PRIVILEGES.—­Each branch of the legislature consists of members elected by the people.  Senators and representatives are responsible for their official acts to the people, and to the people alone.  Except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace, members of the legislature are privileged from arrest while attending the sessions of their respective houses, and while going thereto and returning therefrom.  For any speech or debate in either house, a member thereof can not be questioned in any other place.

Each house adopts rules for its own government.  Each house also elects its own officers, except that in most States the people elect a lieutenant-governor, who is also president of the Senate.  These various privileges are granted in the State constitution in order that the actions of the legislature may be free from all outside influences.

POWER.—­The constitution of the State defines the limits of the power vested in the legislative department.  The legislature may enact any law not forbidden by the Constitution of the State or of the United States.  Every act passed is binding upon the people unless it is declared by the courts to be unconstitutional.  An act of the legislature, when declared to be unconstitutional, thereby becomes void; that is, it ceases to have any legal force.

SESSIONS.—­The legislature meets at the State Capitol.  In a few States the legislature holds annual sessions, but in far the greater number it meets biennially; that is, once every two years.  In many States the constitution limits the session to a certain number of days, but in a few of these States the legislature may extend its session by a special vote of two-thirds of each house.  A majority constitutes a quorum for business, but a smaller number may meet and adjourn from day to day in order that the organization may not be lost.

FUNCTIONS.—­The legislature enacts laws upon a great variety of subjects.  It fixes the rate of State taxation, it provides for the collection and distribution of State revenue, creates offices and fixes salaries, provides for a system of popular education, and makes laws relating to public works, the administration of justice, the conduct of elections, the management of railways and other corporations, the maintenance of charitable and other institutions, the construction and repair of public roads, the organization of the militia, the conduct of prisons and reformatories, and a number of other public interests.

FORBIDDEN POWERS.—­The Constitution of the United States forbids any State to exercise certain powers: 

(1) No State can enter into any treaty, alliance, confederation, contract, or agreement with any other State, or with a foreign power; issue commissions to vessels authorizing them to capture and destroy the merchant ships of other nations; coin money; issue paper money; make any thing but gold and silver coin a legal tender for the payment of debts; pass any bill inflicting the penalty of death without a regular trial, or any law fixing a penalty for acts done before its adoption, or any law affecting the provisions of contracts made before its passage; or grant any title of nobility.