West Virginia Constitution

Article VI, § 51 — Budget and supplementary appropriation bills

West Virginia Const. art. VI, § 51

This text of West Virginia Const. art. VI, § 51 (Budget and supplementary appropriation bills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

JurisdictionWest VirginiaDocumentConstitution
ArticleVI
Section§ 51
CitationWest Virginia Const. art. VI, § 51
Bluebook
W. Va. Const. art. VI, § 51.

Full Text

The Legislature shall not appropriate any money out of the treasury except in accordance with the provisions of this section. Subsection A – Appropriation Bills (1) Every appropriation bill shall be either a budget bill, or a supplementary appropriation bill, as hereinafter provided. Subsection B – Budget Bills (2) On the second Wednesday of February in the year 2021 and every fourth year thereafter and on the second Wednesday of January in all other years, unless a later time in any year be fixed by the Legislature, the Governor shall submit to the Legislature a budget for the next ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall contain a complete plan of proposed expenditures and estimated revenues for the fiscal year and shall show the estimated surplus or deficit of revenues at the end of each fiscal year. Accompanying each budget shall be a statement showing: (a) An estimate of the revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal year, including the actual revenues and actual expenditures to the extent available, and the revenues and expenditures for the next preceding fiscal year; (b) the current assets, liabilities, reserves, and surplus or deficit of the state; (c) the debts and funds of the state; (d) an estimate of the state’s financial condition as of the beginning and end of the fiscal year covered by the budget; and (e) any explanation the Governor may desire to make as to the important features of the budget and any suggestions as to methods for reduction or increase of the state’s revenue. (3) Each budget shall embrace an itemized estimate of the appropriations, in such form and detail as the Governor shall determine or as may be prescribed by law: (a) For the Legislature as certified to the Governor in the manner hereinafter provided; (b) for the executive department; (c) for the judiciary department, as provided by law, certified to the Governor by the Auditor; (d) for payment and discharge of the principal and interest of any debt of the state created in conformity with the constitution, and all laws enacted in pursuance thereof; (e) for the salaries payable by the state under the constitution and laws of the state; and (f) for such other purposes as are set forth in the constitution and in laws made in pursuance thereof. (4) The Governor shall deliver to the presiding officer of each house the budget and a bill for all the proposed appropriations of the budget clearly itemized and classified, in such form and detail as the Governor shall determine or as may be prescribed by law; and the presiding officer of each house shall promptly cause the bill to be introduced therein, and such bill shall be known as the “Budget Bill”. The Governor may, with the consent of the Legislature, before final action thereon by the Legislature, amend or supplement the budget to correct an oversight, or to provide funds contingent on passage of pending legislation, and in case of an emergency, he or she may deliver such an amendment or supplement to the presiding officers of both houses; and the amendment or supplement shall thereby become a part of the budget bill as an addition to the items of the bill or as a modification of or a substitute for any item of the bill the amendment or supplement may affect. (5) The Legislature shall not amend the budget bill so as to create a deficit but may amend the bill by increasing or decreasing any item therein: Provided, That the Legislature may not decrease the total general revenue appropriations to the judiciary in the budget bill to an amount that is less than 85 percent of the amount of the total general revenue appropriations to the judiciary in the most recently enacted budget without a separate vote of the Legislature approved by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house, determined by yeas and nays and entered on the journals. Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, the salary or compensation of any public officer shall not be increased or decreased during his or her term of office: Provided, however, That the Legislature shall not increase the estimate of revenue submitted in the budget without the approval of the Governor.(6) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the Governor, and such representatives of the executive departments, boards, officers, and commissions of the state expending or applying for state moneys as have been designated by the Governor for this purpose, shall have the right, and when requested by either house of the Legislature it shall be their duty, to appear and be heard with respect to any budget bill, and to answer inquiries relative thereto. Subsection C – Supplementary Appropriation Bills (7) Neither house shall consider other appropriations until the budget bill

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Bluebook (online)
West Virginia Const. art. VI, § 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/constitution/wv/VI/51.