West Virginia Constitution Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Constitutional Questions Surround Justice Appointment

The West Virginia Constitution prohibits legislators from being appointed to any position created under a law passed during their term of office.

On Aug. 30, Gov. Jim Justice appointed then Del. Mike Honaker, R-Greenbrier, to serve in the legislatively created position of Inspector General for the state Department of Homeland Security. Honaker immediately resigned his position in the House of Delegates.

The position was created by passing House Bill 3360 in the 2023 regular West Virginia Legislative session.

In an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting following the apparent appointment, Honaker said his primary duty is to conduct inquiries and, where needed, full scope investigations involving agencies that include the state Department of Corrections and the West Virginia State Police. He said he will work with the Corrections Inspector General on the many allegations and lawsuits facing that department and conduct his own prison inspection tour.

“My work is when there are allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and maybe even matters that rise to a level of criminal investigation,” Honaker said in the interview.

When he was asked about taking the position he had just voted on, he said that was never discussed or considered.

“Absolutely not,” Honaker said. “It was never discussed, and never occurred to me.”

However, Article VI, Sec 15 of the West Virginia Constitution prohibits legislators from being appointed to any position created under a law passed during their term of office.

In a written statement, responding to an inquiry about the appointment, Justice’s Press Secretary C.J. Harvey said: “Mike Honaker was hired into an existing position within the Secretary of Homeland Security’s office as inspector general, rather than formally appointed to the statutorily created position as head of the Office of Inspector General. The governor believes Honaker to be the best man to serve in this role, and intends to formally appoint him to the statutorily created position at a later date.”

Honaker spent nearly three decades in numerous positions with the Virginia State Police, including special agent in charge of a division of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Richmond, Justice‘s office said in a press release. Honaker later served as the Greenbrier County Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and Director of the Greenbrier County 911 Center.

That appointment will have to go through the Senate, beginning with the Committee on Confirmations. Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, chairs the committee. In an interview just after learning of the constitutional confusion, Boley said the issue will be investigated.

“It’s unconstitutional for a delegate or senator to vote on something that he later benefits from,” Boley said. “The governor may be right. I don’t know, at this stage.”

Boley said there is a legal question to consider and she hasn’t spoken to the rest of the committee.

“We have good communications between the governor’s office and the Senate,” Boley said. “Normally, if something comes up that most of the committee members are opposed to, we’ll ask the governor to pull that nomination. I just don’t know at this point in time whether that’ll happen or not.”

The Inspector General position created in the statute covers all the agencies that are under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. Those include West Virginia State Police, Division of Corrections, Fire Marshal’s Office, Parole Board, the Division of Emergency Management, the Division of Justice and Community Services.

W.Va. Governor: Voters Shouldn't Decide Abortion Access Issue

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has rejected a suggestion by Democrats to let voters decide whether abortion should continue to be allowed in the state.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice scoffed Monday at a suggestion by Democratic lawmakers to let voters decide whether abortion should continue to be allowed in the state.

The Republican governor said the state’s abortion law falls under the scrutiny of the Legislature and the attorney general.

During a legislative special session initiated by Justice last month, majority Republicans failed to pass legislation criminalizing abortion.

On Friday, top Democrats asked Justice and leading GOP lawmakers to bring the Legislature back to consider a resolution to allow voters to consider a constitutional amendment for “reproductive freedom.”

Justice wanted no part of that.

“Unfortunately, this place is surrounded with constant grandstanding,” the governor said at a news conference. “I think that’s what the Democrats are doing.”

Abortion had been banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy in West Virginia until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. After that ruling, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said abortion was banned completely in the state because of an 1800s-era law that had been unenforceable while abortion was federally protected.

But a Charleston judge barred the state from enforcing the ban, ruling it had been superseded by a slew of conflicting modern laws, including the 20-week ban. Morrisey has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which is expected to take up the case this fall.

“Coming down from the U.S. Supreme Court, this is the responsibility of our Legislature and our attorney general,” Justice said. “And absolutely I’ve said over and over and over, I don’t want to impose anything, any ideas or anything.”

“Now, if they bring me something that I cannot sign, I won’t sign it. But actually, I don’t think that’ll happen. I think our Legislature is abound with good people and they should get through this and bring me something that I will absolutely welcome and sign. And I think that’s exactly what will happen.”

In 2018, West Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment saying that nothing in the state Constitution “secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.”

During the special session, the House of Delegates passed a sweeping abortion ban that would have made providing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The measure included exceptions for victims of rape and incest, as well as for medical emergencies. The Senate passed its version that removed penalties for physicians who perform illegal abortions.

The House of Delegates quickly refused to concur with the Senate changes, instead asking for a conference committee to iron out differences among the bills. More than two weeks later, no such committee has been announced.

The West Virginia Democrats’ call for a referendum came after residents in Kansas, another state with a GOP-controlled Legislature, rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to tighten restrictions or ban the procedure outright. Despite the big margin, Kansas plans to recount the vote by hand.

“This is a very important issue,” West Virginia Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin said in an email Monday. “We need a resolution sooner rather than later. The legislature had a chance to act and failed. We should let the people decide. This is a constitutional question, and our constitution empowers the people to decide it on the ballot.”

