.

SEC. 155. A permanent commission, to consist of three members, is hereby created, which shall be known as the State Corporation Commission. The commissioners shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General a.s.sembly in joint session, and their regular terms of office shall be six years, respectively, except those first appointed under this Const.i.tution, of whom, one shall be appointed to hold office until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, one, until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and six, and one, until the first day of February, nineteen hundred and eight.

Whenever a vacancy in the commission shall occur, the Governor shall forthwith appoint a qualified person to fill the same for the unexpired term, subject to confirmation by the General a.s.sembly as aforesaid Commissioners appointed for regular terms shall, at the beginning of the terms for which appointed, and those appointed to fill vacancies shall, immediately upon their appointments, enter upon the duties of their office, but no person so appointed, either for a regular term, or to fill a vacancy, shall enter upon, or continue in, office after the General a.s.sembly shall have refused to confirm his appointment, or adjourned sine die without confirming the same, nor shall he be eligible for reappointment to fill the vacancy caused by such refusal or failure to confirm. No person while employed by, or holding any office in relation to, any transportation or transmission company, or while in any wise financially interested therein, or while engaged in practicing law, shall hold office as a member of said commission, or perform any of the duties thereof.

At least one of the commissioners shall have the qualifications prescribed for judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and any commissioner may be impeached or removed in the manner provided for the impeachment or removal of a judge of said court. The commission shall annually elect one of their members chairman of the same, and shall have one clerk, one bailiff and such other clerks, officers, a.s.sistants and subordinates as may be provided by law, all of whom shall be appointed, and subject to removal, by the commission. It shall prescribe its own rules of order and procedure, except so far as the same are specified in this Const.i.tution or any amendment thereof. The General a.s.sembly may establish within the department, and subject to the supervision and control, of the commission, subordinate divisions, or bureaus, of insurance, banking or other special branches of the business of that department. All sessions of the commission shall be public, and a permanent record shall be kept of all its judgments, rules, orders, findings and decisions, and of all reports made to, or by, it. Two of the commissioners shall const.i.tute a quorum for the transaction of business, whether there be a vacancy in the commission or not. The commission shall keep its office open for business on every day except Sundays and legal holidays.

Transportation companies shall at all times transport, free of charge, within this State, the members of said commission and its officers, or any of them, when engaged on their official duties.

The General a.s.sembly shall provide suitable quarters for the commission and funds for its lawful expenses, including pay for witnesses summoned, and costs of executing processes issued, by the commission of its own motion, and shall fix the salaries of the members, clerks, a.s.sistants and subordinates of the commission and provide for the payment thereof, but the salary of each commissioner shall not be less than four thousand dollars per annum After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and eight, the General a.s.sembly may provide for the election of the members of the commission by the qualified voters of the State, in which event, vacancies thereafter occurring shall be filled as here inbefore provided, until the expiration of twenty days after the next general election, held not less than sixty days after the vacancy occurs, at which election the vacancy shall be filled for the residue of the unexpired term

SEC 156 (a) Subject to the provisions of this Const.i.tution and to such requirements, rules and regulations as may be prescribed by law, the State Corporation Commission shall be the department of government through which shall be issued all charters and amendments or extensions thereof, for domestic corporations, and all licenses to do business in this State to foreign corporations, and through which shall be carried out all the provisions of this Const.i.tution, and of the laws made in pursuance thereof, for the creation, visitation, supervision, regulation and control of corporations chartered by, or doing business in, this State The commission shall prescribe the forms of all reports which may be required of such corporations by this Const.i.tution or by law, it shall collect, receive, and preserve such reports, and annually tabulate and publish them in statistical form, it shall have all the rights and powers of, and perform all the duties devolving upon, the Railroad Commissioner and the Board of Public Works, at the time this Const.i.tution goes into effect, except so far as they are inconsistent with this Const.i.tution, or may be hereafter abolished or changed by law

