COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 607
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 23, 2007.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-1-9 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to political party executive
committees; requiring clerk of county commission to report
election of members of and vacancies on executive committees;
establishing definite terms of office for executive committee
members; providing time after election of executive committee
members for holding organizational meeting; changing time to
fill vacancies on executive committees; setting time for
submission of changes in executive committee membership to the
Secretary of State; removing deadline for chair of executive
committee to fill vacancies; and providing for chair of state
executive committee to fill vacancy on district executive
committee where chair of county executive committee fails to
fill vacancy.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-1-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.
§3-1-9. Political party committees; how composed; organization.
(a) Every fourth year at the primary election, the voters of
each political party in each
state senatorial district shall elect
four members consisting of two male members and two female members
of the state executive committee of the party. In
state senatorial
districts containing two or more counties, not more than two
elected committee members shall be residents of the same county:
Provided, That at each election the votes shall be tallied from
highest to lowest without regard to gender or county of residence.
The two candidates with the highest votes shall be elected first
and the other candidates shall be qualified based on vote tallies,
gender and county of residence.
Upon completion of the canvass,
the clerk of the county commission from each county shall send the
results of the election of members of each state executive
committee and certificates of announcement, if any, to the
Secretary of State. Upon certification of the election results,
the Secretary of State shall make known to each state executive
committee the members elected to such committee and the vacancies,
if any. The committee, when convened and organized as herein
provided, shall appoint three additional members of the committee
from the state at large which shall constitute the entire voting
membership of the state executive committee:
Provided,
however,
That if it chooses to do so, the committee may by motion or resolution and in accordance with party rules, may expand the
voting membership of the committee. When senatorial districts are
realigned following a decennial census, members of the state
executive committee previously elected or appointed shall continue
in office until the expiration of their terms. Appointments made
to fill vacancies on the committee until the next election of
executive committee members shall be selected from the previously
established districts. At the first election of executive
committee members following the realignment of senatorial
districts, members shall be elected from the newly established
districts.
(b) At the primary election, the voters of each political
party in each county shall elect one male and one female member of
the party's executive committee of the congressional district, of
the
state senatorial district and of the delegate district in which
the county is situated, if the county is situated in a multicounty
state senatorial or delegate district.
Upon completion of the
canvass, the clerk of the county commission from each county shall
send the results of the election of members of each congressional
district, state senatorial district and delegate district executive
committee of each party to the Secretary of State. Upon
certification of the election results, the Secretary of State shall
make known to each state executive committee the members elected to
each congressional district, state senatorial district and delegate
district executive committee and the vacancies, if any. Upon
receipt, the state executive committee shall make known any vacancies to the applicable county executive committee for the
purpose of filling said vacancies as provided in subsection (f) of
this section. When districts are realigned following a decennial
census, members of an executive committee previously elected in a
county to represent that county in a congressional or multicounty
senatorial or delegate district executive committee shall continue
to represent that county in the appropriate newly constituted
multicounty district until the expiration of their terms:
Provided, That the county executive committee of the political
party shall determine which previously elected members will
represent the county if the number of multicounty
state senatorial
or delegate districts in the county is decreased; and shall appoint
members to complete the remainder of the term if the number of
districts is increased.
(c) At the same time the voters of the county in each
magisterial district or executive committee district, as the case
may be, shall elect one male and one female member of the party's
county executive committee except that in counties having three
executive committee districts, there shall be elected two male and
two female members of the party's executive committee from each
magisterial or executive committee district.
Upon completion of
the canvass, the clerk of the county commission from each county
shall send the results of the election of members of the county
executive committee of each party along with the certificates of
announcement to the Secretary of State. Upon certification of the
election results, the Secretary of State shall make known to each state executive committee the members elected to the county
committee and the vacancies, if any. Upon receipt, the state
executive committee shall make known any vacancies to the
applicable county executive committee for the purpose of filling
said vacancies as provided in subsection (f) of this section.
