Senate Bill No. 501
(By Senators Helmick, Ross and Sharpe)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter four of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section six-a,
relating to restrictions on legislators' attendance at
certain sponsored events.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter four of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section six-a, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 1. THE LEGISLATURE.
§4-1-6a. Restrictions on attendance by legislators at certain sponsored events.
After taking the oath of office, and during the regular
legislative session, no legislator may attend any reception, or other event sponsored by any special interest group, association
or company which is a private social function and to which the
members of the general public, including the press, are excluded.
For purposes of this section, an event is deemed a "private
social function" unless the time, place and sponsoring
organization is advertised one week in advance in a newspaper of
general circulation in Kanawha County.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to restrict the
attendance of legislators at sponsored social events unless the
events are open to the general public and advertised one week in
advance.
This section is new; therefore strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.