HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 18
(By Delegate Gillespie)
(Introduced January 14, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Constitutional Revision.)
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending article three thereof by adding
thereto a new section, designated section twenty-three,
relating to the right of parents to direct the
upbringing and education of their children; 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-eight,
which proposed amendment is that article three thereof be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-three,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE III. BILL OF RIGHTS.
§ 232. Parental rights.
The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education
of their children shall be a fundamental right.
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 "Parental Rights Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed
amendment is summarized as follows: "To guarantee the rights of
parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children
without unreasonable governmental interference."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the
Constitution in order to guarantee the rights of parents to
direct the upbringing and education of their children without
undue governmental interference.
This sectionarticle is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.