HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15
               (By Delegates Overington, Andes, Lane,
Armstead and Walters)

[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the Committee on Constitutional Revision then Finance.]



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 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 2014, 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.
_____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 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 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.
          
     §5a is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.