(b) The commission shall have the power, and be charged with the duty, of supervising, regulating and controlling all transportation and transmission companies doing business in this State, in all matters relating to the performance of their public duties and their charges therefor, and of correcting abuses therein by such companies, and to that end the commission shall, from time to time prescribe, and enforce against such companies, in the manner hereinafter authorized, such rates, charges, cla.s.sifications of traffic, and rules and regulations, and shall require them to establish and maintain all such public service, facilities and conveniences, as may be reasonable and just, which said rates, charges, cla.s.sifications, rules, regulations and requirements, the commission may, from time to time, alter or amend. All rates, charges, cla.s.sifications, rules and regulations adopted, or acted upon, by any such company, inconsistent with those prescribed by the commission, within the scope of its authority, shall be unlawful and void. The commission shall also have the right at all times to inspect the books and papers of all transportation and transmission companies doing business in this State, and to require from such companies, from time to time, special reports and statements under oath concerning their business, it shall keep itself fully informed of the physical condition of all the railroads of the State, as to the manner in which they are operated, with reference to the security and accommodation of the public, and shall, from time to time, make and enforce such requirements, rules and regulations as may be necessary to prevent unjust or unreasonable discriminations by any transportation or transmission company in favor of, or against, any person, locality, community, connecting line, or kind of traffic, in the matter of car service, train or boat schedule, efficiency of transportation or otherwise, in connection with the public duties of such company Before the commission shall prescribe or fix any rate, charge, or cla.s.sification of traffic, and before it shall make any order, rule, regulation or requirement directed against any one or more companies by name, the company or companies to be affected by such rate, charge, cla.s.sification, order, rule, regulation or requirement, shall first be given, by the commission, at least ten days' notice of the time and place, when and where the contemplated action in the premises will be considered and disposed of, and shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to introduce evidence and to be heard thereon, to the end that justice may be done, and shall have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses, and before the commission shall make or prescribe any general order, rule, regulation or requirement, not directed against any specific company or companies by name, the contemplated general order, rule, regulation or requirement shall first be published in substance, not less than once a week for four consecutive weeks in one or more of the newspapers of general circulation published in the city of Richmond, Virginia, together with notice of the time and place, when and where the commission will hear any objections which may be urged by any person interested, against the proposed order, rule, regulation or requirement, and every such general order, rule, regulation or requirement, made by the commission shall be published at length, for the time and in the manner above specified, before it shall go into effect, and shall also, as long as it remains in force, be published in each subsequent annual report of the commission. The authority of the commission (subject to review on appeal as hereinafter provided) to prescribe rates, charges and cla.s.sifications of traffic, for transportation and transmission companies, shall be paramount, but its authority to prescribe any other rules, regulations or requirements for corporations or other persons shall be subject to the superior authority of the General a.s.sembly to legislate thereon by general laws provided, however, that nothing in this section shall impair the right which has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, conferred by law upon the authorities of any city, town or county to prescribe rules, regulations or rates of charge to be observed by any public service corporation in connection with any services performed by it under a munic.i.p.al or county franchise granted by such city, town or county, so far as such services may be wholly within the limits of the city, town or county granting the franchise. Upon the request of the parties interested, it shall be the duty of the commission, as far as possible, to effect, by mediation, the adjustment of claims, and the settlement of controversies, between transportation or transmission companies and their patrons

(c) In all matters pertaining to the public visitation, regulation or control of corporations, and within the jurisdiction of the commission, it shall have the powers and authority of a court of record, to administer oaths, to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, to punish for contempt any person guilty of disrespectful or disorderly conduct in the presence of the commission while in session, and to enforce compliance with any of its lawful orders or requirements by adjudging and enforcing by its own appropriate process, against the delinquent or offending company (after it shall have been first duly cited, proceeded against by due process of law before the commission sitting as a court, and afforded opportunity to introduce evidence and to be heard, as well against the validity, justness or reasonableness of the order or requirement alleged to have been violated, as against the liability of the company for the alleged violation), such fines or other penalties as may be prescribed or authorized by this Const.i.tution or by law. The commission may be vested with such additional powers, and charged with such other duties (not inconsistent with this Const.i.tution) as may be prescribed by law, in connection with the visitation, regulation or control of corporations, or with the prescribing and enforcing of rates and charges to be observed in the conduct of any business where the State has the right to prescribe the rates and charges in connection therewith, or with the a.s.sessment of the property of corporations or the apprais.e.m.e.nt of their franchises, for taxation, or with the investigation of the subject of taxation generally. Any corporation failing or refusing to obey any valid order or requirement of the commission, within such reasonable time, not less than ten days, as shall be fixed in the order, may be fined by the commission (proceeding by due process of law as aforesaid) such sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars, as the commission may deem proper, or such sum in excess of five hundred dollars, as may be prescribed, or authorized, by law; and each day's continuance of such failure or refusal, after due service upon such corporation of the older or requirement of the commission, shall be a separate offence provided that should the operation of such order or requirement be suspended pending an appeal therefrom, the period of such suspension shall not be computed against the company in the matter of its liability to fines or penalties

