SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9
(By Senators Deem, Ross, Buckalew, Sprouse, Kimble, Sharpe,
Schoonover, McKenzie, Dugan, Anderson and Bowman)
[Introduced March 6, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending article ten thereof by adding thereto a
new section, designated section five-a, relating to taxes;
providing that bills imposing a new tax and bills increasing
the effective rate of any tax levied may not be enacted
unless sixty percent of the members of each house, present
and voting, vote in the affirmative for passage; numbering
and designating the proposed amendment; and providing a
summarized statement of the purpose of the 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 one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight,
which proposed amendment is that article ten be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§5a. Sixty percent required for passage of bills containing tax
increases.
(a) Bills imposing a new tax and bills increasing the
effective rate of any existing tax levied may not be enacted
unless sixty percent of the members of each house, present and
voting, vote in the affirmative for passage.
(b) The provisions of this section do not apply to any tax
authorized by an act of the Legislature enacted prior to the
ratification of this section by the voters.
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 "Super-Majority Required for Passage of Tax Bill Amendment"
and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as
follows: "To provide that bills imposing a new tax or increasing
an existing tax may not be enacted unless two thirds of the
members of each house present vote in the affirmative for
passage."
NOTE: The purpose of this joint resolution is to propose an
amendment to the Constitution to require that bills imposing a
new tax and bills increasing the effective rate of any existing
tax may not be enacted unless sixty percent of the members of
each house, present and voting, vote in the affirmative for
passage.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.