Constitutional Amendments Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Officials React To Failure Of Amendment 4

West Virginia voters soundly defeated all four amendments on the ballot in the midterm elections Tuesday, including Amendment 4, the Education Accountability Amendment.

West Virginia voters soundly defeated all four amendments on the ballot in the midterm elections Tuesday, including Amendment 4 – the Education Accountability Amendment.

The amendment would have required the State Board of Education to submit its rules and policies to the legislature to approve, amend, or reject.

The measure was defeated by a vote of more than 57 percent against and 43 percent in favor.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee reacted to the voters’ decision to reject the proposals, calling it a “big” win for everyone, particularly for students and educators.

“We’re very happy that both amendments 2 and 4 were defeated,” Lee said. “Both would have had adverse effects on public education, the voters have made it clear that they want decisions made about education by educators and their local boards of education, not by the legislature in Charleston.”

Lee said voters saw through what he termed a potential “power grab” as evidenced by the “overwhelming number of votes” against the amendment.

Sen. Mark Maynard, a Republican from Wayne County and former Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said the state board of education is run by appointed officials, who are not accountable and have, quote, no real “skin in the game.”

Lee responded, saying the senate has to approve nominees; legislators have the power to reject any nominations the governor has put forward for any appointment.

“No more than 5 nominees can be from one political party which removes the politics from it,” Lee said. “They have to be from different areas of the state, so I don’t know how they are not accountable.”

Maynard said all agencies are subject to oversight, except for the Department of Education.

“When this comes across our desk we are held liable to the voters. Two heads are better than one, even if one is a sheep’s head, I think that’s an Appalachian phrase,” Maynard said.

Lee argued that legislators are not experts in every situation.

“If you want to improve education, ask the educators, give them the time and resources they need and you’ll see improvements.”

Maynard responded, saying legislators depend on agencies to deliver their expert testimonials.

“And we decide just like the biologists and the DNR; I mean, do you think we are all biologists up there at the legislature?” Maynard queried. “These are all educated experts in their field and they tell us why this needs to happen.”

He cited recent NAEP test scores as a reason the legislature should help oversee decisions made by the state board of education.

“If West Virginia education didn’t rank so low in testing scores in the nation that they wouldn’t need help.”

Lee, a former basketball coach, sees things differently.

“If we pulled 14 percent of our 8th graders and 13 percent of our 4th graders and asked them to shoot a basketball, would that give us a true accounting of how good of basketball players we have in WV. No, it’s a random sample.” Lee said.

Lee took the opportunity to press his point.

“On a better note, if we pull 14 senators and 13 house members and look at the number of bills they introduce each year and how many of them get passed, does that give us a clear indication of how good or how bad our legislators are? There are thousands of bills introduced each year and only a few hundred that get passed, so percentage-wise they’re not doing well either.”

Maynard voiced more frustration over the ballot’s language than its failure.

“The presentation to the voters in my opinion was terrible,” Maynard said. “I was disappointed that they rejected it, but after thinking about it it was probably the intelligent choice because they didn’t have enough information.”

He said if any other amendment ever goes on the ballot he plans to be part of the process.

“It’s so unfair because we as legislators had to vote on those amendments on the senate floor and the amendments we voted on were totally different from what I saw on Tuesday’s ballot. When I voted and I walked up to that ballot, I could not believe a two sentence layman’s term explanation of what the amendment did was the only thing on the ballot,” he said.

Sen. Patricia Puertas Rucker, R-Jefferson said she also noticed inconsistencies.

“It did look different than what we had proposed but that sometimes happens in the legislative process,” Rucker said. “Things get passed from the Senate to the House. “When it comes back to us to approve any changes we might not necessarily have noticed the language wasn’t exactly the same. We usually just trust our lawyers to basically say, “Oh don’t worry, it’s the same intent.”

Rucker said she would like to see simpler and clearer language on the ballot, especially for changes to proposed constitutional amendments.

Looking to the future, with Tuesday’s defeat of Amendments 2 and 4 West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said he hopes the population can unite and move forward.

