The History of Cuba Volume IV Part 15

SECTION FOURTH

PROVISIONS COMMON TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS

ART. 51. The positions of Senator and Representative are incompatible with the holding of any other paid position of Government appointment, except a professors.h.i.+p in a Government inst.i.tution, obtained by compet.i.tive examination prior to the election.

ART. 52. Senators and Representatives shall receive from the State a pecuniary remuneration, alike for both positions, the amount of which may be changed at any time; the change shall not take effect until after the renewal of the legislative bodies.

ART. 53. Senators and Representatives shall be inviolable for their votes and opinions in the discharge of their duties. Senators and Representatives shall only be arrested or indicted upon permission of the body to which they belong, if Congress is then in Session, except in case of flagrante delicto. In this case, and in the case of the arrest or indictment being made when Congress is not in session, the fact shall be reported, as soon as practicable, to the respective House for proper action.

ART. 54. Both Houses of Congress shall open and close their sessions on the same day; they shall meet in the same city, and neither shall move to any other place, or adjourn for more than three days, except by common consent. Nor shall they begin to do business without two-thirds of the total number of their members being present, or continue their sessions without the attendance of an absolute majority.

ART. 55. Each House shall be the judge of the election of its respective members and shall also pa.s.s upon their resignations. No Senator or Representative shall be expelled from the House to which he belongs, except upon grounds previously determined, and to the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the total number of its members.

ART. 56. Each House shall frame its respective rules and regulations, and elect from among its members its president, vice-presidents and secretaries. But the president of the Senate shall not discharge his duties as such, except in case the Vice-President of the Republic is absent or acting as President.

SECTION FIFTH

CONGRESS AND ITS POWERS

ART. 57. Congress shall a.s.semble, without necessity of previous call, twice in each year, each session to last not less than forty working days. The first session shall begin on the first Monday in April and the second on the first Monday in November.

It shall meet in extra session in such cases and in such manner as may be provided by its rules and regulations and when called to convene by the President of the Republic in accordance with the provisions of this Const.i.tution. In both cases it shall only consider the express object or objects for which it a.s.sembles.

ART. 58. Congress shall meet in joint session to proclaim, after counting and verifying the electoral vote, the President and Vice-President of the Republic.

In this case the president of the Senate, and in his absence the president of the House of Representatives, as vice-president of the Congress, shall preside over the joint meeting.

If upon counting the votes for President it is found that none of the candidates has an absolute majority of votes, or if the votes are equally divided, Congress, by the same majority, shall elect as President one of the two candidates having obtained the greatest number of votes.

Should more than two candidates receive the highest number of votes--no one obtaining an absolute majority--two or more having secured the same number, Congress shall elect from said candidates.

The method established in the preceding paragraph shall be also employed in the election of Vice-President of the Republic.

The counting of the electoral vote shall take place prior to the expiration of the Presidential term.

ART. 59. Congress shall have the following powers:

1. To enact the national codes and the laws of a general nature; to determine the rules that shall be observed in the general, provincial, and munic.i.p.al elections; to issue orders for the regulation and organization of all services pertaining to the administration of national, provincial, and munic.i.p.al government; and to pa.s.s all other laws and resolutions which it may deem proper relating to other matters of public interest.

2. To discuss and approve the budgets of the revenues and expenses of the Government. The said revenues and expenses, except such as will be mentioned hereafter, shall be included in annual budgets which shall be available only during the year for which they shall have been approved.

The expenses of Congress, those of the administration of justice, and those required to meet the interest and redemption of loans, shall have, the same as the revenues with which they have to be paid, the character of permanent and shall be included in a fixed budget which shall remain in force until changed by special laws.

3. To contract loans, with the obligation, however, of providing permanent revenues for the payment of the interest and redemption thereof.

All measures relating to loans shall require the vote of two-thirds of the total numbers of the members of each House.

4. To coin money, fixing the standard, weight, value, and denomination thereof.

5. To regulate the system of weights and measures.

6. To make provisions for regulating and developing internal and foreign commerce.

7. To regulate the services of communications and railroads, roads, ca.n.a.ls, and harbors, creating those required by public convenience.

8. To levy such taxes and imposts of national character as may be necessary for the needs of the government.

9. To establish rules and proceedings for obtaining naturalization.

10. To grant amnesties.

11. To fix the strength of the land and naval forces and provide for their organization.

12. To declare war and approve treaties of peace negotiated by the President of the Republic.

13. To designate, by means of a special law, the official who shall act as President of the Republic in case of death, resignation, removal, or supervenient inability of the President and Vice-President.

ART. 60. Congress shall not attach to appropriation bills any provision tending to make changes or reforms in the legislation or in the administration of the Government; nor shall it diminish or abolish revenues of permanent character without creating at the same time new revenues to take their place, except in case that the decrease or abolition depend upon the decrease or abolition of the equivalent permanent expenses. Nor shall Congress appropriate for any service to be provided for in the annual budget a larger sum of money than that recommended in the estimates submitted by the Government; but Congress may by means of special laws create new services and reform or give greater scope to those already existing.

SECTION SIXTH

INITIATIVE, PREPARATION, APPROVAL, AND PROMULGATION OF LAWS

ART. 61. The right to initiate legislation is vested without distinction in both houses of Congress.

ART. 62. Every bill pa.s.sed by the two houses, and every resolution of the same which has to be executed by the President of the Republic, shall be submitted to him for approval. If they are approved, they shall be signed at once by the President. If they are not approved, they shall be returned by the President, with his objections, to the house in which they originated, which shall enter said objections upon its journal and engage again in the discussion of the subject.

If after this new discussion two-thirds of the total number of the members of the house vote in favor of the bill or resolution as originally pa.s.sed, the latter shall be referred with the objections of the President, to the other house, where it shall be also discussed, and if the measure is approved there by the same majority it shall become law. In all these cases the vote shall be by yeas and nays.

If within ten working days immediately following the sending of the bill or resolution to the President, the latter fails to return it, it shall be considered approved and shall become law.

If within the last ten days of a session of Congress a bill is sent to the President of the Republic, and he wishes to take advantage of the whole time granted him in the foregoing paragraph for the purposes of approval or disapproval, he shall acquaint the Congress with his desire, so as to cause it to remain in session, if it so wishes, until the end of the ten days. The failure by the President to do so shall cause the bill to be considered approved and become law.

No bill totally rejected by one house shall be discussed again in the same session.

ART. 63. Every law shall be promulgated within ten days next following its approval by either the President or the Congress, as the case may be, under the provisions of the preceding article.

t.i.tLE VII

THE EXECUTIVE POWER

SECTION FIRST

THE EXERCISE OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER

ART. 64. The executive power shall be vested in the President of the Republic.