WEST virginia legislature

2019 regular session

Introduced

House Joint Resolution 16

By Delegates Pack and Cooper

[Introduced January 17, 2019 ; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia amending section three, article VI thereof, all relating to limiting the number of years Senators and Delegates may serve; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two-thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:

That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the year 2020, which proposed amendment is that section three, article VI thereof, be amended to read as follows:

§3.  Senators and Delegates -- Terms of office.

Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and Delegates for the term of two years. The Senators first elected, shall divide themselves into two classes, one Senator from every district being assigned to each class; and of these classes, the first to be designated by lot in such manner as the Senate may determine, shall hold their seats for two years and the second for four years, so that after the first election, one half of the Senators shall be elected biennially.

A person who has been elected or who has served as a Senator or Delegate, or both, for sixteen years total, is ineligible for the office of either Senator or Delegate at any time following the sixteenth year of service. No person who has served sixteen or more years as a Senator or Delegate, or both, upon the ratification of this amendment in 2020 is eligible to serve another term beginning in 2020.  After 16 years of consecutive service, a Senator or Delegate may sit out two years and then seek reelection.  A Senator or Delegate, holding office when this amendment is ratified, who has served for a period of more than sixteen consecutive years, may not be prevented from holding that office during the term immediately following the term the Senator or Delegate is then serving.

Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such amendment is hereby numbered “Amendment No. 1” and designated as the “Senators and Delegates Service Limit Amendment” and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: “To amend the State Constitution to limit Senators and Delegates from serving more than sixteen years.”

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the State Constitution to limit persons serving as Senators or Delegates from serving more than sixteen total years.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.