“Everyone needs a seat at the table to give their opinion to offer input on the direction the state needs to go in.”

Justice: Amendment 2 Vote Most Important Issue Of My Governorship

The outcome of the Amendment 2 vote is the most important issue of Gov. Jim Justice’s tenure, according to the governor himself.

“I’m telling you, there is nothing more in my governorship that is as important as this. Please vote no on Amendment 2. It’s got to fail,” Justice said Monday during his COVID-19 briefing, which was largely used by the governor to urge voters to reject the amendment.

“It’s about a gigantic power grab and moving everything to Charleston … Local control is always the best,” Justice said, adding that he believes the amendment will fail to pass Nov. 8.

The governor has spent the last six weeks traveling around the state urging voters to reject the amendment, which would give the legislature authority to reform property taxes.

The amendment is backed by top Republican lawmakers, and they’ve publicly sparred with Justice ahead of Election Day.

Justice argued that the plan would take necessary dollars away from local governments for critical services. Lawmakers in favor of Amendment 2 said it would allow the Legislature to begin a comprehensive tax reform, and they’ll have the authority to eliminate business equipment and inventory taxes and the property tax on vehicles.

Justice rolled out his own plan last month to eliminate personal property tax on vehicles through a rebate program in hopes of swaying voters against Amendment 2.

Follow our West Virginia Public Broadcasting election blog Nov. 8 for continuous updates.

Coalition Opposes Amendments 2 And 4

A coalition of educators, county representatives, nurses and others gathered inside West Virginia’s Capitol Tuesday urging voters to say no to two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this November.

A coalition of educators, county representatives, nurses and others assembled at West Virginia’s Capitol Tuesday urging voters to say no to two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this November.

Joe White, executive director of W. Va. School Service Personnel Association, joined representatives from WVEA, AFT-WV, deputy sheriffs and county commissioners in a show of solidarity against proposed constitutional amendments 2 and 4.

“The threat is great, we do not need to expand the power of the legislature,” White said. “We need to have some local control, and say, within each county.”

Amendment 2 would give the legislature power to regulate property taxes used to fund schools and libraries. White said an estimated $515 million dollar tax cut would mostly benefit out of state businesses while counties, public schools and libraries, parks, senior services and others stand to lose out.

Amendment 4 would allow the legislature to overturn any proposed rules on education on matters that include what is taught in West Virginia classrooms.

White said the same legislators who are seeking to change the status quo on education introduced 173 bills on education reform in 2021 alone and urged voters to get out to vote in November.

“I encourage y’all to stop this in its tracks and to vote no on amendments 2 and 4. It is not good for the people, it’s not good for the students and it is not good for the state of West Virginia,” White said.

President of the West Virginia Education Association Dale Lee, and Fred Albert, president of the American Federation of Teachers-WV joined White and others present in calling Proposal 4 an attack on the public education system.

Lee said the “disrespect” on the part of the legislature toward the state’s education system partly stems from resentment over 2018-2019 work actions when teachers and school service employees went on strike over low pay and high healthcare costs.

“I think a part of it is those who have a different belief and education philosophy that they are more concerned with, private school or homeschool, than they are public education,” Lee said.

He said bills aimed at improving those options will take money away from public education and dictate to teachers what they can teach, as well as how and when they can teach, including critical race theory.

Former president of the West Virginia NAACP Sen. Owens Brown, D-Ohio, a black man, earlier this year accused Republicans of using Senate Bill 498 as a “weapon or tool in their campaigns” stoking unnecessary fear among citizens.

Lee called critical race theory a political buzzword for what he said is actually a law school class that is only taught in a few states.

“Nowhere in our West Virginia public schools do we teach it. We teach truths; we have to allow our students to become critical thinkers,” Lee said.

He cited the example of Catherine Johnson, saying it was 50 years before anyone knew who the great American mathematician and hero was.

