SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6
(By Senators Schoonover, Love, Anderson, Boley, Sharpe, Helmick
and Ross)
[Introduced February 13, 1996; referred to
the Committee Government Organization.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending sections one, four and sixteen, article
seven thereof; and amending said article by adding thereto
a new section, designated section five-a, all relating to
executive department, eligibility, vacancy in governorship,
how filled and lieutenant 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 one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, which proposed amendment is that section one, article seven
thereof be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE VII. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
§1. Executive department.
The executive department shall consist consists of a
governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor,
treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general, who
shall be is ex officio reporter of the court of appeals. Their
terms of office shall be four years and The term of office of
the governor is six years. The term of office of lieutenant
governor is two years. The terms of office for all other
officers of the executive department are four years. The term of
office of lieutenant governor shall commence on the first day of
December next succeeding his or her election. The terms of
office of all other officers shall commence on the first Monday
after the second Wednesday of January next after their election.
They Each officer shall reside at the seat of government during
their terms his or her term of office, keep there the public
records, books and papers pertaining to their respective offices,
and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.
§4. Eligibility.
None of the executive officers mentioned in this article
shall may hold any other office during the term of his or her
service. A person who has been elected or who has served as
governor during all or any part of two consecutive terms shall be
ineligible for the office of governor during any part of the term
immediately following the second of the two consecutive terms a
term is ineligible to again hold the office of governor. The
person holding elected to the office of governor when this
section is ratified at the general election of one thousand nine
hundred ninety-six shall serve for a term of four years and may
not be prevented from holding the office of governor during the
term immediately a term following the term he or she is then
serving.
§5a. Lieutenant governor.
The president of the Senate is in all cases the lieutenant
governor and entitled to exercise the powers and duties
appertaining to that office and to enjoy and use the title
"Lieutenant Governor of the state of West Virginia." The office
of lieutenant governor constitutes a separate office from that of
president of the Senate. Upon succession to the office of
governor the lieutenant governor shall continue to hold the office of president of the Senate until the expiration of his or
her term as senator.
§16. Vacancy in governorship, how filled.
In case of the death, conviction or impeachment, failure to
qualify or resignation or other disability of the governor, the
president of the Senate shall act as governor until the vacancy
is filled, or the disability removed; and if the president of the
Senate lieutenant governor shall become governor for the
remainder of the term. In case of the mental or physical
disability of the governor, the lieutenant governor shall act as
governor until the disability is removed. If the lieutenant
governor, for any of the above named causes, shall become becomes
incapable of performing the duties of governor, the same shall
devolve upon the speaker of the House of Delegates; and in all
other cases where there is no one to become or act as governor,
one shall be chosen by joint vote of the Legislature. Whenever
a vacancy shall occur in the office of governor before the first
three years of the term shall have expired, a new election for
governor shall take place to fill the vacancy.
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. 3" and designated as
the "Six Year Term of Governor; and Lieutenant Governor Created
Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is
summarized as follows: "To limit the governorship to one
six-year term, and to create the office of lieutenant governor."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to limit the
governorship to one six-year term, and to create the office of
lieutenant governor.
Section five-a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.