Introduced Version
Senate Joint Resolution 8 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8
(By Senator Wells)
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[Introduced January 9, 2014; referred to the 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 fifty-one, article VI thereof; and
section fourteen, article VII thereof, all relating to
ensuring the Legislature's opportunity to reconsider any bill
vetoed by the Governor; 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 2014, which proposed amendment is that section fifty-one,
article VI thereof; and section fourteen, article VII thereof, be
amended, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE VI. THE LEGISLATURE.
Budget and supplementary appropriation bills.
§51. The Legislature shall may not appropriate any money out of
the treasury except in accordance with the provisions of this
section.
Subsection A -- Appropriation Bills
(1) Every appropriation bill shall be either a budget bill, or
a supplementary appropriation bill, as hereinafter provided.
Subsection B -- Budget Bills
(2) Within ten days after the convening of the regular session
of the Legislature in odd-numbered years, unless such time shall be
is extended by the Legislature, and on the second Wednesday of
January in even-numbered years, the Governor shall submit to the
Legislature a budget for the next ensuing fiscal year. The budget
shall contain a complete plan of proposed expenditures and
estimated revenues for the fiscal year and shall show the estimated
surplus or deficit of revenues at the end of each fiscal year.
Accompanying each budget shall be a statement showing: (a) An
estimate of the revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal
year, including the actual revenues and actual expenditures to the extent available, and the revenues and expenditures for the next
preceding fiscal year; (b) the current assets, liabilities,
reserves and surplus or deficit of the state; (c) the debts and
funds of the state; (d) an estimate of the state's financial
condition as of the beginning and end of the fiscal year covered by
the budget; (e) any explanation the Governor may desire to make as
to the important features of the budget and any suggestions as to
methods for reduction or increase of the state's revenue.
(3) Each budget shall embrace an itemized estimate of the
appropriations, in such form and detail as the Governor shall
determine determines or as may be prescribed by law: (a) For the
Legislature as certified to the Governor in the manner hereinafter
provided; (b) for the executive department; (c) for the judiciary
department, as provided by law, certified to the Governor by the
Auditor; (d) for payment and discharge of the principal and
interest of any debt of the state created in conformity with the
Constitution, and all laws enacted in pursuance thereof; (e) for
the salaries payable by the state under the Constitution and laws
of the state; (f) for such other purposes as are set forth in the
Constitution and in laws made in pursuance thereof.
(4) The Governor shall deliver to the presiding officer of
each house the budget and a bill for all the proposed
appropriations of the budget clearly itemized and classified, in
such form and detail as the Governor shall determine determines or as may be prescribed by law; and the presiding officer of each
house shall promptly cause the bill to be introduced therein, and
such bill shall be known as the "Budget Bill." The Governor may,
with the consent of the Legislature, before final action thereon by
the Legislature, amend or supplement the budget to correct an
oversight, or to provide funds contingent on passage of pending
legislation, and in case of an emergency, he or she may deliver
such an amendment or supplement to the presiding officers of both
houses; and the amendment or supplement shall thereby become a part
of the budget bill as an addition to the items of the bill or as a
modification of or a substitute for any item of the bill the
amendment or supplement may affect.
(5) The Legislature shall may not amend the budget bill so as
to create a deficit but may amend the bill by increasing or
decreasing any item therein: Provided, That no item relating to the
judiciary shall be decreased, and except as otherwise provided in
this Constitution, the salary or compensation of any public officer
shall not be increased or decreased during his or her term of
office: Provided further, That the Legislature shall may not
increase the estimate of revenue submitted in the budget without
the approval of the Governor.
(6) The Governor and such representatives of the executive
departments, boards, officers and commissions of the state
expending or applying for state moneys as have been designated by the Governor for this purpose, shall have the right, and when
requested by either house of the Legislature it shall be their
duty, to appear and be heard with respect to any budget bill, and
to answer inquiries relative thereto.
Subsection C -- Supplementary Appropriation Bills
(7) Neither house shall consider other appropriations until
the budget bill has been finally acted upon by both houses, and no
such other appropriations shall be valid except in accordance with
the provisions following: (a) Every such appropriation shall be
embodied in a separate bill limited to some single work, object or
purpose therein stated and called therein a supplementary
appropriation bill; (b) each supplementary appropriation bill shall
provide the revenue necessary to pay the appropriation thereby made
by a tax, direct or indirect, to be laid and collected as shall be
directed in the bill unless it appears from such the budget that
there is sufficient revenue available.
Subsection D -- General Provisions
(8) If the budget bill shall not have has not been finally
acted upon by the Legislature three days before the expiration of
its regular session, the Governor shall issue a proclamation
extending the session for such a further period as may, in his or
her judgment, be necessary for the passage of the bill; but no
matter other than the bill shall may be considered during such an
extension of a session except a provision for the cost thereof.
(9) For the purpose of making up the budget, the Governor
shall have has the power, and it shall be his or her duty, to
require from the proper state officials, including herein all
executive departments, all executive and administrative officers,
bureaus, boards, commissions and agencies expending or supervising
the expenditure of, and all institutions applying for state moneys
and appropriations, such itemized estimates and other information,
in such form and at such times as he shall direct directs. The
estimates for the legislative department, certified by the
presiding officer of each house, and for the judiciary, as provided
by law, certified by the Auditor, shall be transmitted to the
Governor in such form and at such times as he or she shall direct,
and shall be included in the budget.