“Those are the truths that need to come out. It’s not about a race being superior, the buzzword they want you to believe,” Lee said. It’s about truths – letting our history be taught in a manner by our experts that have kids think about what happened.”

During The 2021 Session, West Virginia Lawmakers Teed Up Three Proposed Constitutional Amendments. Here’s What They’d Do

While any 60-day legislative session focuses on the hundreds of bills introduced and considered, Republican supermajorities this year helped push three proposed constitutional amendments to the ballot for voters to ponder.

Come November 2022, West Virginians will have the opportunity to decide whether to amend the state constitution on three different issues — preventing the state Supreme Court from intervening in impeachment proceedings, giving the Legislature the ability to exempt more types of property taxes and allowing religious denominations to incorporate.

House Judiciary Chair Moore Capito, R- Kanawha, said lawmakers in the Republican supermajority tried to be thoughtful in offering changes to the foundation of state law.

“I personally think that we have to always proceed with caution when we’re talking about modifying something that is as large and as important as our Constitution,” Capito said.

These proposals — considered by the Legislature as joint resolutions — require a two-thirds majority of both the House and Senate before heading to the voting public for ratification.

Late into the session, lawmakers had considered putting them on the ballot in a special election as soon as July but ultimately backed off from that date.

House Judiciary Minority Chair Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, said he’s glad they gave voters more time to study the issues at hand. He also said costs of a special election would have been in the millions.

“That’s a pretty monumental undertaking to statewide elections in a matter of weeks, coming off of the 2020 election — which was unusual, to say the least, in terms of COVID and the different things,” Lovejoy said. “So, I don’t think it was prudent from a cost perspective and a functional perspective to try to do it.”

Voters will now wait until Nov. 2022 to decide these three issues.

2018 Supreme Court Impeachments Inspire Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Like all pieces of legislation, each of these proposed changes to West Virginia’s foundational law come with context — and arguments both in support and in opposition. That’s especially true for House Joint Resolution 2.

In 2018, as impeachment trials were underway for justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, then-Chief Justice Margaret Workman filed a lawsuit challenging her own impeachment.

“This lawsuit was started and no one thought that stood a chance — because it was just counter to everything that people knew to be true in the Constitution,” said former Senate President Mitch Carmichael, who was named as a defendant in the suit.

In offering a ruling on Workman v. Carmichael, an an-hoc bench of the state Supreme Court ruled that the House failed to follow its own rules in the impeachment process and had overstepped its authority in adopting some of the articles of impeachment.

“So we were shut down, we adhered and abided by the judicial rule — even though we thought it was wrong,” Carmichael said.

State lawmakers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately decided not to hear the case. Since then, legislators have tried to find a way to keep courts from intervening in future impeachments and further clarify the separation of powers.

Carmichael said, while he never thought he’d be part of something that inspired a potential constitutional amendment, it’s simply necessary in his mind.

“It’s the appropriate right thing to do,” he said. “Whether it’s my name or someone else’s name — that ruling just went counter to everything all of us believed to be the right thing to do.”

But it’s probably no surprise — given the fact that there was a lawsuit involved — that not everyone agrees. Huntington-based attorney Marc Williams represented Justice Workman in the case.

While Williams acknowledges that impeachment is inherently political, he argues the proceedings in 2018 proved the courts need to have the opportunity to play a role when things go awry.

“It shouldn’t come as any surprise that there would be a review of the impeachment proceedings that was so flawed, that would ultimately find that it was done [improperly],” Williams said. “But ultimately, I think it’s an extraordinarily rare set of circumstances where a court would get involved and only when really blatant mistakes are made.”

Williams argues that adding this change to the West Virginia Constitution could have disastrous effects if another impeachment took place but was not properly handled by the Legislature.

“If I had all the money in the world, and could actually go out and try to educate the voters on this, I would point out that this is an extraordinarily dangerous initiative,” he said. “Because, essentially, what you’re doing is you’re giving the Legislature the ability to impeach almost for any purpose with no appellate review — with no opportunity for anybody to review it.”

