House Concurrent Resolution 48

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 41, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO PROVIDE THAT THE MINIMUM AGE TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MISSISSIPPI STATE SENATE SHALL BE EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, At the age of eighteen, citizens of the United States serve this country in the Armed Forces often at great personal danger when called to war; and

WHEREAS, The age of eighteen is the age at which citizens are eligible to elect public officials to office from the local level to the President of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, Countless eighteen year old persons have given their lives for our country so that all United States citizens can enjoy freedom in the greatest nation on earth; and

WHEREAS, It is appropriate that the age of eighteen years be the minimum age to serve in the Mississippi State Senate.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendment to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 is proposed to the electors of the state:

Amend Section 42, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read as follows:

"Section 42. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of eighteen years, who shall not have been a qualified elector of the state four years, and who shall not be an actual resident of the district or territory he may be chosen to represent for two years before his election. The seat of a senator shall be vacated upon his removal from the district from which he was elected."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this proposed amendment shall be submitted by the Secretary of State to the qualified electors at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2010, as provided by Section 273 and by general law.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of this proposed amendment of the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed constitutional amendment will lower the minimum age reguirement to serve as a member of the Mississippi State Senate from twenty-five to eighteen."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this resolution, immediately upon adoption by the Legislature, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States Court for the District of Columbia, in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.