HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 104
(By Delegates Kessler, Burdiss, Tansill,
Reynolds, Rodighiero, Shook, Barker,
Gall, Staggers and Fleischauer)
[Introduced; referred to the Committee
on Constitutional Revision then Finance.]



Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending article VIII thereof, by adding thereto a new section, designated section seventeen, relating to the creation of a judicial commission to determine the recusal of judges; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the year two thousand eight, which proposed amendment is that article VIII thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated seventeen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE VII. JUDICIARY.
§17. Recusal Commission.
There is created under the general supervisory control of the supreme court system in the State of West Virginia a three member Judicial Recusal Commission to rule on judicial recusal matters.
Members of the commission shall be judges, active or retired, that have been admitted to practice law in this state and shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Legislature shall establish staggered six year terms to be served by members of the commission.
The commission shall, upon application by a party in interest in issue before a court, issue a binding decision on whether a family court judge, a circuit court judge or a supreme court justice should be recused from hearing, deciding or participating in deciding the matter at issue in the legal proceeding.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as the "Judicial Recusal Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To create a Judicial Recusal Commission that will determine whether a justice or judge on our state judiciary may be recused from a judicial proceeding."


NOTE: The purpose of this amendment is to create a judicial commission to determine the recusal of judges in a judicial proceeding.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.