Potential Job Growth Vs. Funding For Counties: Legislature Could Exempt Property Taxes If Amendment Is Ratified

Another proposed constitutional amendment also has recent history behind it.

Since taking control of the Legislature following the 2014 election, Republicans have rallied behind exempting manufacturing equipment and inventory taxes — but had failed to attain a two-thirds majority from both chambers to send the issue to voters.

But, during the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers in both the House and Senate adopted House Joint Resolution 3, which reads differently than past proposals. If ratified, the Legislature would be able to exempt virtually all types of personal property — from manufacturing equipment and inventory to personal vehicles.

West Virginia Manufacturer’s Association President Rebecca McPhail said the goal of exempting taxes related to her sector is job growth.

“The challenge that we have right now, because of the way these taxes are applied to our industry, specifically places us in the top 10 worst states for taxation on manufacturing,” McPhail said. “And that’s very challenging. That’s challenging from an economic development perspective — just just to get a first look.”

McPhail said the amendment would untie the hands of lawmakers to exempt taxes as they see fit.

“This is not just limited to manufacturing,” McPhail said. “This is a broader constitutional amendment that would allow the Legislature at some future date to address a number of types of personal property tax, including the taxation that affects our members — but also small business inventory as well as personal vehicles.”

In total, the Legislature would have the ability to exempt part or all of roughly $300 million in tax revenue, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

But Jonathan Adler of the West Virginia Association of Counties said there’s currently no way to recoup revenue that funds county and municipal governments and, most notably, school systems.

“I think counties do certainly support jobs [and] job creation,” Adler said. “But if there’s no mechanism to replace the lost revenues for counties, then we’re kind of scratching our heads wondering exactly what that revenue replacement is going to be.”

While Adler said county and local governments are open to the idea of exempting various types of personal property taxes, he said there are a lot of unknowns — especially given the way the state funds local governments and schools.

“We’ve always said, there’s not a plan yet,” Adler said. “We need a plan to try and support something like this. We need to see what your plan is when you get the authority.”

Incorporation Of Churches Will Also Be On The November 2022 Ballot

While the other two proposed amendments saw at least some opposition, Senate Joint Resolution 4 made its way through the statehouse with overwhelming backing.

The proposal would allow churches to incorporate — offering them the ability to manage assets more like other businesses and nonprofits. Capito said it was about modernizing West Virginia law to match most of the rest of the country.

“What we have now is the opportunity for churches and houses of worship to incorporate, which is pretty standard procedure across the country, quite frankly,” Capito said. “So I think we’re just synching up there.”

While constitutional amendments are oftentimes divisive, Lovejoy said the proposal to allow churches to incorporate is rather innocuous.

“It, frankly, is a little easier to operate under a traditional corporate sense than it is under this kind of antiquated Board of Trustees management,” Lovejoy said. “So I don’t think it has anything to do with taxes. It has nothing to do with politics, frankly. I think that it does make things a little easier to manage religious institutions.”

Votes for ratification may be a long way away, but the issues are bound to stir public discussion and influence from special interest groups. No doubt, there will be mailers, advertisements and campaigns in support and against some of the more controversial proposals.

And with another legislative session slated ahead November 2022 — and with supermajorities intact in the meantime — it’s possible even more proposed amendments will wind up on the ballot.

Constitutional Amendments Widely Discussed Early in Legislative Session

House and Senate lawmakers introduced 28 joint resolutions in just the first week of the legislative session each calling for amendments to the state constitution. Some around the Capitol say such a number feels like a lot, while others say it’s rather normal. What is agreed upon, though, is that it is rare to have so many proposed constitutional amendments gaining traction this early in the session.

Long before the Legislature convened for the 2018 Regular Session, discussions surrounding a constitutional amendment that could repeal the state’s business inventory tax had already begun among House and Senate leaders, as well as Governor Jim Justice’s office. That tax — which has brought in, on average, about $140 million in revenue annually over the past 10 years — provides money that helps fund counties, particularly public education.

