SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 4
(By Senators Boley and Yoder)
[Introduced March 16, 1993;
referred to the Committee on Finance.]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, authorizing the issuing and selling of state road bonds in an amount not exceeding in the aggregate two hundred fifty million dollars; 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 one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, which proposed amendment is as follows:
The Legislature shall have the power to authorize the issuing and selling of general obligation bonds of the state which shall be in addition to all other state bonds heretofore authorized. The principal amount of such bonds shall not exceed in the aggregate two hundred fifty million dollars. The proceeds of the bonds hereby authorized to be issued and sold shall be used and appropriated solely as matching funds to be expended as may be required to leverage federal expenditures committedthrough the close of federal fiscal year 1997 of not less than four times the amount of said proceeds to be used in the aggregate for the building and construction of state roads and highways provided for by this Constitution and the laws enacted thereunder. When a bond issue as aforesaid is authorized, the Legislature shall at the same time provide for the levy and collection of an additional tax on the retail sale of each gallon of gasoline, and of each gallon of other motor fuel, sufficient to pay as it may accrue the interest on such bonds and the principal thereof within and not exceeding twenty years, and all such taxes so levied shall be irrevocably dedicated for the payment of principal of and interest on such bonds until the obligation of the state with respect to the payment of such principal and interest has been discharged at which time said additional tax shall be repealed, and any of the covenants, agreements or provisions in the acts of the Legislature levying such taxes shall be enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction by any of the holders of such bonds. Such tax shall be in the minimum amount necessary to accomplish the purposes hereof. Such tax shall be levied in any year only to the extent that the moneys in the state road fund irrevocably set aside and appropriated for and applied to the payment of the interest on and the principal of said bonds becoming due and payable in such year are insufficient therefor. The authority hereby granted shall be for an initial issuance only, in the minimum amount necessary to leverage available federal highway construction funds committed through the close of federal fiscal year 1997, and shall not be renewable except upon amendment to thisConstitution. The Legislature shall have the power to enact legislation necessary and proper to implement the provisions of this amendment.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as the "Robert C. Byrd Highway Improvement Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State Constitution to authorize a bond issuance in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate two hundred fifty million dollars, the proceeds of which shall be used solely as matching funds to leverage federal expenditures of not less than four times the amount of such proceeds, to be retired through a dedicated additional tax on the retail sale of each gallon of gasoline, and of each gallon of other motor fuel."

Note: The purpose of this amendment is to authorize a bond issuance to raise matching funds to leverage federal expenditures committed to road construction, to be retired through a dedicated additional tax on the retail purchase of gasoline and other motor fuel.