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Introduced Version Senate Joint Resolution 5 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted

WEST virginia legislature

2017 regular session

Introduced

Senate Joint Resolution 5

By Senators Trump, Blair and Maroney

[Introduced February 9, 2017; referred
to the Committee on Finance; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, relating to authorizing the Legislature to issue and sell state bonds not exceeding the aggregate amount of $2 billion to be used for improvement and construction of state roads and bridges; establishing the authority of the Legislature to impose a levy on real property and public utility property in this state to retire the indebtedness; limiting the amount and duration of the levy to repayment of the bond indebtedness; 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 2018, which proposed amendment is to read as follows:

WEST VIRGINIA BETTER ROADS AMENDMENT OF 2018.


(a) The Legislature shall have the power to authorize the issuance and sale of state bonds not exceeding in the aggregate two billion dollars. The bonds may be issued and sold over a five-year period on the following schedule and in the following amounts:

(1) The first day of July, two thousand and nineteen, four hundred million dollars;

(2) The first day of July, two thousand and twenty, four hundred million dollars;

(3) The first day of July, two thousand and twenty-one, four hundred million dollars;

(4) The first day of July, two thousand and twenty-two, four hundred million dollars; and,

(5) The first day of July, two thousand and twenty-three, four hundred million dollars.

Any bonds not issued under the provisions of subdivisions (1) through (4) of this subsection may be carried forward and issued in any subsequent year.

(b) The proceeds of the bonds shall be used and appropriated for the following purposes:

(1) Matching available federal funds for road and bridge construction and improvements in this state; and

(2) General road and bridge construction and improvements in each of the fifty-five counties.

(c) When a bond issue as aforesaid is authorized, the Legislature shall at the same time provide for the imposition of an annual property tax sufficient to pay as it may accrue the interest on such bonds and the principal thereof within and not exceeding twenty-five years.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution to the contrary, in order to provide for the collection of taxes to pay, in whole or in part, the interest on the bonds herein authorized and the principal thereof, the Legislature may impose a levy, not to exceed twenty cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation, on all real property in the State not exempted from taxation by the provisions of this Constitution and all property in the state owned and operated by public utilities. The levy authorized by this amendment, if enacted by the Legislature, will be in addition to any and all other levies and authorized by this Constitution and by law, and may not be used for any purpose other than the retirement of the indebtedness authorized by this amendment. Accordingly, once the bonds authorized here under have been retired, the authority for the levy herein provided shall cease.

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  “West Virginia Better Roads Amendment of 2018” and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: “To provide for the improvement and construction of better public roads and bridges in the State of West Virginia by the issuance of bonds in an amount not to exceed two billion dollars and providing for a mechanism to repay the debt created through a levy on real property and public utility property in the state. The levy cannot exceed twenty cents per one hundred dollars of assessed value and the levy proceeds may only be used to repay the bonded debt authorized by this amendment. Repayment must occur within twenty-five years and upon repayment the levy is extinguished.”

 

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to offer to the voters the opportunity to authorize the Legislature to issue and sell state bonds not exceeding the aggregate amount of $2 billion to be used for improvement and construction of state roads and bridges. If ratified the amendment provides a mechanism to repay the debt created through a levy on real property and public utility property in the state, not to exceed 20¢ per $100 of assessed value.

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

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