WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

Senate Joint Resolution 8

By Senators Trump, Rucker, Karnes, Azinger, Maroney, and Smith

[Introduced February 19, 2021; referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending section one, article V thereof, relating to providing that courts have no authority by mandamus, prohibition, contempt, or otherwise to interfere with the proceedings of the Legislature; restoring the constitutional principle giving life to the separation of powers as articulated in Syllabus Point 3 of the decision of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in the case of State ex rel. Holmes v. Clawges, 226 W. Va. 479, 702 S.E.2d 611; and nullifying Syllabus Point 3 of the decision of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in the case of State ex rel. Workman v. Carmichael, 241 W. Va.105, 819 S.E.2d 251 (2018); 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 2022, which proposed amendment is that section one, article V thereof, be amended to read as follows:

ARTICLE V.

§1. Division of powers.

The legislative, executive, and judicial departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither shall exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that justices of the peace shall be eligible to the Legislature. The courts of this state have no authority by mandamus, prohibition, contempt, or otherwise to interfere with the proceedings of either house of the Legislature; and, be it

Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such amendment is hereby numbered “Amendment No. 1” and designated as the “Restoring the Separation of Powers Amendment” and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows:  “To nullify the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals in the case of State ex rel. Workman v. Carmichael, 241 W.Va.105, 819 S.E.2d 251 (2018), restoring the constitutional principle of separation of powers that courts are without authority to interfere with the proceedings of the Legislature”.

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to offer to the voters a constitution amendment designated the “Preserving the Separation of Powers Amendment” that would clarify that courts are without authority to interfere with proceedings of the Legislature.

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