Bill Text: WV HJR13 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Amendment
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - To House Judiciary [HJR13 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-HJR13-Introduced.html
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
Referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
Proposing an amendment to
the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending section one, article
VI thereof; amending section two, article XIV thereof; and amending said
Constitution by adding a new article, designated article XV, all relating to
the legislative powers held by the people of the state and the Legislature; the
power of the registered voters and the power of the Legislature to propose
amendments to this Constitution; and the reservation by and to the people and
registered voters of this state the powers of initiative, referendum, and
recall at all levels of government in this state; 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 2018, which proposed amendment is that section one,
article VI thereof, be amended; that section two, article XIV thereof, be
amended; and that said Constitution be further amended by adding thereto a new
article, designated article XV, all to read as follows:
§1. Legislative powers held by people and by
Legislature.
Except for the initiative and referendum powers reserved by
and to the people of West Virginia in article XV of this Constitution, the legislative power shall be vested in a Senate and House
of Delegates. The style of their acts
shall be, "Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia."
ARTICLE
XIV. AMENDMENTS -- HOW MADE.
§2. How
amendments are made.
Any amendment to the Constitution
of the State may be proposed: (1) By registered voters through the
initiative procedure set forth in article fifteen of this Constitution; or (2)
by a member or members of the Legislature through the legislative procedure
hereinafter set forth in this paragraph.
An amendment to this Constitution may be proposed in either house of
the Legislature at any regular or extraordinary session thereof; and if the
same, being read on three several days in each house, be agreed to on its third
reading, by two thirds of the members elected thereto, the proposed amendment,
with the yeas and nays thereon, shall be entered on the journals, and it shall
be the duty of the Legislature to provide by law for submitting the same to the
voters of the state for ratification or rejection, at a special election, or at
the next primary election or next general election thereafter, and cause
the same to be published, at least three months before such election in some
newspaper in every county in which a newspaper is printed. If a majority of the qualified voters, voting
on the question at the polls held pursuant to such law, ratify the proposed
amendment, it shall be in force from the time of such ratification, as part of
the Constitution of the State. If two or
more amendments be submitted at the same time, the vote on the ratification or
rejection shall be taken on each separately, but an amendment may relate to a
single subject or to related subject matters and may amend or modify as many
articles and as many sections of the Constitution as may be necessary and
appropriate in order to accomplish the objectives of the amendment. Whenever one or more amendments are submitted
at a special election, no other question, issue or matter shall questions,
issues or matters may be voted upon at such special election, and the cost
of such special election throughout the state shall be paid out of the State
Treasury.
ARTICLE
XV. INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM, AND RECALL
§1. Initiative
and referendum; scope; limitations.
The people of West Virginia reserve to themselves the powers
of initiative and referendum. Subject to the restrictions set forth in this
section, the power of initiative is the power of registered voters, through the
use of a petition procedure established in this section, and governed by
general law not in conflict therewith, to propose statutes and amendments to
this Constitution and, at a regularly scheduled general or primary election
held less than two years after the filing of a proper petition, to enact or
reject those voter-proposed statutes and amendments by a simple majority of the
votes cast on the issue. The power of
the voters to propose, and to enact or to reject, laws is not subject to the
veto power of the Governor or of any other individual.
Subject to the restrictions set forth in this section, the
power of referendum is the power of registered voters, through the use of a
petition procedure established in this section, and governed by general law not
in conflict therewith, to propose the rejection of statutes, or specific
portions thereof, newly enacted by the Legislature, and at a regularly
scheduled general or primary election held less than two years after the filing
of a proper petition, to approve or reject those statutes, or specific portions
thereof, by a simple majority of the votes cast on the issue.
The initiative and referendum powers reserved by and to the
people pursuant to this section are further reserved to the registered voters
of each municipality, county, or other election district as to all local,
special, municipal and county ordinances, charter provisions, rules and other
legislation of every character in or for that municipality, county, or other
district if those ordinances, charter provisions, rules and other legislation
are ordained or enacted, or capable of being ordained or enacted, by the
election council of a municipal corporation, by a county commission, by an
elected board of a school district, or by any other elected public body, as the
case may be.
The Legislature shall, by general law in accordance with this
section, provide for initiative and referendum at each level of government in
West Virginia. The Legislature shall
further provide that a petition for initiative or referendum must be signed by
registered voters residing in the district over which the elected public body
in question has jurisdiction.
