CHAPTER 3804

An Act to provide for the submission of a proposed amendment to § 115-a
of the Constitution of Virginia to the fmol voters for ratification
or rejection, and to prescribe when and how such referendum shall be
had, and the manner in which the results thereof shall be ascertained
and certified, the returns canvassed, and the vote thereon proclaimed
by the Governor. [H 81]

Approved March 13, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. It shall be the duty of the officers conducting the election directed by
law to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nine-
teen hundred fifty-eight, at the places appointed for holding the same, to
open a poll and take the sense of the qualified voters upon the ratification
or rejection of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Virginia,
contained in the joint resolution proposing the said amendment to the
Constitution of Virginia, and directing a submission of said proposed
amendment to the people for their approval and ratification, to wit:

Strike from the Constitution of Virginia § 115-a, which is as follows:
; § 115-a. Power of counties and districts to borrow money and to
issue evidences of indebtedness restricted—No debt shall be contracted
by any county, or by or on behalf of any district of any county, or by or
on behalf of any school board of any county, or by or on behalf of any
school district in any county, except in pursuance of authority conferred
by the General Assembly by general law; and the General Assembly shall
not authorize any county, or any district of any county, or any school
board of any county, or any school district in any county, to contract
any debt except to meet casual deficits in the revenue, a debt created in
anticipation of the collection of the revenue of the said county, board or
district for the then current year, or to redeem a previous liability, unless
in the general law authorizing the same provision be made for the sub-
mission to the qualified voters of the proper county or district, for ap-
proval or rejection, by a majority vote of the qualified voters voting in an
election, on the question of contracting such debt; and such approval shall
be a prerequisite to contracting such debt. No scrip, certificate or other
evidence of county or district indebtedness shall be issued except for such
debts as are expressly authorized in this Constitution or by the laws made
in pursuance thereof.

And insert in lieu thereof the following:

§ 115-a. Power of counties and districts to borrow money and to
issue evidences of indebtedness restricted.—No debt shall be contracted by
any county, or by or on behalf of any district of any county, or by or on
behalf of any school board of any county, or by or on behalf of any school
district in any county, except in pursuance of authority conferred by the
General Assembly by general law; and the General Assembly shall not
authorize any county, or any district of any county, or any school board
of any county, or any school district in any county, to contract any debt
except to meet casual deficits in the revenue, a debt created in anticipation
of the collection of the revenue of the said county, board or district for
the then current year, or to redeem a previous liability, unless in the gen-
eral law authorizing the same provision be made for the submission to the
qualified voters of the proper county or district, for approval or rejection,
by a majority vote of the qualified voters voting in an election, on the
question of contracting such debt; and such approval shall be a pre-
requisite to contracting such debt. No scrip, certificate or other evidence
of county or district indebtedness shall be issued except for such debts as
are expressly authorized in this Constitution or by the laws made in pur-
suance thereof.

This section shall not be construed as prohibiting the General Assem-
bly from authorizing, by general law, the school board of any county to
contract to borrow money from the Virginia Supplemental Retirement
System, or any successor thereto, for the purpose of school construction,
with the approval of the governing body of the county.

SCHEDULE

At such election a ballot shall be furnished each voter which shall
have printed thereon the following:

Question: Shall section one hundred fifteen-a of the Constitution of
Virginia be amended so as to permit county school boards to borrow money
from the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System, or any successor
thereto, for the purpose of school construction, with the consent of their
respective governing bodies?

O For

O Against

The ballot shall be prepared, distributed and voted, and the results
thereof ascertained and certified, in the manner prescribed by § 24-141 of
the Code of Virginia. It shall be the duty of the clerks and commissioners
of election of each county and city, respectively, to make out, certify and
forward an abstract of the votes cast for and against said proposed amend-
ment in the manner now prescribed by law in relation to votes cast in
general elections.

It shall be the duty of the State Board of Elections to open and can-
vass the said abstracts of returns, and to examine and make statement of
the whole number of votes given at said election for said proposed amend-
ment and against said proposed amendment, respectively, in the manner
now prescribed by law in relation to votes cast in general elections; and it
shall be the duty of the State Board of Elections to record said certified
statement in its office, and without delay to make out and transmit to
the Governor of the Commonwealth an official copy of said statement,
certified by it.

The governor shall, without delay, make proclamation of the result,
stating therein the aggregate vote for and against said amendment, to be
published in such newspapers in the State as may be deemed requisite for
general information; and if a majority of said votes be cast for the ratifi-
cation of the amendment, he shall annex to his proclamation a copy
thereof. The State Board of Elections shall cause to be sent to the clerks
of each county and corporation, at least thirty days before the election, as
many copies of this act as there are places of voting herein; and it shall be
the duty of such clerks to forthwith deliver the same to the sheriffs or
sergeants of their respective counties and cities for distribution. Each such
sheriff or sergeant shall forthwith post a copy of such act at some public
mare a each election district at or near the usual voting place in the said

The expenses incurred in a ae this election shall be defrayed as
in the case of the election of members of the Genera] Assembly.