8/13/2019 Resolution to Ratify the 24th Amendment

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A RESOLUTION

FOR the purpose of ratifying the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

regarding the imposition of poll taxes.

WHEREAS, the 24

th

Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the denial of theright to vote for failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax; and

WHEREAS, the 24thAmendment passed the United States Senate on March 27, 1962, and then

passed the United States House of Representatives on August 27, 1962; and

WHEREAS, the 24th

Amendment was subsequently ratified by a majority of the states, with

Maine being the 37th

state to ratify the amendment, on January 16, 1964; and

WHEREAS, the requirement of the United States Constitution that any proposed constitutional

amendment be approved by at least three-fourths of the states meant that the 24th

Amendment

would be adopted into the United States Constitution upon ratification by the 38th

state; and

WHEREAS, Senate Resolution 149 was introduced in the Georgia Senate on Tuesday, January

21, 1964, as a proposal to ratify the 24th

Amendment, positioning Georgia to be the 38th

state to

ratify the amendment; and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Senate voted 44-0 on Thursday, January 23, 1964 to adopt SR 149 and

ratify the 24thAmendment; and

WHEREAS, also on Thursday, January 23, 1964, the South Dakota Senate suspended its rules

and rushed to approve the ratification of the 24 thAmendment by a vote of 34-0; and

WHEREAS, upon the approval of South Dakota, the 24thAmendment was thereafter ratified to

become a part of the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the Georgia House subsequently failed to take any action upon the Georgia Senates

resolution ratifying the amendment; and

WHEREAS, following its formal ratification, the 24th

Amendment was subsequently ratified by

Virginia on February 25, 1977, North Carolina on May 3, 1989, Alabama on April 11, 2002, and

Texas on May 22, 2009; and

WHEREAS, having been denied the opportunity to be the state whose ratification would haveadopted the 24

thAmendment as part of the United States Constitution, and having not taken

action to ratify it since, the State of Georgia now wishes to formally record its support for and

ratify the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, reading as follows:

8/13/2019 Resolution to Ratify the 24th Amendment

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Amendment XXIV

Section 1.The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election forPresident or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or

Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or anyState by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax.

Section 2.The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GEORGIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY that

the foregoing amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by the State of Georgia as a

part of the United States Constitution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Pursuant to Public Law No. 98-497, the Georgia secretary

of state shall notify the archivist of the United States of the action of the Georgia GeneralAssembly, by forwarding to the archivist an official copy of this resolution. The Georgia

secretary of state shall also forward official copies of this resolution to both United States

senators from Georgia, to all United States representatives from Georgia, to the United States

Secretary of State, to the vice president of the United States in his capacity as presiding officer of

the United States Senate, and to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, with

the request that this resolution be printed in full in the Congressional Record.