CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – State Treasurer Larry Pack plans to propose to the state Legislature a constitutional amendment that would prevent any individual serving in the office of Secretary of State, Auditor, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Agriculture, or Attorney General for more than three consecutive terms.
“Establishing term limits will help ensure politicians serve the people rather than themselves,” Treasurer Pack said. “We’ve seen newly elected constitutional officers bring fresh ideas to modernize and reform their office to better serve the citizens of our state. This is the first step in fulfilling that promise to restore more power back to the people.”
The purpose of the proposed joint resolution is to amend Section Four, Article VII of the Constitution of the State of West Virginia to prevent any Board of Public Works member from serving more than 12 years or three four-year terms consecutively in any one constitutional office.
Service for any length of time in a constitutional office would constitute a term in office for purposes of the proposed constitutional amendment; however, the resolution does not prevent an individual from seeking a different constitutional office following their service of three consecutive terms in one office.
“When politicians overstay their welcome, they become stagnant and less likely to adopt new ideas. Term limits give you a shorter amount of time to get things done and encourages politicians to enact bold, transformative policies right out of the gate,” Treasurer Pack said. “This is not a new concept for West Virginians. We already have term limits for the Governor and our county sheriffs. The people decided long ago we should not concentrate the power of executive offices in one person for too long, and I feel these limits should be extended across all constitutional offices for the same reason.”
If adopted by the Legislature, the proposed amendment would need to be approved by the voters during the 2026 General Election.
The measure would apply to constitutional officers beginning their terms in 2029 or in any year after that.
