Bill Text: WV HJR12 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Super-Majority Required for Passage of Tax Bill Amendment
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - To House Finance [HJR12 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-HJR12-Introduced.html
West Virginia
Legislature
2017 Regular Session
Introduced
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 12
(By Delegates Overington, Frich and Gearheart)
Referred to the Committee on Finance
then Judiciary]
Proposing an amendment to
the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending article X thereof by
adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, relating to taxes and
fees; providing that, with exception, bills imposing a tax or license fee and
bills increasing the effective rate of any tax levied or fee imposed may not be
enacted unless two-thirds of the members of each house, present and voting,
vote in the affirmative for passage; numbering and designating the proposed
amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of the 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 article
X be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§5a. Two-thirds majority required for passage of
bills containing tax and fee increases.
(a) Bills imposing a tax or license fee and bills increasing the
effective rate of any tax levied or fee imposed may not be enacted unless two-thirds
of the members of each house, present and voting, vote in the affirmative for
passage.
(b) Prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the Legislature
shall appropriate revenues to pay interest on any debt for which it has pledged
the state’s faith and credit and which interest is payable in the year for
which the appropriation is made and to pay the principal of the debt, payable
in that year, whether at maturity or otherwise.
If state revenues are not sufficient to pay the principal and interest
on the debt when due and payable, any revenues received by the state shall be
applied first to the payment of the principal and interest on the debt. The Legislature may, by a simple majority
vote of the members of both houses present and voting in the affirmative, enact
a bill to impose or increase a tax or fee as necessary to ensure that funds are
available to pay the principal and interest on state debts when due and payable
but it may not enact any other bill to increase taxes or fees by simple
majority vote.
(c) This section does not apply to any tax or license fee
authorized by an Act of the Legislature enacted prior to the ratification of
this section by the voters.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions
of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1"
and designated as the "Super-Majority Required for Passage of Tax Bill
Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as
follows: "To provide that, with
exception, bills imposing a tax or license fee or increasing a tax or license
fee may not be enacted unless two-thirds of the members of each house vote for
the fee or the tax."
NOTE: The purpose of this joint
resolution is to propose an amendment to the Constitution to require that, with
exception, bills imposing a tax or license fee and bills increasing the
effective rate of any tax levied or fee imposed, may not be enacted unless two
thirds of the members of each house, present and voting, vote in the
affirmative for passage.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.
