Eric Douglas Published

Justice Calls Legislature In For Special Session Monday

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More than a month after the West Virginia Legislature ended its regular session, Gov. Jim Justice has issued a proclamation, calling for its return on Monday, April 25 at noon.

There has been speculation for days leading up to the actual announcement about what would be included in the call.

Last month, Justiceannounced that he would call a special session, coinciding with April Legislative Interim Meetings, to give the Legislature the opportunity to address bills from the regular session that were vetoed for purely technical reasons, among additional legislation.

Also last month, Justicevetoed a bill generally relating to broadband, which was found to contain flaws and provisions which are prohibited by federal law. In his veto message, the governor said that he had directed the Department of Economic Development to work with legislative leadership, sponsors of the bill, and all interested and knowledgeable parties to revisit and perfect the legislation. That work is still ongoing and is not included in the official call for this special session.

The formal call from Justice includes 16 items, such as establishing an Infrastructure Investment Reimbursement Fund, items connected to the Public Employees Retirement System, and creating an Unemployment Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit. There is also an item relating to the boards of several organizations since they are required to appoint members from each Congressional district, and West Virginia is losing one district due to redistricting.

Additional items include adding Family Court Judges to the Judicial Retirement System and a move to allow high school students to begin earning college credit toward becoming teachers while working on their high school diploma.

Click to view the Special Session Call