HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO.9
(By Delegates Hrutkay, Webster and Perry)
[Introduced February 24, 2005; Referred to the committee on
Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section three, article IX thereof, relating
to allowing citizens to vote upon extending the terms for the
office of sheriff to three consecutive four-year terms and
eliminating the provision that if a sheriff "any portion
thereof" a term, it counts as one of the terms towards the
term limit; 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 and six, which proposed amendment is that section three, article IX thereof be amended, to read as follows:
ARTICLE IX. COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
§3. Sheriffs.
A person who has been elected or who has served as sheriff
during all or any part of two three consecutive terms shall be
ineligible for the office of sheriff during any part of the term
immediately following the second third of the two three consecutive
terms. The person holding the office of sheriff when this section
is ratified shall not be prevented from holding the office of
sheriff during the term immediately following the term he or she is
then serving.
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to change the term
limit of sheriffs from two to three consecutive terms and to
eliminate language stating that if a sheriff has served "any part"
of a term then that portion counts as one of the terms.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.