(10) The Governor may provide for public hearings on all
estimates and may require the attendance at such hearings of
representatives of all agencies and all institutions applying for
state moneys. After such public hearings he or she may, in his or
her discretion, revise all estimates except those for the
legislative and judiciary departments.
(11) Every budget bill or supplementary appropriation bill
passed by a majority of the members elected to each house of the
Legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the
Governor. The Governor may veto the bill, or he or she may
disapprove or reduce items or parts of items contained therein. If he or she approves he or she shall sign it and thereupon it shall
become a law. The bill, items or parts thereof, disapproved or
reduced by the Governor, shall be returned with his or her
objections to each house of the Legislature.
Each house shall enter the objections at large upon its
journal and proceed to reconsider. If, after reconsideration, two
thirds of the members elected to each house agree to pass the bill,
or such items or parts thereof, as were disapproved or reduced, the
bill, items or parts thereof, approved by two thirds of such the
members, shall become law, notwithstanding the objections of the
Governor. In all such of these cases, the vote of each house shall
be determined by yeas and nays to be entered on the journal.
A bill, item or part thereof, which is not returned by the
Governor within five days (Sundays excepted) after the bill has
been presented to him shall become a law in like manner as if he
had signed the bill, unless the Legislature, by adjournment,
prevents such return, in which case it shall be filed in the office
of the Secretary of State, within five days after such adjournment,
and shall become a law; or it shall be so filed within such five
days with the objections of the governor, in which case it shall
become law to the extent not disapproved by the governor the
Governor shall within the five days forward to the President of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House copies of the Governor's
objections. The Governor, at the request of the president and the speaker made within fifteen days of receiving the Governor's
objections to a bill, shall issue a proclamation convening a
special session of the Legislature of no less than one day nor more
than three days to permit the Legislature to reconsider. If, after
reconsideration, two thirds of the members elected to each house
agree to pass the bill or such items or parts thereof, as were
disapproved or reduced, the bill, items or parts thereof, approved
by two thirds of the members, shall become law, notwithstanding the
objections of the Governor. If the Legislature fails to pass the
bill by a vote of two thirds of the members elected to each house,
it shall become law to the extent not disapproved by the Governor.
(12) The Legislature may, from time to time, enact such laws,
not inconsistent with this section, as may be necessary and proper
to carry out its provisions.
(13) In the event of any inconsistency between any of the
provisions of this section and any of the other provisions of the
Constitution, the provisions of this section shall prevail. But
nothing herein shall be construed as preventing the Governor from
calling extraordinary sessions of the Legislature, as provided by
section nineteen of this article, or as preventing the Legislature
at such extraordinary sessions from considering any emergency
appropriation or appropriations.
(14) If any item of any appropriation bill passed under the
provisions of this section shall be is held invalid upon any ground, such the invalidity shall not affect the legality of the
bill or of any other item of such bill or bills.
ARTICLE VII. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
§14. Governor's approval or disapproval of bills passed by
the Legislature.
Subject to the provisions of section fifteen of this article,
every bill passed by the Legislature shall, before it becomes a
law, be presented to the Governor. If he or she approves, he or she
shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if not, he
or she shall return it, with his or her objections, to the house in
which it originated, which house shall enter the objections at
large upon its journal, and may proceed to reconsider the returned
bill. Notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-one, article
VI of this Constitution, any such bill may be reconsidered even if
the Legislature is at the time in extended session for the sole
purpose of considering the budget bill, as specified in said
section fifty-one. If after any such reconsideration, a majority of
the members elected to that house agree to pass the bill, it shall
be sent, together with the objections of the Governor to the other
house, by which it may likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by
a majority of the members elected to that house, it shall become a
law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. If upon any
such reconsideration the bill is amended and reenacted, then it
shall be again sent to the Governor and he or she shall act upon it as if it were before him or her for the first time. In all cases,
the vote of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays to be
entered on the journal.
Any bill which shall not be returned by the Governor within
five days Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to
him or her shall be a law, in the same manner as if he or she had
signed it, unless the Legislature shall, by adjournment sine die,
prevent its return, in which case it shall be filed with his or her
objections in the office of the Secretary of State within fifteen
days, Sundays excepted, after such adjournment or become a law the
Governor shall notify the President of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of his or her objections to the bill within fifteen
days of adjournment, Sundays excepted. The president and the
speaker shall have fifteen days, Sundays excepted, in which to
notify the Governor if reconsideration of the bill is requested. At
the request of the president and the speaker, the Governor shall
issue a proclamation convening a special session of the Legislature
of no less than one day nor more than three days to permit the
Legislature to reconsider the bill, and shall return the bill to
the Legislature. If, after reconsideration, a majority of the
members of each house pass the bill, the bill as passed shall
become law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. If the
bill fails to pass both houses by a majority of the members elected
to both houses on reconsideration, the bill does not become law. The Legislature may enact laws as necessary to carry out the
provisions of this section.
__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 "Veto Session Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To
amend section fifty-one, article VI and section fourteen, article
VII of the state Constitution so as to provide for sessions of the
Legislature in which to reconsider bills vetoed by the
Governor."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to propose an
amendment to the West Virginia Constitution, providing for the
calling of special legislative sessions for reconsideration of
bills vetoed by the Governor after the Legislature has adjourned.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.