(d) From any action of the commission prescribing rates, charges or cla.s.sifications of traffic, or affecting the train schedule of any transportation company, or requiring additional facilities, conveniences or public service of any transportation or transmission company, or refusing to approve a suspending bond, or requiring additional security thereon or an increase thereof, as provided for in sub-section e of this section, an appeal (subject to such reasonable limitations as to time, regulations as to procedure and provisions as to costs, as may be prescribed by law) may be taken by the corporation whose rates, charges or cla.s.sifications of traffic, schedule, facilities, conveniences or service, are affected, or by any person deeming himself aggrieved by such action, or (if allowed by law) by the Commonwealth. Until otherwise provided by law, such appeal shall be taken in the manner in which appeals may be taken to the Supreme Court of Appeals from the inferior courts, except that such an appeal shall be of right, and the Supreme Court of Appeals may provide by rule for proceedings in the matter of appeals in any particular in which the existing rules of law are inapplicable. If such appeal be taken by the corporation whose rates, charges or cla.s.sifications of traffic, schedules, facilities, conveniences or service are affected, the Commonwealth shall be made the appellee, but, in the other cases mentioned the corporation so affected shall be made the appellee. The General a.s.sembly may also, by general laws, provide for appeals from any other action of the commission, by the Commonwealth or by any person interested, irrespective of the amount involved. All appeals from the commission shall be to the Supreme Court of Appeals only, aid in all appeals to which the Commonwealth is a party, it shall be represented by the Attorney General or his legally appointed representative. No court of this Commonwealth (except the Supreme Court of Appeals, by way of appeals as herein authorized) shall have jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct or annul any action of the commission, within the scope of its authority, or to suspend or delay the execution or operation thereof, or to enjoin, restrain or interfere with the commission in the performance of its official duties, provided, however, that the writs of mandamus and prohibition shall lie from the Supreme Court of Appeals to the commission in all cases where such writs, respectively, would lie to any inferior tribunal or officer.

(e) Upon the granting of an appeal, a writ of supersedeas may be awarded by the appellate court, suspending the operation of the action appealed from until the final disposition of the appeal, but, prior to the final reversal thereof by the appellate court, no action of the commission prescribing or affecting the rates, charges or cla.s.sifications of traffic of any transportation or transmission company shall be delayed, or suspended, in its operation, by reason of any appeal by such corporation, or by reason of any proceedings resulting from such appeal, until a suspending bond shall first have been executed and filed with, and approved by, the commission (or approved on review by the Supreme Court of Appeals), payable to the Commonwealth, and sufficient in amount and security to insure the prompt refunding, by the appealing corporation to the parties ent.i.tled thereto of all charges which such company may collect or receive, pending the appeal, in excess of those fixed, or authorized, by the final decision of the court on appeal. The commission, upon the execution of such bond, shall forthwith require the appealing company, under penalty of the immediate enforcement (pending the appeal and notwithstanding any supersedeas), of the order or requirement appealed from, to keep such accounts, and to make to the commission, from time to time, such reports, verified by oath, as may, in the judgment of the commission, suffice to show the amounts being charged or received by the company pending the appeal, in excess of the charge allowed by the action of the commission appealed from, together with the names and addresses of the persons to whom such overcharges will be refundable in case the charges made by the company pending the appeal, be not sustained on such appeal, and the commission shall also, from time to time, require such company, under like penalty, to give additional security on, or to increase, the said suspending bond, whenever, in the opinion of the commission, the same may be necessary to insure the prompt refunding of the overcharges aforesaid. Upon the final decision of such appeal, all amounts which the appealing company may have collected, pending the appeal, in excess of that authorized by such final decision, shall be promptly refunded by the company to the parties ent.i.tled thereto, in such manner, and through such methods of distribution, as may be prescribed by the commission, or by law. All such appeals affecting rates, charges or cla.s.sifications of traffic, shall have precedence upon the docket of the appellate court, and shall be heard and disposed of promptly by the court, irrespective of its place of session, next after the habeas corpus, and Commonwealth's cases already on the docket of the court.

(a) In no case of appeal from the commission shall any new or additional evidence be introduced in the appellate court, but the chairman of the commission, under the seal of the commission, shall certify to the appellate court all the facts upon which the action appealed from was based and which may be essential for the proper decision of the appeal, together with such of the evidence introduced before, or considered by, the commission as may be selected, specified and required to be certified, by any party in interest, as well as such other evidence, so introduced or considered, as the commission may deem proper to certify. The commission shall, whenever an appeal is taken therefrom, file with the record of the case, and as a part thereof, a written statement of the reasons upon which the action appealed from was based, and such statement shall be lead and considered by the appellate court, upon disposing of the appeal. The appellate court shall have jurisdiction, on such appeal, to consider and determine the reasonableness and justness of the action of the commission appealed from, as well as any other matter arising under such appeal provided, however, that the action of the commission appealed from shall be regarded as prima facie just, reasonable and correct, but the court may, when it deems necessary, in the interest of justice, demand to the commission any case pending on appeal, and require the same to be further investigated by the commission, and reported upon to the court (together with a certificate of such additional evidence as may be tendered before the commission by any party in interest), before the appeal is finally decided.

