§ 8. 1. The money of the state shall not be given or loaned to or in
aid of any private corporation or association, or private undertaking;
nor shall the credit of the state be given or loaned to or in aid of any
individual, or public or private corporation or association, or private
undertaking, but the foregoing provisions shall not apply to any fund or
property now held or which may hereafter be held by the state for
educational, mental health or mental retardation purposes.

2. Subject to the limitations on indebtedness and taxation, nothing in
this constitution contained shall prevent the legislature from providing
for the aid, care and support of the needy directly or through
subdivisions of the state; or for the protection by insurance or
otherwise, against the hazards of unemployment, sickness and old age; or
for the education and support of the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the
physically handicapped, the mentally ill, the emotionally disturbed, the
mentally retarded or juvenile delinquents as it may deem proper; or for
health and welfare services for all children, either directly or through
subdivisions of the state, including school districts; or for the aid,
care and support of neglected and dependent children and of the needy
sick, through agencies and institutions authorized by the state board of
social welfare or other state department having the power of inspection
thereof, by payments made on a per capita basis directly or through the
subdivisions of the state; or for the increase in the amount of pensions
of any member of a retirement system of the state, or of a subdivision
of the state; or for an increase in the amount of pension benefits of
any widow or widower of a retired member of a retirement system of the
state or of a subdivision of the state to whom payable as beneficiary
under an optional settlement in connection with the pension of such
member. The enumeration of legislative powers in this paragraph shall
not be taken to diminish any power of the legislature hitherto existing.

3. Nothing in this constitution contained shall prevent the
legislature from authorizing the loan of the money of the state to a
public corporation to be organized for the purpose of making loans to
non-profit corporations or for the purpose of guaranteeing loans made by
banking organizations, as that term shall be defined by the legislature,
to finance the construction of new industrial or manufacturing plants,
the construction of new buildings to be used for research and
development, the construction of other eligible business facilities, and
for the purchase of machinery and equipment related to such new
industrial or manufacturing plants, research and development buildings,
and other eligible business facilities in this state or the acquisition,
rehabilitation or improvement of former or existing industrial or
manufacturing plants, buildings to be used for research and development,
other eligible business facilities, and machinery and equipment in this
state, including the acquisition of real property therefor, and the use
of such money by such public corporation for such purposes, to improve
employment opportunities in any area of the state, provided, however,
that any such plants, buildings or facilities or machinery and equipment
therefor shall not be (i) primarily used in making retail sales of goods
or services to customers who personally visit such facilities to obtain
such goods or services or (ii) used primarily as a hotel, apartment
house or other place of business which furnishes dwelling space or
accommodations to either residents or transients, and provided further
that any loan by such public corporation shall not exceed sixty per
centum of the cost of any such project and the repayment of which shall
be secured by a mortgage thereon which shall not be a junior encumbrance
thereon by more than fifty per centum of such cost or by a security
interest if personalty, and that the amount of any guarantee of a loan
made by a banking organization shall not exceed eighty per centum of the
cost of any such project.