(d) For the purpose of complying with the provisions of this
section, the county commission shall create the executive committee
districts. The districts shall not be fewer than the number of
magisterial districts in the
counties county, nor shall they exceed
in number the following: Forty for counties having a population of
one hundred thousand persons or more; thirty for counties having a
population of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand; twenty for
counties having a population of twenty thousand to fifty thousand;
and the districts in counties having a population of less than
twenty thousand persons shall be coextensive with the magisterial
districts.
(e) The executive committee districts shall be as nearly equal
in population as practicable and shall each be composed of compact,
contiguous territory. The county commissions shall change the
territorial boundaries of the districts as required by the increase
or decrease in the population of the districts as determined by a
decennial census. The changes must be made within two years
following the census.
(f) All members of executive committees, selected for each
political division as herein provided, shall reside within the
county or district from which chosen. The term of office of all members of executive committees elected at the primary election in
the year
one thousand nine hundred ninety-four two thousand ten
will begin on the first day of July, following the primary
election
and continue for four years thereafter,
until their successors are
elected and qualified except as provided in subsection (g) of this
section. Vacancies in the state executive committee shall be
filled by the members of the committee for the unexpired term.
Vacancies in the party's executive committee of a congressional
district,
state senatorial district, delegate district or county
shall be filled by the party's executive committee of the county in
which the vacancy exists for the unexpired term.
(g) As soon as possible after the certification of the
election of the new executive committees, as herein provided,
they
the newly elected executive committee shall convene an
organizational meeting within their respective political divisions,
on the call of the
chairman chair of
the corresponding outgoing
executive
committees committee or by any member of the new
executive committee in the event there is no corresponding outgoing
executive committee. During the first meeting the new executive
committee
must shall select a
chairman chair, a treasurer and a
secretary and other officers as they may desire. Each of the
officers shall, for their respective committees, perform the duties
that usually appertain to his or her office. The organizational
meeting may be conducted prior to
beginning of the term, but no
official action other than the election of officers and the
appointment to fill vacancies on the committee may be made before the first day of July,
but must occur after the certification of
the election of the new executive committees. If the
organizational meeting is conducted prior to the first day of July,
the new committee shall serve out the remainder of the outgoing
committee's term and is authorized to conduct official business.
A current listing of all executive committees' members shall be
filed with the Secretary of State by the end of July of each year.
Vacancies in any executive committee shall be filled
by the
appropriate executive committee as provided in subsection (f) of
this section no later than
four months sixty days after the vacancy
occurs. The
chairman chair of each executive committee shall
submit an updated committee list
as changes occur to the Secretary
of State within ten days of a change occurring. Executive
committee membership lists shall include at least the member's
name, full address, employer, telephone number and term
information.
An appointment to fill a vacancy does not take effect
if the executive committee does not submit the updated list to the
Secretary of State within the allotted time period. If the
executive committee fails to submit the updated list within the
allotted time period, it must make another appointment pursuant to
the provisions of this section and resubmit the updated list in a
timely manner. If a vacancy on an executive committee is not
filled within the
four-month sixty-day period prescribed by
the
provisions of this section, the chair of the
appropriate executive
committee,
as provided in subsection (f) of this section, shall
name someone to fill the vacancy.
within ten days of the expiration of the four-month period If the chair of a county
executive committee fails to fill a vacancy in a congressional
district, state senatorial district or delegate district executive
committee, and the failure to fill such vacancy prohibits said
committee from conducting official business, the chair of the
party's state executive committee shall fill such vacancy.
(h) Any meeting of any political party executive committee
shall be held only after public notice and notice to each member is
given according to party rules and shall be open to all members
affiliated with the party. Meetings shall be conducted according
to party rules, all official actions shall be made by voice vote
and minutes shall be maintained and shall be open to inspection by
members affiliated with the party.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a definite term
of office for elected executive committee members and an
expeditious method of filling executive committee vacancies.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)