SEC. 16. No book, or other printed matter not appertaining to
the business of the session, shall be purchased, or subscribed for,
for the use of the members of the General Assembly, or be dis-
tributed among them, at the public expense.

SEC. 17. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as such,
notwithstanding he may thereafter resign, shall during the whole
period of time, for which he was elected, be eligible to any office,
which shall have been created, or the salary, or profits of which
shall have been increased, during such term.

SEC. 18. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any civil
action, or criminal prosecution, whatever, for words spoken in
debate.

SEC. 19. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications
and elections of its members, as prescribed by the Constitution
and Laws of the State, and shall appoint its own officers, deter-
mine the rules of its own proceedings, punish a member for dis-
orderly or disrespectful behaviour and with the consent of two-
thirds of its whole number of members elected, expel a member;
but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same of-
fence.

SEC. 20. A majority of the whole number of members elected
to each House shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day,
and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner,
and under such penalties, as each House may prescribe.

SEC. 21. The doors of each House, and of the Committee of
the Whole, shall be open, except when the business is such as
ought to be kept secret.

SEC. 22. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings,
and cause the same to be published. The yeas and nays of mem-
bers on any question, shall at the call of any five of them in the
House of Delegates, or one in the Senate, be entered on the
Journal.

SEC. 23. Each House may punish by imprisonment, during
the session of the General Assembly, any person, not a member,
for disrespectful, or disorderly behavior in its presence, or for
obstructing any of its proceedings, or any of its officers in the ex-
ecution of their duties; provided, such imprisonment shall not, at
any one time, exceed ten days.

SEC. 24. The House of Delegates may inquire, on the oath of
witnesses, into all complaints, grievances and offences, as the
grand inquest of the State, and may commit any person, for any
crime, to the public jail, there to remain, until discharged by due
course of Law. They may examine and pass all accounts of the
State, relating either to the collection or expenditure of the reve-
nue, and appoint auditors to state and adjust the same. They
may call for all public, or official papers and records, and send
for persons, whom they may judge necessary in the course of
their inquiries, concerning affairs relating to the public interest,
and may direct all office bonds which shall be made payable to
the State, to be sued for any breach thereof; and with a view to
the more certain prevention, or correction of the abuses in the
expenditures of the money of the State, the General Assembly
shall create, at every session thereof, a Joint Standing Commit-
tee of the Senate and House of Delegates, who shall have power
to send for persons, and examine them on oath, and call for
Public, or Official Papers and Records, and whose duty it shall
be to examine and report upon all contracts made for printing
stationery, and purchases for the Public offices, and the Library,
and all expenditures therein, and upon all matters of alleged
abuse in expenditures, to which their attention may be called by
Resolution of either House of the General Assembly.

SEC. 25. Neither House shall, without the consent of the oth-
er, adjourn for more than three days, at any one time, nor ad-
journ to any other place, than that in which the House shall be
sitting, without the concurrent vote of two-thirds of the mem-
bers present.

SEC. 26. The House of Delegates shall have the sole power of
impeachment in all cases; but a majority of all the members
elected must concur in the impeachment. All impeachments
shall be tried by the Senate, and when sitting for that purpose,
the Senators shall be on oath, or affirmation, to do justice ac-
cording to the law and evidence; but no person shall be convict-
ed without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Senators
elected.

SEC. 27. Any bill may originate in either House of the
General Assembly and be altered, amended or rejected by the
other. No bill shall originate in either House during the last thir-
ty-five calendar days of a regular session, unless two-thirds of
the members elected thereto shall so determine by yeas and
nays. and in addition the two Houses by joint and similar rule
may further regulate the right to introduce bills during this peri-
od; nor shall any bill become a law until it be read on three dif-
ferent days of the session in each House, unless two-thirds of the
members elected to the House where such bill is pending shall so
determine by yeas and nays, and no bill shall be read a third
time until it shall have been actually engrossed or printed for a
third reading.

Each House may adopt by rule a "consent calendar" proce-
dure permitting bills to be read and voted upon as a single group
on both second and third readings, provided that the members
of each House be afforded reasonable notice of the bills to be
placed upon each "consent calendar." Upon the objection of any
member, any bill in question shall be removed from the "consent
calendar."

SEC. 28. No bill, nor single group of bills placed on the
"consent calendar," shall become a Law unless it be passed in
each House by a majority of the whole number of members
elected, and on its final passage, the yeas and nays be recorded,
and on final passage of the bills placed on the "consent calen-
dar" the yeas and nays on the entire group of bills be recorded.
A resolution requiring the action of both Houses shall be passed
in the same manner.

SEC. 29. The style of all Laws of this State shall be, "Be it en-
acted by the General Assembly of Maryland:" and all Laws
shall be passed by original bill; and every Law enacted by the
General Assembly shall embrace but one subject, and that shall
be described in its title; and no Law, nor section of Law, shall be
revived, or amended by reference to its title, or section only; nor
shall any Law be construed by reason of its title, to grant pow-
ers, or confer rights which are not expressly contained in the
body of the Act; and it shall be the duty of the General Assem-
bly, in amending any article, or section of the Code of Laws of
this State, to enact the same, as the said article, or section would
read when amended. And whenever the General Assembly shall
enact any Public General Law, not amendatory of any section,
or article in the said Code, it shall be the duty of the General
Assembly to enact the same, in articles and sections, in the same
manner, as the Code is arranged, and to provide for the publica-
tion of all additions and alterations, which may be made to the
said Code.