WV Legislature: Leadership elected, Justice says goodbye, de Soto's seat debated

After taking a break for U.S. Sen.-elect Jim Justice’s farewell address to the Legislature, the House of Delegates approved a resolution that officially makes vacant the seat won by Delegate-elect Joseph de Soto, who is on home confinement after being charged with felonies in December.

Debate over de Soto’s seat

The only significant debate of the opening day of the Legislature came with House Resolution 4, which declared vacant the seat won by de Soto in the November election.

In December, de Soto was charged in Berkeley County with making terroristic threats against other legislators. Before being charged, he switched his party from Republican to Democrat.

Delegates Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, argued that de Soto’s seat is not vacant, because the West Virginia Constitution says a member has to refuse to take the oath of office for the seat to be vacant. They want de Soto’s seat filled by Berkeley County Democratic Party officials.

“Do we have evidence that he refused to take the oath?� asked Fluharty of the new majority leader, Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock. McGeehan responded that, because de Soto is on home confinement, he is refusing to take the oath.

“Was the delegate offered the opportunity to take the oath?� asked Fluharty.

“You can ask the prison,� responded McGeehan.

Pushkin and Fluharty said they do not condone de Soto’s alleged actions. Rather, they disagree with how the House Republican supermajority wants to fill de Soto’s seat.

“This [resolution] is full of errors,� Fluharty said, threatening litigation in the matter. “It is improper on its face, and you’re just screwing this up. It doesn’t matter if he’s a Democrat or Republican.�

McGeehan pushed back.

“You have to be present,� he said. “The constitution clearly says, ‘shall take the oath of office.’ The only place to do this is here, in this Capitol. He clearly is not qualified because [of] that [wording] ... to be able to take the oath, as assigned, to be seated as a member of this body.�

McGeehan’s resolution was adopted by a voice vote. De Soto’s seat will now be filled by Gov.-elect Patrick Morrisey, a Republican.

House leadership

On Tuesday, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, announced several leadership roles within the House of Delegates, and a change to the committee format for the 87th Legislature.

Returning to the position of majority whip will be Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer. Delegate Matt Rohrbach, R-Cabell, will serve as speaker pro tempore, as well as continue to serve as deputy speaker, a role Delegate David Kelly, R-Tyler, will take on, as well. McGeehan will serve as House majority leader.

The conference chairman role will be filled by Delegate Mike Hornby, R-Berkeley, who will help facilitate majority caucus meetings and policy discussions among Republican members.

Hanshaw, who was first elected to the House in 2014, was elected House speaker for the fifth time.

Hanshaw nominated former House member Jeffrey Pack for House clerk. Pack formerly served as the head of the West Virginia Bureau for Social Services and was appointed commissioner of the state Bureau of Senior Services last year.

Robert Steward was sworn in as House doorkeeper.

A new format for the House

Hanshaw also announced that there would be structural changes to the House of Representatives. The House will have six standing committees:

• Health and Human Resources
• Energy and Public Works
• Finance
• Government Organization
• Education
• Judiciary

The Finance Committee will have four subcommittees. All other committees will have three subcommittees. The committee process also will see changes.

The speaker will refer each introduced bill to a standing committee or a subcommittee and, similar to the floor session’s three-day process, a bill going through the committee process may cover three days: Introduction, with agency reviews and comments from the public on day one; markups to the bill on day two; and committee votes on day three. Subcommittees and standing committees will follow this process.

“For far too long, the success rate of a legislative session has been measured by the number of bills passed, and that’s just not the appropriate assessment for what should be a focus on problem-solving,� Hanshaw said in a news release. “We’ve seen that the low-hanging fruits, such as the elimination of the food tax and creation of an Intermediate Court of Appeals, have already been picked after 10 years of a Republican majority. What’s left are the complex, complicated issues that will require a different approach to lawmaking.�

According to Hanshaw, this structure will allow the House to better execute its oversight.

“Not every problem is solved by enacting a new law, and we think regular discussions with Executive Branch agencies will give all of us a better understanding of the challenges, successes and resources out there in every corner of our state,� the release said.

Senate updates

Sen. Randy Smith, R-Preston, was formally elected the new Senate president. Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, will be Senate Finance Committee chairman. Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, will be the new Judiciary Committee chairman.

Justice says goodbye

In a speech from the House floor, Gov. and Sen.-elect Jim Justice bade farewell to the Legislature, and the office he occupied for eight years.

He recalled inheriting a state hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, and praised programs like Roads to Prosperity with providing revenue for the state and with upgrading the state’s infrastructure. He tearfully recalled the effect of more than 40 therapy dogs placed in schools across the state. Also, he hopes to see West Virginia move forward with all types of energy without “being dumb enough� to reject fossil fuels.

Justice said, “We knew how great we are, but the rest of the outside world didn’t buy it. ... We became frogs who are proud of our own pond. ... They called us hillbillies, but we proved them wrong. Now West Virginia, in many ways, is the envy of the world.�

The Legislature will reconvene Feb. 12, when the regular 60-day session will run with Gov.-elect Patrick Morrisey’s new administration in place.

Health and education reporter Sierra Marling contributed to this report.