The Legislature shall further provide that to initiate an
initiative election pursuant to this section, a petition for initiative,
including all copies thereof, must contain the signatures of a number of the
registered voters residing in that district equal to at least ten percent of
all of the votes cast for the Office of Governor in that district in the most
recent quadrennial general election preceding the filing of that petition. The Legislature shall further provide that,
in addition to meeting the aforementioned requirements, to initiate a statewide
initiative election pursuant to this section, a petition for initiative,
including all copies thereof, must, in each county of two thirds of the
counties in this state, contain the signatures of a number of the registered
voters residing in that county equal to at least ten percent of all of the
votes cast for the office of Governor in that county in the most recent
quadrennial election preceding the filing of that petition.
The power of initiative described in this section may not be
exercised to propose or to enact legislation which the applicable elected
public body itself could not propose or enact; nor may the power of initiative
be exercised in an attempt to name or to identify a particular individual to
have or to hold any office, position, or term or condition of employment or to
authorize a private firm or corporation to perform any function or to have any
power or duty nor may the power of initiative be exercised in an attempt to
amend this article. No more than five
statewide initiative measures shall be voted upon at the same election. The Legislature shall, by general law,
establish objective procedures to govern which statewide initiative measures
will be voted upon at a particular election in the unlikely event that six or
more such measures would otherwise qualify to be voted upon at a particular
election: Provided, That nothing
in this section requires that the Legislature mandate special elections under
such circumstances.
The Legislature shall further provide that, to initiate a
referendum election pursuant to this section, a petition for referendum,
including all copies thereof, must contain the signatures of a number of the
registered voters residing in that district equal to at least ten percent of
all of the votes cast for the Office of Governor in that district in the most
recent quadrennial general election preceding the filing of that petition. In addition to the above requirements, the
Legislature shall further provide that, to initiate a statewide referendum
election pursuant to this section, a petition for referendum, including all
copies thereof, must, in each county of two thirds of the counties of this
state, contain the signatures of a number of the registered voters residing in
that county equal to at least ten percent of all of the votes cast for the
Office of Governor in that county in the most recent quadrennial election
preceding the filing of that petition.
The Legislature shall further provide that, to be valid, that
referendum petition must be filed with the proper official within a certain
period, not less than ninety days in length, after the date the statute,
ordinance, or other legislation the rejection of which the circulators of the
referendum petition are seeking was enacted or ordained. The Legislature shall further provide that
within a certain period, not more than thirty days in length, after the filing
of a referendum petition with the proper official, that official shall certify
that petition if it has been prepared, circulated, signed, and filed in
compliance with applicable law. If the
petition is so certified, the statute, ordinance or other legislation, or part
thereof, the rejection of which is being sought, shall be immediately suspended
until it has been approved or rejected at a referendum election, unless that
legislation was enacted, with a recorded vote reflecting the yeas and nays, by
at least two thirds of the members voting on the issue in each legislative body
the approval of which was required for passage.
If a referendum petition is filed against part of a statute or other
legislation, the remainder may not be delayed from going into effect.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the
contrary, the power of referendum may not be exercised in an attempt to reject
those portions of an act or ordinance which appropriate public funds or call an
election.
A statute or any other legislation, or portion thereof,
proposed through the filing of a proper initiative petition, or suspended
through the filing of a proper referendum petition, takes effect on the date
that it is approved by the voters unless the approved measure provides
otherwise. If the provisions of two or
more measures approved by the voters at the same election are in conflict, the
provisions of the measure receiving the highest number of affirmative votes
prevails unless one measure is by law subordinate to the other. If an amendment to this Constitution and a
statute are both approved by the voters at the same election, that amendment
prevails in any case of conflict.
The Legislature may amend or repeal any statute approved at
an initiative election or referendum election.
Any amendment to this Constitution approved at an initiative election
may only be amended or repealed in the manner set forth in this section or in
the manner set forth in article XIV of this Constitution.
The Legislature shall further provide for procedures relating
to the preparation, circulation and filing of initiative petitions and
referendum petitions, to the verification of signatures thereon, to the
certification of such petitions, and to the conduct of initiative elections and
referendum elections. The Legislature shall
provide that proposed statutes set forth in initiative petitions comply with
the requirements of Section thirty, article VI of this Constitution. The Legislature shall, with such exceptions
as it may deem prudent, enact legislation to encourage holding initiative
elections and referendum elections on regularly scheduled election days and to
discourage holding special initiative elections and special referendum
elections. The Legislature may enact
legislation to allow initiative elections and referendum elections involving
municipalities to be held in conjunction with regularly scheduled elections
involving state and county officials.
The Legislature shall, by general law, provide for the
disclosure of contributions and expenditures relating to initiative elections
and referendum elections and may enact other provisions to guarantee the
integrity of initiative elections and referendum elections.
