HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 6
(By Delegates Hrutkay and Perry)
Introduced January 16, 2007; referred to
the Committee on Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section three, article IX thereof, relating
to allowing citizens to vote upon extending the terms for the
office of sheriff to three consecutive four-year terms and
eliminating the provision that if a sheriff serves any portion
of a term, it counts as one of the terms towards the term
limit; 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 two thousand eight, which proposed amendment is that section three, article IX thereof be amended, to read as follows:
ARTICLE IX. COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
§3. Sheriffs.
A person who has been elected or who has served as sheriff
during all
or any part of
two three consecutive terms shall be
ineligible for the office of sheriff during any part of the term
immediately following the
second third of the
two three consecutive
terms. The person holding the office of sheriff when this section
is ratified shall not be prevented from holding the office of
sheriff during the term immediately following the term he
or she 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 proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment
No. 1" and designated as the "Sheriff Terms Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "The
purpose of this amendment is to extend the terms for the office of
sheriff to three consecutive four-year terms and eliminating the
provision that if a sheriff serves any portion of a term, it counts
as one of the terms towards the term limit."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to change the term
limit of sheriffs from two to three consecutive terms and to
eliminate language stating that if a sheriff has served "any part"
of a term then that portion counts as one of the terms.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.