West Virginia Legislature

West Virginia Legislature
West Virginia Legislature
86th West Virginia Legislature
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate ; House of Delegates
History
Founded	June 20, 1863; (161 years ago)
Preceded by	Restored Legislature of Virginia
New session started	January 10, 2024
Leadership
President of the Senate/Lt. Governor	Craig Blair (R) ; since January 13, 2021
Senate Majority Leader	Tom Takubo (R) ; since January 9, 2019
Speaker of the House	Roger Hanshaw (R) ; since August 29, 2018
House Majority Leader	Eric Householder (R) ; since January 11, 2023
Structure
Seats	134 voting members:; 34 Senators; 100 Delegates
Senate political groups	Majority (31) Republican (31) Minority (3) Democratic (3)
House of Delegates political groups	Majority (89) Republican (89) Minority (11) Democratic (11)
Authority	Article VI, West Virginia Constitution
Elections
Last Senate election	November 8, 2022
Last House of Delegates election	November 8, 2022
Next Senate election	November 5, 2024
Next House of Delegates election	November 5, 2024
Meeting place
	West Virginia State Capitol; Charleston
Website
	www.wvlegislature.gov
Constitution
	Constitution of West Virginia

The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI of the West Virginia Constitution following the state's split from Virginia during the American Civil War in 1863. As with its neighbor and former constituent Virginia General Assembly, the legislature's lower house is also referred to as a "House of Delegates."

The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Charleston.

Terms

Senators are elected for terms of four years and delegates for terms of two years. The term for Senators are staggered, meaning that not all 34 State Senate seats are up every election: some are elected in presidential election years and some are up during midterm elections.^[1]

Organization

Regular sessions of the legislature commence on the second Wednesday of January of each year. However, following the election of a new governor, the session starts in January with the governor's address but then adjourns until February. On the first day of the session, members of both the House and the Senate sit in joint session in the House chamber where the governor presents his or her legislative program. The length of the general session may not go beyond 60 calendar days unless extended by a concurrent resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of each house. The governor may convene the Legislature for extraordinary sessions. Given the part-time nature of the legislature of West Virginia, multiple extraordinary sessions are not uncommon.

Legislative process

Bills, even revenue bills, and resolutions may originate in either house.^[1] Bills must undergo three readings in each house before being sent to the governor.^[1] Bills cannot contain multiple subjects and do not take effect until 90 days following adjournment, unless specifically approved to take effect immediately by two-thirds of the membership of each house.^[1]

Bills are drafted by the Office of Legislative Services or legislative staff counsel, reviewed by the sponsor of the bill and submitted for introduction to the clerk of the chamber of which the sponsor is a member.^[2] Bills are assigned to committees that make recommendations about a bill in the form of a committee report.^[2]

The governor has the power to veto bills.^[1] For budget bills or supplementary appropriations bills, two-thirds of the members elected to each house are required to override the governor's veto of a bill or line-item veto.^[1] For all other bills, a simple majority of each house is required.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g West Virginia Constitution Archived January 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, West Virginia Legislature Archived April 10, 2020, at the Wayback Machine (accessed May 29, 2013)
^ ^a ^b How a Bill Becomes Law Archived May 15, 2024, at the Wayback Machine, West Virginia State Legislature Archived May 15, 2024, at the Wayback Machine

External links

West Virginia Legislature Homepage

[wvconst-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g West Virginia Constitution Archived January 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, West Virginia Legislature Archived April 10, 2020, at the Wayback Machine (accessed May 29, 2013)

[leged-2] How a Bill Becomes Law Archived May 15, 2024, at the Wayback Machine, West Virginia State Legislature Archived May 15, 2024, at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

v t e Members of the West Virginia Senate
86th West Virginia Legislature (2023–2024) President of the Senate Craig Blair (R) President pro tempore Donna Boley (R) Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R) Minority Leader Mike Woelfel (D)
1. ▌Laura Chapman (R) ⎣ ▌Ryan Weld (R) 2. ▌Charles Clements (R) ⎣ ▌Mike Maroney (R) 3. ▌Mike Azinger (R) ⎣ ▌Donna Boley (R) 4. ▌Eric Tarr (R) ⎣ ▌Amy Grady (R) 5. ▌Mike Woelfel (D) ⎣ ▌Bob Plymale (D) 6. ▌Mark R. Maynard (R) ⎣ ▌Chandler Swope (R) 7. ▌Mike Stuart (R) ⎣ ▌Rupie Phillips (R) 8. ▌Mark Hunt (R) ⎣ ▌Glenn Jeffries (R) 9. ▌Rollan Roberts (R) ⎣ ▌David Stover (R) 10. ▌Vince Deeds (R) ⎣ ▌Jack Woodrum (R) 11. ▌Bill Hamilton (R) ⎣ ▌Robert Karnes (R) 12. ▌Ben Queen (R) ⎣ ▌Patrick S. Martin (R) 13. ▌Mike Oliverio (R) ⎣ ▌Mike Caputo (D) 14. ▌Jay Taylor (R) ⎣ ▌Randy Smith (R) 15. ▌Charles S. Trump (R) ⎣ ▌Craig Blair (R) 16. ▌Jason Barrett (R) ⎣ ▌Patricia Rucker (R) 17. ▌Tom Takubo (R) ⎣ ▌Eric Nelson (R)
▌Republican (31) ▌Democratic (3) West Virginia Legislature House Senate List of districts List of past legislatures

