State of Affairs

Voters across West Virginia turned out in record numbers to have their voices heard at the ballot box for the 2024 General Election. Early voting in West Virginia broke records this year with more than 300,000 voters participating. Election night results are in, and the television ads and mailbox flyers are out. 

West Virginia’s general election results went largely as expected Tuesday evening, with Republicans overwhelmingly winning most races and a lot of familiar and new faces moving to many different offices in 2025. 

At the federal level, West Virginia’s congressional ...

The West Virginia Legislature adjourned the 2022 Regular Session on Saturday, March 12th at midnight. Before the Legislature adjourned Sine Die, they passed a total of 293 bills, including the Budget Bill. As has become recent tradition, the House and Senate agreed to and passed a Budget Bill compromise during the Regular Session, thus eliminating the need for an extended or special budget session as has been done in years past.

The conclusion of the 60-day regular session saw a flurry of action as both the House and Senate worked to pass a number of measures during the final waning ...

When you head to the ballot box next year, you may see some new names on your ballot. It’s not because it’s simply a new election year, but it’s also because your district for House of Delegates, State Senate and Congress may have changed.

Every 10 years following a Census count, the West Virginia Constitution requires the West Virginia Legislature to redraw the district lines for the West Virginia Legislature and Congress. This will be a particularly different process compared to years past as the West Virginia House of Delegates will move to 100 single-member districts as ...

With the West Virginia Legislature’s 2021 Regular Session recently concluded, the team at Bowles Rice LLP is analyzing the potential impact of some of this year’s more notable pieces of legislation.

In all, the Legislature passed 282 bills during the 60-day regular session. Governor Jim Justice signed a total of 280 bills while allowing another two to become law without his signature. Governor Justice ultimately vetoed only one bill for technical reasons, which was fixed during the regular session before being passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

The West Virginia Legislature adjourned Sine Die Saturday to wrap up the 2021 Regular Session. In total, the Legislature passed 282 bills, including the budget bill, in the 60-day session. Although Governor Justice allowed for a one-day extension of session for work on the budget, it was not needed.

The Legislature’s $4.495 billion budget was less than the Governor’s proposed $4.569 billion budget filed at the beginning of session, amounting to a $73 million dollar difference in revenue expenditures. The primary difference is a 1.5% cut by the Legislature to state agencies and ...

This week, the West Virginia Legislative Session will officially hit the halfway point of their 60-day session. So far, the full Legislature has passed 13 pieces of legislation that have been sent to the Governor’s desk. As of this blog post, the House has passed 54 bills and the Senate has passed 89 bills. Committees are expected to see an increased workload while floor sessions will likely get longer over the remaining 30 days.

The Legislative Session has certainly looked a bit different due to COVID-19 protocols, but that hasn’t stopped either Chamber from tackling big issues ...

Citizens across the state and the country went out in record numbers last week to vote on the federal and state candidates of their choice. The results were significant to say the least. 

At the national level, turnout for the 2020 Presidential Election hit a 50-year high, with former Vice President and President-elect Joe Biden appearing to have a narrow, but insurmountable lead. While the country waits for the machinations of potential legal challenges and recounts to play out, much of the national focus has shifted to the two U.S. Senate run-offs in Georgia which could ultimately ...

Over the last several months, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted public policy responses on a number of fronts. In addition to the typical public health measures taken, such as “stay at home” orders and public mask mandates, we’ve seen policies enacted at both the state and federal levels aimed at curbing the devastating impact that shutdowns have had upon the economy nationwide. One such measure that has been gaining steam across the country is liability protections for businesses reopening in the midst of the pandemic. 

As more states expand the reopening process, and people ...

With the month of July nearly complete, and many West Virginia counties experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 positives, attention has started to turn towards the State’s 2020 General Election slated for November 3rd.  With West Virginia’s Primary Election pushed back nearly a month due to COVID-19 concerns, many are wondering whether the General Election will bring a repeat of remote voting through an expanded absentee ballot process. 

During his daily COVID-19 press briefing, Governor Jim Justice fielded a question about the 2020 General Election and expressed his preference

For one of the first times since the end of the 2020 Regular Session, a number of state lawmakers gathered at the Capitol on Monday for a COVID-19 informational meeting of the House Health & Human Resources Committee. 

As expected, the meeting took on a distinctly different feel from a typical legislative interim meeting.  Members of the Health Committee socially distanced throughout the House of Delegates Chamber, with legislators maintaining several vacant seats between them.  Most in attendance wore masks throughout, including all of the House of Delegates staff and speakers ...