State of Affairs

The West Virginia Legislature concluded its regular legislative session this past Saturday, March 8th. The House of Delegates and State Senate both adjourned sine die at midnight, concluding the annual 60-day regular session that started January 8, 2020.

In sum, the Legislature passed 356 bills during the 60-day time frame, including 188 House bills and 168 Senate bills. That total is the highest number of bills to number complete legislative action over the past 20 years. Lawmakers and the public will now turn their eyes to the Governor as he is tasked with approving or vetoing ...

Wednesday, November 8, 2020 marks the first day of the 60-day West Virginia legislative session. The House of Delegates and State Senate will gavel in and start business at noon on Wednesday. Lawmakers will organize during the day and then attend Governor Justice’s fourth State of the State Address starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening.  At that time, the Governor is expected to lay out his legislative priorities and give a general update on what is happening throughout the state under his administration before the joint session of the Legislature.

Legislators will have 60 days to ...

Members of the West Virginia Legislature made their way to Charleston this week not only for their regularly scheduled interim meetings, but also for a newly declared special session. Governor Justice called the Legislature into its second extraordinary session of the year by issuing a proclamation on November 14, 2019.

The Governor’s proclamation called for the Legislature to convene starting at noon on Monday, November 18, 2019, which coincided with the already scheduled November interim meetings.

Just three pieces of legislation were up for consideration by the State ...

Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy announced last week that state agencies are facing approximately $100 million in anticipated budget cuts as the state’s severance tax collections have slowed in recent months.  Current revenue collections are $29.8 million below estimates for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2019.

The announced budget cuts highlight the “boom and bust” cycles often associated with West Virginia’s severance tax collections, as the state just three months prior experienced a revenue surplus built in large part on economic rebounds in the energy ...

This past week highlighted the importance of tourism on West Virginia’s economy, as more than 200 people representing restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions and the tourism industry in general made their way up the mountain to Snowshoe Resort for the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism.

The 2019 Conference kicked off on September 23 with Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby highlighting the impact of the tourism industry on West Virginia.  According to the latest data from the West Virginia Tourism Office, the industry had an economic impact of $4.3 million in direct ...

The years-long legal challenge of West Virginia’s “Right to Work” law, officially dubbed the West Virginia Workplace Freedom Act, W.Va. Code § 21-5G-1 et seq., could soon be coming to an end, as the case appears ready for a decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals sometime this fall.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey formally appealed Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey’s order vacating portions of the Act on June 19, 2019.  The Respondent unions filed a response to Attorney General Morrisey’s appeal on July 31, arguing that Judge Bailey’s ruling ...

State agencies have filed more than 140 agency approved rules with the Legislative Rule Making Review Committee (LRMRC) as part of the ongoing legislative rule-making process.

West Virginia is unique from almost all other states, and the federal government, in that it requires legislative approval of most rules and regulations proposed by state agencies, boards and commissions.  The so-called rule making review process is essentially a year-round endeavor, with rules being subjected to drafting, public comment, final agency approval and consideration and modification by the ...

The last several months have been busy ones for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on the oil and natural gas front, as the Court has issued three significant opinions impacting the industry.   The three cases recently decided by the state Supreme Court uniquely affect unconventional drilling operations in West Virginia’s developing oil and gas industry.

First, in EQT Production Company v. Crowder, et al., the Court held that a mineral owners’ implied surface use rights are limited to those uses that are reasonably necessary to develop minerals underlying the surface ...

As the summer heats up, so too does the activity under and around the Capitol dome in Charleston.  While the July 4th holiday usually offers a nice break from state and national politics, there’s been no shortage of activity over the last two weeks.  This week’s State of Affairs looks at some of the headlines and recent developments:

• While lawmakers finally completed action on a comprehensive education reform package (HB 206), the debate rages on over charter schools in West Virginia. One of the state’s two major teachers unions – the West Virginia Education Association – has ...

Members of the House of Delegates returned to town this week to begin consideration of potential education reform proposals as part of the continuing special session on education “betterment.” 

Lawmakers reconvened nearly two weeks after the State Senate advanced two separate proposals:

• SB 1039 – Dubbed the “Student Success Act,” SB 1039 is an omnibus education reform package that includes, but is not limed to, the following:
  • Education expense tax credits for teachers and other school personnel;
  • Expansion of the Mountaineer Challenge Academy;
  • Establishing a Mountain ...