Make amends with state Constitution before proceeding

And here we thought it was only the U.S. Constitution our legislators wanted to amend.
On a closer look we counted more than 30 House and Senate joint resolutions that propose amendments to the state Constitution. Those amendments require two-thirds passage in both chambers of the Legislature as well as a majority of voters’ approval on a statewide referendum.
In case you’re wondering, the state Constitution already has 18 amendments, the most recent being the 2017 passage of the Roads to Prosperity amendment.
Those amendments are preceded by 14 articles and altogether represent about 34,500 words. In stark contrast, the U.S. Constitution features 27 amendments and is preceded by seven articles, totaling about 8,200 words.
Apparently, it’s not enough for our legislators to propose more than 1,800 bills, so far. Most legislative resolutions — 142, so far — seek to name a bridge after a veteran, congratulate a soccer team or designate certain days something.
Senate Resolution 20 designated Wednesday as Preston County Day, while SR 21 celebrates the achievements and contributions of Monongalia County,
But we digress. How can our legislators seriously offer up more than 30 proposals to amend our state Constitution?
Full disclaimer, our newspaper has endorsed one of them, HJR 108, which allows state residents to directly participate in redrawing legislative districts in 2021.
Another proposed amendment, HJR 110, also proposes a similar goal by another kind of commission.
At a glance, maybe half of these proposed amendments are worthy of debate. However, some of them state an over zealous effort to protect rights already embodied in federal code or the U.S. Constitution.
While others look to protect or project more check-and-balance over the executive and judiciary branches — SJR 1 and HJR 102, for example.
SJR 1 curbs any court’s authority over impeachment proceedings in the Legislature while HJR 102 would allow lawmakers to review state Board of Education rules for approval.
To some lawmakers’ credit, some of these proposals are reflective. Such as HJR 28, which would require a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature to override a veto of the governor. It only takes a simple majority to do so, now.
There’s also HJR 29 that would limit the terms of members of the House of Delegates.
Meanwhile, seven different proposed amendments either raise or enact exemptions on property taxes — for either senior citizens, veterans, disabled veterans or volunteer emergency service personnel.
It’s easy to support such feel-good measures but how do counties and school districts replace such revenue losses?
Is all this any indication of what one could expect from a national constitutional convention?
Let’s hope we never find out.