SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8

(By Senator Sprouse, By Request)

Introduced



Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia repealing section fifteen, article VII thereof; amending sections eighteen, twenty-two and fifty-one, article VI thereof; and amending section fourteen, article VII, all relating to approval of bills by the governor that were passed by the Legislature; requiring super majority votes to override vetoes of bills by the governor; requiring bills to be presented to the governor within three days of their passage; specifying the method by which the governor may propose to the Legislature amendments without vetoing a bill; providing for a reconvened session of the Legislature on the eighth Wednesday following adjournment of each regular and special session thereof for the sole purpose of reconsidering bills which may have been returned by the governor with recommendations for their amendment and bills and items of appropriation bills which may have been returned by the governor with his objections; extending the time frames for the governor to act on bills presented to him; 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election to be held in the year two thousand two, which proposed amendment is that section fifteen, article VII be repealed; that sections eighteen, twenty- two and fifty-one, article VI be amended; and that section fourteen, article VII be amended, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE VI. THE LEGISLATURE.
 §18. Time and place of assembly of Legislature.
(a) The Legislature shall assemble annually at the seat of government, and not oftener unless convened by the governor. Regular sessions of the Legislature shall commence on the second Wednesday of January of each year.
(b) Upon the convening of the Legislature in each odd-numbered year, each house shall proceed to organize by the election of its officers for two-year terms and both houses shall then in joint assembly open and publish the election returns delivered to the Legislature as prescribed by other provisions of this constitution and by general law. When all of these matters have been completed in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-three and every fourth year thereafter, in every year immediately following a year evenly divisible by four and immediately preceding a year evenly divisible by two but not evenly divisible by four, the Legislature shall adjourn until the second Wednesday of February following. Notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-one of this article and any other provisions of this Constitution, on and after the effective date hereof, there shall be submitted by the governor to the Legislature, on the second Wednesday of February in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-three and every fourth year thereafter, and on the second Wednesday of January of all other years, unless a later time in any year be fixed by the Legislature, a budget for the next ensuing fiscal year and a bill for the proposed appropriations of such budget.
(c) The Legislature shall reconvene on the eighth Wednesday after adjournment of each regular or special session for the purpose of:
(1) Considering bills which may have been returned by the governor with recommendations for their amendment and bills and items of appropriation bills which may have been returned by the governor with his objections; and
(2) Actions by the Senate in the exercise of its power to advise and consent to nominations by the governor to offices for which such advice and consent is required by this Constitution.
If the governor extended a regular session pursuant to subsection (b), section twenty-two of this article, the date on which the session would have normally adjourned shall be considered as the date of adjournment for the purpose of this subsection. No other business shall be considered at a reconvened session.
 §22. Length of legislative session.
(a) The regular session of the Legislature held in the year one thousand nine hundred seventy-three and every fourth year thereafter in every year immediately following a year evenly divisible by four and immediately preceding a year evenly divisible by two but not evenly divisible by four 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 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.
§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 On the second Wednesday of February in every year immediately following a year evenly divisible by four and immediately preceding a year evenly divisible by two but not evenly divisible by four, unless such time shall be extended by the Legislature, and on the second Wednesday of January in even-numbered years all other, 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; (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 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 term of office: Provided further, 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 judgment, be necessary for the passage of the bill; but no matter other than the bill shall be considered during such an extension of a session except a provision for the cost thereof.
(9) (8) For the purpose of making up drafting the budget, the governor shall have the power, and it shall be his 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 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, shall be transmitted to the governor in such form and at such times as he shall direct, and shall be included in the budget.
(10) (9) 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 may, in his 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 may disapprove or reduce items or parts of items contained therein. If he approves he 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 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 shall become a law in like manner as if he 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, 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) (10) 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) (11) 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) (12) 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.
 ARTICLE VII. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
§14. Presentation of bills; powers of governor; vetoes and amendments.