Republicans argue the tax makes it harder to attract businesses to the state and cite studies done by previous administrations that have called for its repeal. Some Democrats have questioned the measures as far as the long-term fiscal shape of the state, but are open to the idea — as long as county funding remains intact.

“I think there will be several people who will support that as long as the counties are made whole and don’t lose money as a result of that. And, you know, that money goes to education,” said Senate Minority Whip Corey Palumbo. “We don’t want to defund public education. The question is whether there’s going to be enough money to to make sure the counties are still okay.”

Following reports last year of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ lavish spending on furniture and other office decorations, lawmakers are also considering various resolutions that could place the judicial branch’s budget under the Legislature’s review. This also would take a vote from the public to ratify an amendment to the state’s constitution.

“There’s been a lot of rumblings around that for years but nobody wanted step on the Supreme Court’s toes. But we’re the only state that doesn’t have some type of oversight of their budget — of the supreme court’s budget,” said Del. Michael Folk, who introduced one of many measures that would address the matter.

During budget hearings in front of the House and Senate Finance committees, Supreme Court Chief Justice Allen Loughry referred to the reports of high-dollar spending as “isolated” and promises, moving forward, he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“The Chief Justice’s remarks as far as not being aware of the overspending is not a good argument, because — you know, obviously, if he’s not aware of it and they have full authority over their budget — then maybe we should have oversight and we should let the citizens decide at the ballot box and whether this constitution amendment should pass,” Folk said.

Another issue gaining traction would call for the a restructuring of the state Board of Education. A resolution in the Senate would allow the Legislature to pass laws to control the structure of the board. Over in the House, HJR 103 — a resolution with more specific language — would give the Legislature oversight of the Board of Education’s rule-making process. It also calls for the board to be reduced to nine members — six of whom would be elected and three appointed by the governor.

Currently, the governor appoints nine of the boards 12 members — with the remaining three non-voting ex-officio members who respectively serve in the role of state superintendent of schools, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, and chancellor of Community and Technical College Education.

Del. Paul Espinosa is sponsoring the resolution that could bring about these changes.

“My preference would be to establish a relatively small districts around the state so that you have equal representation around the state. I know in the Eastern Panhandle, for example — which is the area the state that I represent — we’ve had representatives on the state school board from time to time but it hasn’t been very consistent,” Espinosa said.

“It would be my hope that, by electing six of those state school board members, you can ensure that you have representation from around the state,” he added.

Those opposed to the measure, including the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, argue that the influence of money could give educators a lesser chance of serving and muddy the functions of the board with politics.

Another issue gaining early traction is abortion. While not yet formally introduced this session, many rumblings around the Capitol indicate a resolution is coming that could limit or possibly end taxpayer-funded abortions through Medicaid.

Some Democrats are already voicing concerns about the motivation for a such a measure.

“I just worry that, you know, one of the ideas that’s floating around it’s being done for electioneering purposes to draw out the ballot. These are things that they think would excite the base of the majority party,” said Del. Barbara Fleischauer.

“So, I worry about that. But, you know we’re going to deal with things on a topic-by-topic basis and try to be objective.”

With so many constitutional amendments being discussed and garnering so much attention, many lawmakers point out that citizens should be reminded that they would have the final say on any of these issues under the Legislature’s consideration.

Senate Judiciary Chair Charlie Trump said they’re keeping this in mind, particularly the language used that would inevitably translate to the ballot.

“You know for some constitutional amendments it’s impossible to print the entire text of the amendment on a ballot,” Trump said. “So, it is important that the ballot is worded in such a fashion that the people do understand what the effect of its ratification would be.”

As for the number of resolutions currently being discussed, Trump said he has full faith that the voting public will be able to make sense of each measure.

“I don’t worry about the voters being confused. I think we make a mistake any time we underestimate the citizens of the state. It is after all their constitution and we are all bound by whatever it says and the citizens have the right retain the right to direct what the constitution will say and provide,” said Trump.

Resolutions calling for constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s signature before going to a vote of ratification by the general public via a ballot measure.