SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13
(By Senators Laird, Sypolt and Stollings)
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[Introduced March 11, 2009; referred to Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance].
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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;
eliminating the provision that if a sheriff serves any portion
of a term, it counts as one of the terms toward the term
limit; providing that no person serving in his or her second
consecutive term as sheriff upon the ratification of this
section in 2010 shall be eligible to serve a third consecutive
term beginning in the year 2011; 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 2010, 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. No person serving his or her second consecutive term
as sheriff upon the ratification of this section in two thousand
ten shall be eligible to serve a third consecutive term beginning
in the year two thousand eleven.
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 to eliminate the
provision that if a sheriff serves any portion of a term, it counts as one of the terms toward the term limit. No person serving his
or her second consecutive term as sheriff upon the ratification of
this section in 2010 shall be eligible to serve a third consecutive
term beginning in the year 2011."
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. The
resolution also provides that no person serving his or her second
consecutive term as sheriff upon the ratification of this amendment
in 2010 shall be eligible to serve a third consecutive term
beginning in 2011.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.