(b) Whenever the court, upon appeal, shall reverse an order of the commission affecting the rates, charges or the cla.s.sification of traffic of any transportation or transmission company, it shall, at the same time, subst.i.tute therefor such order as in its opinion, the commission should have made at the time of entering the order appealed from, otherwise the reversal order shall not be valid. Such subst.i.tuted order shall have the same force and effect (and none other) as if it had been entered by the commission at the time the original order appealed from was entered. The right of the commission to prescribe and enforce rates, charges, cla.s.sifications, rules and regulations, affecting any or all actions of the commission theretofore entered by it and appealed from, but based upon circ.u.mstances or conditions different from those existing at the time the order appealed from was made, shall not be suspended or impaired by reason of the pendency of such appeal; but no order of the commission, prescribing or altering such rates, charges, cla.s.sifications, rules or regulations, shall be retroactive.

(h) The right of any person to inst.i.tute and prosecute in the ordinary courts of justice, any action, suit or motion against any transportation or transmission company, for any claim or cause of action against such company, shall not be extinguished or impaired, by reason of any fine or other penalty which the commission may impose, or be authorized to impose, upon such company because of its breach of any public duty, or because of its failure to comply with any order or requirement of the commission; but, in no such proceeding by any person against such corporation, nor in any collateral proceeding, shall the reasonableness, justness or validity of any rate, charge, cla.s.sification or traffic, rule, regulation or requirement, theretofore prescribed by the commission, within the scope of its authority, and then in force, be questioned: provided, however, that no ease based upon or involving any order of the commission shall be heard, or disposed of, against the objection of either party, so long as such order is suspended in its operation by an order of the Supreme Court of Appeals as authorized by this Const.i.tution or by any law pa.s.sed in pursuance thereof.

(i) The commission shall make annual reports to the Governor of its proceedings, in which reports it shall recommend, from time to time, such new or additional legislation in reference to its powers or duties, or to the creation, supervision, regulation or control of corporations, or to the subject of taxation, as it may deem wise or expedient, or as may be required by law.

(k) Upon the organization of the State Corporation Commission, the Board of Public Works and the office of Railroad Commissioner, shall cease to exist; and all books, papers and doc.u.ments pertaining thereto, shall be transferred to, and become a part of the records of, the office of the State Corporation Commission.

(l) After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and five, in addition to the modes of amendment provided for in Article fifteen of this Const.i.tution, the General a.s.sembly, upon the recommendation of the State Corporation Commission, may, by law, from time to time, amend sub-sections a to i, inclusive, of this section, or any of them, or any such amendment thereof: provided, that no amendment made under authority of this sub-section shall contravene the provisions of any part of this Const.i.tution other than the sub-sections last above referred to or any such amendment thereof.

SEC. 157. Provision shall be made by general laws for the payment of a fee to the Commonwealth by every domestic corporation, upon the granting, amendment or extension of its charter, and by every foreign corporation upon obtaining a license to do business in this State as specified in this section; and also for the payment, by every domestic corporation, and foreign corporation doing business in this State, of an annual registration fee of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars, which shall be irrespective of any specific license, or other, tax imposed by law upon such company for the privilege of carrying on its business in this State, or upon its franchise or property; and for the making, by every such corporation (at the time of paying such annual registration fee), of such report to the State Corporation Commission, of the status, business or condition of such corporation, as the General a.s.sembly may prescribe. No foreign corporation shall have authority to do business in this State, until it shall have first obtained from the commission a license to do business in this State, upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by law. The failure by any corporation for two successive years to pay its annual registration fee, or to make its said annual reports, shall, when such failure shall have continued for ninety days after the expiration of such two years, operate as a revocation and annulment of the charter of such corporation if it be a domestic company, or, of its license to do business in this State if it be a foreign company; and the General a.s.sembly shall provide additional and suitable penalties for the failure of any corporation to comply promptly with the requirements of this section, or of any laws pa.s.sed in pursuance thereof. The commission shall compel all corporations to comply promptly with such requirements, by enforcing, in the manner hereinbefore authorized, such fines and penalties against the delinquent company as may be provided for, or authorized by, this article; but the General a.s.sembly may relieve from the payment of the said registration fee any purely charitable inst.i.tution or inst.i.tutions.