(a) Every bill which passes the Senate and House of Delegates, before it becomes effective, shall be presented to the governor within three calendar days of its passage. The requirement of presentation within three days shall be judicially enforceable.
(b) During a regular or special session, the governor shall have twenty days in which to act on the bill after it is presented to him and to exercise one of the three options set out below. If the governor does not act thereon, it shall become effective without his signature.
(1) The governor may sign it if he approves thereof, and it shall become effective.
(2) The governor may veto it if he objects thereto by returning the same with his objections to the house wherein it originated. The house shall enter the objections in its journal and reconsider the same. The house may override the veto by a vote of the requisite portion of members as provided by paragraphs (A) through (C), both inclusive, of this subdivision. If the house of origin overrides the governor's veto, it shall send the bill and governor's objections thereto the other house where the same shall be reconsidered. The second house may override the governor's veto by a vote of a like portion its members, as provided in paragraphs (A) through (C), both inclusive, of this subdivision. If both houses override the governor's veto, the bill shall become effective without his signature. If either house fails to override the governor's veto, the veto shall stand and the bill shall not become effective.
(A) Except as otherwise provided by this subdivision, two thirds of the members elected to each house shall be necessary to override a veto.
(B) Three fourths of the members elected to each house shall be necessary to override a veto of a bill whose original passage requires a vote of more than a majority of either the total membership of each house or a majority of those present in each house but less than two thirds of those elected to each house or two thirds of those present in each house.
(C) Four fifths of the members elected to each house shall be necessary to override a veto of a bill whose original passage requires the affirmative vote of at least two thirds of the members elected to each house or at least two thirds of those present in each house.
(3) The governor may recommend one or more specific and severable amendments to a bill by returning it with his recommendation to the house wherein it originated. The house shall enter the governor's recommendation in its journal and reconsider the same. If both houses agree to the governor's entire recommendation, the bill, as amended, shall become effective. Each house may agree to the governor's amendments by a vote of a like margin as that required to originally pass the bill. If both houses agree to the bill in the form originally sent to the governor by a vote sufficient to override a veto of the bill had the question been to override the veto of the bill, the original bill shall become effective. If the governor sends down specific and severable amendments then each house may determine, in accordance with its own procedures, whether to act on the governor's amendments en bloc or individually, or any combination thereof. If the house of origin agrees to one or more of the governor's amendments, it shall send the bill and the entire recommendation to the other house. The second house may also agree to one or more of the governor's amendments. If either house fails to agree to the governor's entire recommendation or fails to agree to at least one of the governor's amendments agreed to by the other house, the bill, as originally presented to the governor, shall be returned thereto. If both houses agree to one or more amendments but not to the entire recommendation of the governor, the bill shall be reenrolled with the governor's amendments agreed to by both houses and shall be returned to the governor. If the governor fails to send down specific and severable amendments as determined by the majority vote of the members present in either house, then the bill shall be before that house, in the form originally sent to the governor and may be amended by the Legislature in like manner as it could have amended the bill during its original consideration thereof and returned to the governor. The governor shall either sign or veto a bill returned as provided herein or, if there are fewer than twenty days remaining in the session, as provided in subsection (c) of this section.
(c) When there are fewer than twenty days remaining in the regular or special session from the date a bill is presented to the governor and the Legislature adjourns to a reconvened session, the governor shall have forty-five days from the date of adjournment of the regular or special session in which to act on the bills presented thereto and to exercise one of the three options set out below. Whenever the governor extends a regular session of the Legislature pursuant to subsection (b), section twenty-two, article six of this Constitution, the date on which the Legislature would have adjourned to a reconvened session shall be calculated based on the date when the Legislature would have adjourned to a reconvened session without extension. If the governor does not act on any bill, it shall become effective without his signature.
(1) The governor may sign the bill if he approves it, and it shall become law.
(2) The governor may veto the bill if he objects thereto by returning the same with his objections to the house wherein it originated. The same procedures for overriding his veto are applicable as stated in subsection (b) for bills vetoed during the session.
(3) The governor may recommend one or more specific and severable amendments to a bill by returning it with his recommendation to the house wherein it originated. The same procedures for considering his recommendation are applicable as stated in subdivision (3), subsection (b) of this section for bills returned with his recommendation. The governor shall either sign or veto a bill returned to him from a reconvened session. If the governor vetoes the bill, the veto shall stand and the bill shall not become effective. If the governor does not act on the bill within thirty days after the adjournment of the reconvened session, it shall become effective without his signature.
(d) The governor shall have the power to veto or reduce any particular item or items of an appropriation bill, but the veto or reduction shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object. If an item is reduced, it shall be considered as a "reduction veto" and not as an amendment to the bill. The item or items objected to or reduced shall not take effect except in the manner provided in this section for a bill vetoed by the governor. Any reduction shall be reconsidered by the Legislature in like manner as a veto.
(e) In all cases set forth above, the names of the members voting for and against the bill, the amendment or amendments thereto, or the item or items of an appropriation bill shall be entered on the journal of each house.
(f) The procedure established in this section for the approval, veto or amendment of bills shall also apply to every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of both houses may be necessary, except on the question of adjournment or relating solely to the transaction of business of the two houses.
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 "Supermajority Required for Veto Override Amendment," and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State Constitution relating to overriding the Governor's veto of a bill by requiring a supermajority vote, rather than the current simple majority of those elected (two thirds in the case of an appropriations bill); and to authorize a reconvened session of the Legislature on the eighth Wednesday following the adjournment of each regular or special session for the sole purpose of reconsidering bills vetoed by the governor.

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to propose an amendment to the Constitution to require that a supermajority of the members elected to each house of the Legislature (rather than a simple majority of those elected) concur to override vetoes of bills and authorize a "veto session" of the Legislature on the eighth Wednesday following the adjournment of each regular or special session for the sole purpose of reconsidering bills vetoed by the governor.
Strike-throughs indicate language which would be eliminated; underscoring indicates new language which would be added.
Article VII, §14 has been completely rewritten; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.