v t e Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates
86th West Virginia Legislature (2023−2024) Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R) Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle (D)
▌Pat McGeehan (R) ▌Mark Zatezalo (R) ▌Jimmy Willis (R) ▌Diana Winzenreid (R) ▌Shawn Fluharty (D) ▌Jeffrey Stephens (R) ▌Charles Sheedy (R) ▌David Kelly (R) ▌Trenton Barnhart (R) ▌Bill Anderson (R) ▌Bob Fehrenbacher (R) ▌Vernon Criss (R) ▌Scot Heckert (R) ▌Dave Foggin (R) ▌Erica Moore (R) ▌Steve Westfall (R) ▌Jonathan Pinson (R) ▌Jim Butler (R) ▌Kathie Hess Crouse (R) ▌Geoff Foster (R) ▌Jarred Cannon (R) ▌Daniel Linville (R) ▌Evan Worrell (R) ▌Patrick Lucas (R) ▌Sean Hornbuckle (D) ▌Matthew Rohrbach (R) ▌Ric Griffith (D) ▌Ryan Browning (R) ▌Henry Dillon (R) ▌David Adkins (R) ▌Margitta Mazzocchi (R) ▌Josh Holstein (R) ▌Jordan Bridges (R) ▌Mark Dean (R) ▌Adam Vance (R) ▌David Green (R) ▌Marty Gearheart (R) ▌Joe Ellington (R) ▌Doug Smith (R) ▌Roy Cooper (R) ▌Jordan Maynor (R) ▌Brandon Steele (R) ▌Chris Toney (R) ▌Bill Roop (R) ▌Eric Brooks (R) ▌Jeff Campbell (R) ▌Todd Longanacre (R) ▌Tom Clark (R) ▌Heather Tully (R) ▌Elliott Pritt (R) ▌Tom Fast (R) ▌Larry Rowe (D) ▌Chris Pritt (R) ▌Mike Pushkin (D) ▌JB Akers (R) ▌Kayla Young (D) ▌Hollis Lewis (D) ▌Walter Hall (R) ▌Andy Shamblin (R) ▌Dana Ferrell (R) ▌Dean Jeffries (R) ▌Roger Hanshaw (R) ▌Lori Dittman (R) ▌Adam Burkhammer (R) ▌Carl Martin (R) ▌Ty Nestor (R) ▌Elias Coop-Gonzalez (R) ▌Chris Phillips (R) ▌Keith Marple (R) ▌Mickey Petitto (R) ▌Laura Kimble (R) ▌Clay Riley (R) ▌Amy Summers (R) ▌Mike DeVault (R) ▌Phil Mallow (R) ▌Joey Garcia (D) ▌Joe Statler (R) ▌Geno Chiarelli (R) ▌Evan Hansen (D) ▌John Williams (D) ▌Anitra Hamilton (D) ▌Debbie Warner (R) ▌George Street (R) ▌D. Rolland Jennings (R) ▌John Paul Hott (R) ▌Bryan Ward (R) ▌Gary Howell (R) ▌Rick Hillenbrand (R) ▌Darren Thorne (R) ▌George Miller (R) ▌Don Forsht (R) ▌Michael Hite (R) ▌Michael Hornby (R) ▌Larry Kump (R) ▌Chuck Horst (R) ▌Eric Householder (R) ▌John Hardy (R) ▌Joe Funkhouser (R) ▌Wayne Clark (R) ▌William Ridenour (R)
▌Republican (89) ▌Democratic (11) West Virginia Legislature House Senate List of districts List of past legislatures

v t e Legislatures of the United States
United States Congress	United States House of Representatives United States Senate
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Other legislatures	District of Columbia American Samoa (H, S) Guam Northern Mariana Islands (H, S) Puerto Rico (H, S) U.S. Virgin Islands
Legislative elections	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
List of U.S. state legislators Lists of past U.S. state legislatures

Authority control databases
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