House Concurrent Resolution 36

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 41, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO DECREASE THE MINIMUM AGE TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MISSISSIPPI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM 21 YEARS TO 18 YEARS OF AGE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, at the age of eighteen (18), citizens of the United States serve this country in the Armed Forces often at great personal danger when called to war; and

WHEREAS, the age of eighteen (18) is the age at which citizens are eligible to elect public officials to office from the local level to the President of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, countless eighteen-year-old persons have given their lives for our country so that all United States citizens can enjoy freedom in the greatest nation on earth; and

WHEREAS, it is appropriate that the age of eighteen (18) years be the minimum age to serve in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendment to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 is proposed to the electors of the state:

Amend Section 41, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read as follows:

"Section 41. No person shall be a member of the House of Representatives who shall not have attained the age of eighteen (18) years, and who shall not be a qualified elector of the state, and who shall not have been a resident citizen of the state for four (4) years, and within the district such person seeks to serve for two (2) years, immediately preceding his election. The seat of a member of the House of Representatives shall be vacated on his removal from the district from which he was elected."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this proposed amendment shall be submitted by the Secretary of State to the qualified electors at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2011, as provided by Section 273 and by general law.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of this proposed amendment of the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed constitutional amendment will lower the minimum age requirement to serve as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from twenty-one to eighteen."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this resolution, immediately upon adoption by the Legislature, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States Court for the District of Columbia, in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.