The authority granted to the Legislature in this section may
not be construed in any way as a restriction on the right of the people of West
Virginia to petition their government.
This section may not be construed to preempt or to repeal
existing or future provisions of municipal charters which reserve to municipal
voters additional initiative and referendum powers.
This section is to be
liberally construed to ensure that the power of the people of West Virginia to
propose, and to accept or reject, laws is not undermined by a system of overly
complicated procedures.
§2. Recall;
scope; limitations.
Notwithstanding the
provisions of Section VI, article four of this Constitution, the people of West
Virginia reserve the power of recall.
Subject to the restrictions set forth in this section, the power of
recall is the power of registered voters, through the use of a petition
procedure established in this section, and governed by general law not in
conflict therewith, to propose the removal of any individual occupying any
elective public office in West Virginia at any governmental level in West
Virginia, and at a regularly scheduled general or primary election held less
than two years after the filing of a proper petition, to remove that individual
from that office by a simple majority of the votes cast on the issue.
Subject to the
provisions of this paragraph, any individual who is so recalled is ineligible
to be elected or appointed to serve any unexpired portion of his or her term of
office in that position or in a functionally equivalent elective public office
in the same electoral district, or in another electoral district covering
exactly the same territory, during that unexpired term of the office: Provided, That the period of such
ineligibility during an unexpired term of office shall not exceed four
years. The vacancy in the office
theretofore held by the recalled official shall be filled expeditiously in the
manner provided by law for filling a vacancy arising from a resignation from
that office.
The Legislature shall,
by general law in accordance with this section, provide for the recall of all
public officials occupying elective offices.
The Legislature shall further provide that, to initiate a recall
election pursuant to this section, a petition, including all copies thereof, to
recall a public official occupying an elective office must contain the
signatures of a number of the registered voters residing in the electoral
district in and for which that official was elected, or appointed, equal to
twenty percent of the votes cast for the candidate who received the highest
number of votes for that office in the election at which that public official, if
elected, was elected, or if that public official was appointed, in the election
at which that public official’s immediate elected predecessor was elected.
No individual occupying
an elective public office may be subjected to a recall election held less than
one year before the end of his or her regular legislatively established term of
office. Nor may any such individual be
subjected to more than one recall election during a particular term of office
which he or she has served without interruption.
The Legislature shall
further provide for procedures relating to the preparation, circulation, and
filing of recall petitions, to the verification of signatures thereon, to the
certification of such petitions, to the conduct of recall elections, and to the
status, prior to a recall election, of a public official whose recall is
sought. With respect to most public
offices, the Legislature shall enact legislation to encourage holding recall
elections on regularly scheduled election days and to discourage holding
special recall elections. The
Legislature may enact legislation to allow recall elections involving municipal
officials to be held in conjunction with regularly scheduled elections
involving state and county officials.
The Legislature may, but
is not required to, provide by general law that a petition for recall set forth
the reason or reasons that recall is sought and may further provide for the
ability of the public official whose recall is sought to set forth, in a
similar fashion, justification for his or her conduct in office. In any event, the sufficiency or accuracy of
any such statement of reasons or justification shall, for the purposes of the
recall election, be deemed to be a political, rather than a judicial, question.
The Legislature shall,
by general law, provide for the disclosure of contributions and expenditures
relating to recall elections and may enact other provisions designed to
guarantee the integrity of recall elections.
The authority granted to
the Legislature in this section may not be construed in any way as a
restriction on the right of the people of West Virginia to petition their
government.
This section may not be
construed to preempt or to repeal existing or future provisions of municipal
charters which reserve to municipal voters additional recall powers. Nor may this section be construed to
authorize an individual to be subjected to a recall election during the term of
office which that individual began serving prior to the date upon which this
section was ratified.
This section is to be
liberally construed to ensure that the power of the people of West Virginia to
recall their elective public officials is not undermined by a system of overly
complicated procedures.
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 "Initiative, Referendum,
and Recall Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is
summarized as follows: "To amend the
state Constitution to enable the people of the State of West Virginia to
reserve to themselves the powers of initiative, referendum, and recall, to
enable the people to propose laws and Constitutional amendments, to attempt to
reject statutes enacted by legislative bodies, and to recall elected officials,
all through the circulation and filing of petitions and through elections held
thereon." “
NOTE: The purpose of this
resolution is to amend the state Constitution to give the people the powers of
initiative, referendum and recall. The resolution sets forth its scope,
limitations and exceptions. Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from the present Constitution, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.
