SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7

(By Senator Sprouse, By Request)

Introduced



Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, repealing "The Irreducible School Fund Amendment"; amending section seven, article II; section four, article IV; sections sixteen, fifty-one, fifty-five and fifty-six, article VI; sections one, two, three, four, fourteen, seventeen and nineteen, article VII; section three, article X; and section four, article XII, all relating to repealing "The Irreducible School Fund Amendment"; officers of the executive department; eliminating the elected and constitutional status of the offices of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general; 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to be held in the year two thousand two, which proposed amendment is that "The Irreducible School Fund Amendment" be repealed; that section seven, article II; section four, article IV; sections sixteen, fifty-one, fifty-five and fifty-six, article VI; sections one, two, three, four, fourteen, seventeen and nineteen, article VII; section three, article X; and section four, article XII, thereof all be amended, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE II. THE STATE.
§7. "Montani Semper Liberi" - State seal.
The present seal of the State, with its motto, "Montani Semper Liberi," shall be the great seal of the State of West Virginia, and shall be kept by the secretary of state, to be and used by him officially, as directed by law.
ARTICLE IV. ELECTIONS AND OFFICERS.
 §4. Persons entitled to hold office -- Age requirements.
No person, except citizens entitled to vote, shall be elected or appointed to any State, county or municipal office; but the governor and judges must have attained the age of thirty and the attorney general and senators the age of twenty-five years, at the beginning of their respective terms of service; and must have been citizens of the State for five years next preceding their election or appointment. or be citizens at the time this constitution goes into operation.
ARTICLE VI. THE LEGISLATURE.
§16. Oath of senators and delegates.
Members of the Legislature, before they enter upon their duties, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, and faithfully discharge the duties of Senator (or Delegate) according to the best of my ability"; and they shall also take this further oath, to wit: "I will not accept or receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, from any corporation, company or person for any vote or influence I may give or withhold, as Senator (or Delegate) on any bill, resolution or appropriation, or for any act I may do or perform as Senator (or Delegate)." These oaths shall be administered in the hall of the house to which the member is elected, by a judge of the supreme court of appeals, or of a circuit court, or by any other person authorized by law to administer an oath; and the secretary of state officer designated by law who is the custodian of official State records shall record and file said oaths subscribed by each member; and no other oath or declaration shall be required as a qualification. Any member who shall refuse to take the oath herein prescribed, shall forfeit his or her seat; and any member who shall be convicted of having violated the oath last above required to be taken, shall forfeit his or her seat and be disqualified thereafter from holding any office of profit or trust in this State.
§51. Budget and supplementary appropriation bills.
The Legislature shall 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 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 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 an officer designated by law who acts as the comptroller of this State; (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 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 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 however, That the Legislature shall 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 budget that there is sufficient revenue available.
Subsection D -- General Provisions.
(8) If the budget bill shall not have 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 further period as may, in his or her judgment, be necessary for the passage of the bill. but no No matter other than the bill shall be considered during such an extension of a session except:
(a) A provision for the cost thereof of the extended session;
(b) The budget bill; and
(c) Considering bills which may have been disapproved by the governor and returned to the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen, article seven of this Constitution or pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (11) of this section.
(9) For the purpose of making up drafting the budget, the governor shall have 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 or she shall direct. 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 officer designated by law who acts as the comptroller of this State , 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 members, shall become law, notwithstanding the objections of the governor. In all such 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 or her shall become a law in like manner as if he or she 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 officer designated by law who is the custodian of official State records, 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.
(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 held invalid upon any ground, such invalidity shall not affect the legality of the bill or of any other item of such bill or bills.
§55. Revenues and properties applicable to fish and wildlife conservation.

Fees, moneys, interest or funds arising from the sales of all permits and licenses to hunt, trap, fish or otherwise hold or capture fish and wildlife resources and money reimbursed and granted by the federal government for fish and wildlife conservation shall be expended solely for the conservation, restoration, management, educational benefit, recreational use and scientific study of the State's fish and wildlife, including the purchases or other acquisition of property for said purposes and for the administration of the laws pertaining thereto and for no other purposes. In the event that any such properties or facilities are converted to uses other than those specified in this section and the conversion jeopardizes the availability of the receipt of federal funds by the State, the agency of the State responsible for the conservation of its fish and wildlife resources shall receive fair market compensation for the converted properties or facilities. Such compensation shall be expended only for the purposes specified in this section. All moneys shall be deposited within the state treasurer in the "license fund" and other specific funds created especially for fish and wildlife conservation and the public's use of fish and wildlife. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Legislature from reducing or increasing the amount of any permit or license to hunt, trap, fish or otherwise hold or capture fish or wildlife or to repeal or enact additional fees or requirements for the privilege of hunting, trapping, fishing or to otherwise hold or capture fish or wildlife.
§56. Revenues applicable to nongame wildlife resources in the state.

