WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

House Joint Resolution 25

By Delegates Hanna, Keaton, Haynes, Martin, Hamrick, Paynter, Mandt, Dean, Holstein and L. Pack

[Introduced March 4, 2021; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending section four, article IV thereof, relating to the age of elected officials and providing that Senators may be eligible to run if age 21 at the beginning of their term of office.

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 2022, which proposed amendment is that section four, article IV thereof, be amended to read as follows:

Article IV. Election & Officers.

§4. Persons entitled to hold office -- Age requirements.

No person, except citizens entitled to vote, shall be elected or appointed to any state, county, or municipal office; but the governor and judges must have attained the age of thirty, and the attorney general and senators the age of twenty-five twenty-one years, at the beginning of their respective terms of service; and must have been citizens of the state for five years next preceding their election or appointment, or be citizens at the time this constitution goes into operation.

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 “21 Year Age Requirement for State Senators” and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: “To amend the Constitution of the State of West Virginia to lower the eligibility age of Senators from 25 to 21 years old.“

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to lower the eligibility age of Senators from 25 years old to 21 years old.

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