State of Affairs

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 ...