Notwithstanding any provision of section fifty-two of article six of this Constitution, the Legislature may, by general law, provide funding for conservation, restoration, management, educational benefit and recreational and scientific use of nongame wildlife resources in this State by providing a specialized nongame wildlife motor vehicle registration plate for motor vehicles registered in this State. The registration plate shall be issued on a voluntary basis pursuant to terms and conditions provided by general law for an additional fee above the basic registration and license fees and costs otherwise dedicated to the road fund. Any moneys collected from the issuance of these specialized registration plates in excess of those revenues otherwise dedicated to the road fund shall be deposited in a special revenue account in the State treasury and expended only in accordance with appropriations made by the Legislature as provided by general law for the conservation, restoration, management, educational benefit and recreational and scientific use of nongame wildlife resources in this State. All moneys collected which are in excess of the revenues otherwise dedicated to the road fund shall be deposited in the "Nongame Wildlife Fund" created especially for nongame wildlife resources in this State.
ARTICLE VII. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
 §1. Executive power; governor's term of office.
The chief executive department power of the state shall consist of be vested in a governor. secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general, who shall be ex officio reporter of the court of appeals. Their terms of office shall be four years, and shall commence on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of January next after their election. They The governor shall hold office for a term commencing upon his or her inauguration on the Monday after the second Wednesday in January in those years immediately following years evenly divisible by four and immediately preceding years evenly divisible by two, but not evenly divisible by four, next succeeding his or her election, and ending in the fourth year thereafter immediately upon the inauguration. The governor shall reside at the seat of government during their the governor's terms term of office, keep there the public records, books and papers pertaining to their respective offices the office of governor, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.
 §2. Election.
An election for governor secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general shall be held at such times and places as may be prescribed by law.
 §3. Certification of election returns -- Contests.
The returns of every election for the above named officers office of governor shall be sealed up and transmitted by the returning officers to the secretary of state chief elections officer of this State, directed "to the speaker of the House of Delegates," who shall, immediately after the organization of the House, and before proceeding to business, open and publish the same, in the presence of a majority of each house of the Legislature, which shall for that purpose assemble in the hall of the House of Delegates. The person having the highest number of votes for either of said offices the office of governor, shall be declared duly elected thereto; but if two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for the same office, the Legislature shall, by joint vote, choose one of such persons for said office. Contested elections for the office of governor shall be determined by both houses of the Legislature by joint vote, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
§4. Eligibility.
None of the executive officers mentioned in this article shall The governor may not 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. The person holding the office of governor when this section is ratified shall not be prevented from holding the office of governor during the term immediately following the term he is then serving.
§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 six 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 officer designated by law who is the custodian of official State records within fifteen days, Sundays excepted, after such adjournment, or become a law.
§17. Vacancies in other executive departments.
If the office of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture or attorney general shall become vacant by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the governor to fill the same by appointment, and the appointee shall hold his office until his successor shall be elected and qualified in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The subordinate officers of the executive department and the officers of all public institutions of the State shall keep an account of all moneys received or disbursed by them, respectively, from all sources, and for every service performed, and make a semiannual report thereof to the governor under oath or affirmation; and any officer who shall wilfully make a false report shall be deemed considered guilty of perjury.
§19. Salaries of officials.
 The officers named in this article governor shall receive for their his or her services a salary to be established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their his or her official terms term, and they he or she shall not after the expiration of the terms of those in office at the adoption of this amendment receive to their his or her own use any fees, costs, perquisites of office or other compensation, and all fees that may hereafter be payable by law, for any service performed by any officer provided for in this article of the constitution the governor, shall be paid in advance into the State treasury.
 ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§3. Receipts and expenditures of public moneys.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on a warrant issued thereon by the auditor; nor shall any money or fund be taken for any other purpose than that for which it has been or may be appropriated or provided. A complete and detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public moneys shall be published annually.
ARTICLE XII. EDUCATION.
§4. Existing permanent and invested school fund.
(a) The existing permanent and invested school fund, and all money accruing to this State from forfeited, delinquent, waste and unappropriated lands; and from lands heretofore sold for taxes and purchased by the State of Virginia, if hereafter redeemed or sold to others than this State; all grants, devises or bequests that may be made to this State, for the purposes of education or where the purposes of such grants, devises or bequests are not specified; this State's just share of the literary fund of Virginia, whether paid over or otherwise liquidated; and any sums of money, stocks or property which this State shall have the right to claim from the State of Virginia for educational purposes; the proceeds of the estates of persons who may die without leaving a will or heir, and of all escheated lands; the proceeds of any taxes that may be levied on the revenues of any corporations; all moneys that may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty; and such sums as may from time to time be appropriated by the Legislature for the purpose, shall be set apart as a separate fund to be called the "School Fund," and invested under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, in the interest-bearing securities of the United States, or of this State, or if such interest-bearing securities cannot be obtained, then said "School Fund" shall be invested in such other solvent, interest-bearing securities as shall be approved by the governor, superintendent of free schools auditor and treasurer, and the officer designated by law who acts as the comptroller of this State who are hereby constituted the "Board of the School Fund," to manage the same under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; and the interest thereof shall be annually applied to the support of free schools throughout the State, and to no other purpose whatever. But any portion of said interest remaining unexpended at the close of a fiscal year shall be added to and remain a part of the capital of the "School Fund": Provided, That all taxes which shall be received by the State upon delinquent lands, except the taxes due to the State thereon, shall be refunded to the county or district by or for which the same were levied.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, no further funds may accumulate to the credit of the school fund provided in subsection (a), and all money to the credit of that fund over one million dollars, together with the interest on that fund, shall be used for the support of free schools of this State. All money and taxes heretofore payable into the treasury under the provisions of subsection (a), to the credit of the school fund, shall be hereafter paid into the treasury to the credit of the general school fund for the support of the free schools of the State.
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 "Executive Reorganization Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State Constitution to eliminate the independent election of the offices of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general and to have these offices filled by appointment by the governor and confirmation by the Senate."
 NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to eliminate the elected and constitutional status of the offices of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general. It also repeals "The Irreducible School Fund Amendment" to the Constitution of West Virginia.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.