HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15
(By Delegate Osborne)
(Introduced March 13, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Constitutional Revision.)
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending article five thereof by adding a new
section, designated section two, relating to providing that
no rule promulgated by an executive agency or department
having the force of law may take effect unless it has been
approved by the appropriate legislative body, including the
Legislature, a county commission or a city council;
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 hereto:
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 one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight,
which proposed amendment is that article five thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section two, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE V. DIVISION OF POWERS.
§2. Every enactment with force of law to be approved by the
appropriate legislative body as required by law.
No rule promulgated by an executive department, agency,
board or commission, which, when in effect, has the force of law,
may take effect or be enforceable unless approved as required by
law by the appropriate legislative body as provided herein. In
the case of any state department, agency, board or commission, no
such rule may take effect or be enforceable unless it has been
passed by both the Senate and the House of Delegates and become
law, as provided by law; in the case of any county department,
agency, board or commission, no such rule may take effect or be
enforceable unless it has been approved by the county commission;
and in the case of any municipal department, agency, board or
commission, no such rule may take effect or be enforceable unless
it has been approved by the city council or other governing body
of the municipality.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as
the "Executive Accountability Amendment," and the purpose of the
proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State
Constitution to provide that no executive agency rule take effect
unless approved as required by law by an appropriate legislative
body."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to provide that no
rule promulgated by an executive agency may take effect unless
approved by the appropriate legislative body if the rule would,
when in effect, have the force of law. It applies to state,
county and municipal executive agencies and departments.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.