Gov. Justice Agrees To Live In Charleston, Residency Case Dismissed By Kanawha Co. Circuit Court

Updated Monday, March 1, 2021 at 5:40 p.m.

Gov. Jim Justice has agreed to abide by the state constitution and reside in Charleston during his second term in office. That decision follows a years-long battle in the courts that wound up in the hands of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and, ultimately, the dismissal of the case from a circuit court.

Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. O’Hanlon issued an order Monday dismissing the case against Justice.

According to the dismissal order — which is effective Monday — Justice “has represented that he intends to ‘reside’ in Charleston consistent with the definition of ‘reside’ in the Supreme Court opinion.” The dismissal order does not, however, specify how frequently the governor will stay in Charleston to comply with the constitution.

Article 7, Section 1 of the West Virginia Constitution states: the governor and the five other constitutional officers “shall reside at the seat of government during their terms of office.”

Justice, a Republican, had long defended not living in Charleston and instead has — to date — kept his home in Lewisburg in Greenbrier County.

Isaac Sponaugle — an attorney from Pendleton County — brought the case against the governor in June 2018 while serving as a Democrat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

The case made its way to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for oral arguments in October 2020. The justices mulled over whether to dismiss the case sent to them by a Kanawha County Circuit Court or let the case continue to proceed in the lower court.

A month later, the Supreme Court offered a 36-page opinion that said the lower court’s decision should stand and that the case should continue.

The state’s high court also defined “reside” — at least in this case — as “to live, primarily, at the seat of government; and requires that the executive official’s principal place of physical presence is the seat of government for the duration of his or her term of office.”

On Monday, Spoaugle applauded Justice for agreeing to abide by that definition.

By signing the order, Sponaugle said that he is satisfied with the governor complying with O’Hanlon’s decision.

“I believe in the Constitution, I believe in our rules and checks and balances in government. But those checks, and those constitutions are only effective if you try to enforce them — and that’s what I did,” Sponaugle told West Virginia Public Broadcasting by phone Monday.

Sponaugle said he believes the resolution to the case will come at the “betterment” of residents of the state.

“Sometimes, if you want things done against power, you’ve got to be able to fight for it and enforce it,” Spoaugle said, “which is what I did, and now it’s in compliance.”

According to the order, the court awarded Sponaugle $65,000 in fees and costs associated with the case.

An attorney representing Justice in the case referred requests for comment to a spokesman for the governor.

That spokesman, Jordan Damron, said Justice is “pleased” that the case has been resolved.

“The Governor will, of course, abide by the recent ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and he and Mr. Sponaugle agree that the case is now moot,” Damron said.

December 9, 1933: W. Va. Legislation Authorizes the State to Assume County Debts

On December 9, 1933, the Democrat-controlled West Virginia Legislature passed a bill authorizing the state to assume county debts for all outstanding school and road bonds. It was during the darkest days of the Great Depression. The previous year, a voter-approved constitutional amendment had limited the amount of property taxes that counties could collect. While the tax-limitation amendment helped farmers and homeowners, it also decimated local revenue collections. This new bill was intended to relieve counties of some of their burdens.

Immediately after the debt relief act was passed, however, Braxton County resident A. M. Berry filed suit, claiming the law violated the state constitution. In the three-to-two decision of Berry versus Fox, the West Virginia Supreme Court overturned the law. The justices pointed to an article in the West Virginia Constitution that prohibited the state from “assum[ing], or becom[ing] responsible for the debts or liabilities of any county, city, township, corporation, or person.”

The tax-limitation amendment and the Berry versus Fox ruling led to a sharp decline in funding for education, roads, and other public services for years to come.

Lawsuit Over West Virginia Governor's Residency Continues

A long-running lawsuit seeking to require West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to live in the state’s capital will continue.

A circuit judge in Charleston on Wednesday asked for more legal filings in the case brought by Democratic Del. Isaac Sponaugle.

Sponaugle says Justice should be ordered to live in Charleston because the state constitution requires the governor to “reside at the seat of government.” He argued that the citizens of West Virginia deserve a governor who is on the job.

The governor’s lawyers say the definition of reside is unclear and added that the suit would essentially force the court to chaperone Justice’s whereabouts.

This is the third time Sponaugle has sued over Justice’s residency, with the previous two suits thrown out on technicalities.

W.Va. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Gov. Justice's Residency

The West Virginia Supreme Court has rejected a lawmaker’s effort to force Gov. Jim Justice to live in Charleston.

The court earlier this month voted 4-0 to toss a challenge from Pendleton County Democratic Delegate Isaac Sponaugle.

Sponaugle asked the court to order Justice to live in Charleston because the state constitution requires the governor to “reside at the seat of government.” Justice has said he lives at his Lewisburg home in Greenbrier County, not at the governor’s mansion.

An attorney for Justice has said the governor regularly uses the mansion and complies with the constitution.

Justice Tim Armstead disqualified himself from the case. Armstead was appointed by Justice to temporarily serve on the court before winning the seat in November’s election.

A similar challenge filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court was dismissed.