HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 112
(By Delegate Campbell)
[Introduced February 22, 2010; to the Committee on Constitutional
Revision then the Judiciary.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section twenty-two, article VI thereof,
relating to requiring the Legislature to adopt a biennial
budget and alternating the length of legislative sessions
every other year from sixty-day sessions to thirty-day
sessions; 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 twenty-two,
article VI thereof be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE VI.
THE LEGISLATURE.
§22. Length of Legislative Session; Biennial budget.
The regular session of the Legislature held in the year 1973
and every fourth year thereafter shall, in addition to the meeting
days preceding the adjournment provided for in section eighteen of
this article, not exceed sixty calendar days computed from and
including the second Wednesday of February, and the regular session
held in all other years
shall may not exceed sixty calendar days
computed from and including the second Wednesday of January. Any
regular session may be extended by a concurrent resolution adopted
by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house
determined by yeas and nays and entered on the journals.
Beginning with the fiscal year 2012 and every two years
thereafter, the Legislature shall hold a sixty-day session in
accordance with this section to adopt a biennial budget. Beginning
with the fiscal year 2013 and every two years thereafter, the
Legislature shall hold a thirty-day session to consider budget
revisions and other legislation.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, the proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment
No. 1" and designated as the "Biennial Budget Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "In an
effort to save precious state resources by better managing and allocating those resources, and to better enable legislators to
maintain contact with constituents, perform jobs and family
obligations, the Legislature shall adopt a biennial budget every
two during a sixty day session, and alternate with a thirty day
session to consider budget revisions and other legislation."
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Legislature
to adopt a biennial budget and alternating the length of
legislative sessions every other year from sixty-day sessions to
thirty-day sessions.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.