State Constitutions: W

Washington State Legislature

• Constitution

• Amendment Process
  • Amending the Constitution

• Pending Amendments
  • Bills by Topic Results
    • The topical index used to search for constitutional amendments (under Joint Resolutions) in the current term can also be done for 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 from this link - (Bills by Topic)
• Historical Constitutional Amendments Considered
  • Washington State Constitution: Amendments
    • This is a document that tells the history of each of the present constitutional amendments for the state of Washington; it does not provide resources for finding all proposed amendments

• Resources, Artifacts and Documents
  • Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington School of Law
  • Washington State Constitution: A History

West Virginia Legislature

• Constitution

• Amendment Process
  • Constitutional Provision (Article XIV)

• Pending and Historical Constitutional Amendments
  • Bill Status - 2012 Regular Session
    • To see pending constitutional amendments, in the form of House or Senate Joint Resolutions, first make sure Resolution is selected next to “Select Bill Type,” then select the year (1993-2012) and hit Submit.  Next under Resolution Quick Search, select a Senate or House Joint Resolution from the respective drop down menus.  There is no way to simply see a list of pending Senate or House joint resolutions – only individually.
• Resources, Artifacts and Documents
  • West Virginia Archives and History, Debates and proceedings of the First Constitutional Convention of West Virginia, 1861-63
  • West Virginia Archives and History, First Constitution of West Virginia (transcript only - no link to digital replica of original document)
  • West Virginia Archives and History, President Lincoln’s Opinion on the Admission for West Virginia into statehood, Dec. 31, 1862
    • Abraham Lincoln, [December 31, 1862] (Opinion on West Virginia Statehood), Library of Congress Digital Collection: The Abraham Lincoln Papers
  • Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 39 (1870)
    • Supreme Court case in which the validity of West Virginia’s statehood was challenged

Wisconsin State Legislature

• Constitution
  • Has annotated and unannotated versions

• Amendment Process
  • Amending the Wisconsin Constitution, Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau
• Pending Amendments
  • Pending Constitutional Amendments Table of Contents
• Historical Amendments Considered
  • Wisconsin Bluebook 2011-2012, “Wisconsin Constitution”
    • History of constitutional amendments begins on page 217.
• Resources, Artifacts and Documents
  • Joseph A. Ranney, Wisconsin Lawyer,  Making of the Wisconsin Constitution

Wyoming Legislature

• Constitution

• Amendment Process
  • Phil Roberts, “The Wyoming Constitution:  An Overview”

• Pending Amendments
  • Subject Cross Index
    • Scroll to last page – Wyoming Constitution
• Historical Amendments Considered
  • Session Archives
    • Goes back to 2001; select a session, select Bill Information (under heading of same name), then Bills by Subject – scroll to Wyoming Constitution

• Resources, Artifacts and Documents
  • Wyoming Constitution: Drafting, Passage, Precedents and Modern Changes  
    • Wyoming’s constitution and its changes over time
  • Phil Roberts, “Wyoming Becomes a State: The Constitutional Convention and Statehood Debates of 1889 and 1890 – and Their Aftermath”