Government of West Virginia

West Virginia Capitol Building.

The capital and seat of government in West Virginia is the city of Charleston, located in the southwest area of the state.

Legislative branch

Like all states except Nebraska, West Virginia has a bicameral state legislature, the West Virginia Legislature. The lower house is the West Virginia House of Delegates and the upper house is the Senate. The West Virginia Legislature is a citizen's legislature or part-time legislature.

The West Vrignia Constitution imposes a limit of 60 calendar days the length of the regular session. Regular sessions of the Legislature commence on the second Wednesday of January of each year; following the election of a new governor, the session starts in January with the governor's address but then adjourns until February. The session may be extended by concurrent resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of each house. The governor may also call legislators to convene in special sessions whenever the governor deems one or more issues of state government in need of timely action by the Legislature. The final day of the regular session usually includes last-minute legislation in order to meet a constitutionally-imposed deadline of midnight. Legislators usually do not make it a full-time occupation, but frequently hold a full-time job in their community of residence. This differs from neighboring states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, who have professional full-time legislatures.

The House of Delegates has 100 members. All Delegates are elected to two-year terms and are up for election in even-numbered years, elected from 58 districts that elect a varying number of members. A majority of these (35 districts) are single-member districts, while a lesser number (23 districts) are multi-member districts that elect from two to seven delegates. The district with the most delegates is the 30th District in Kanawha County, which elects seven Senators. The Senate has 34 members, elected to four-year terms staggered so that half the Senate is up for election every even-numbered year.

Executive branch

The chief executive of West Virgina is the governor of West Virginia, who is elected to a four-year term at the same time as presidential elections. The governor is sworn in the January following the November election. A governor may only serve two consecutive terms. A governor may run for a third term, but an interceding election must occur. Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin has been the acting governor since November 15, 2010.

In addition to the governor, there are three other directly-elected executive offices:

• Secretary of State of West Virginia (currently Democrat Natalie Tennant)
• West Virginia Attorney General (currently Democrat Darrell McGraw)
• West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture (currently Democrat Gus R. Douglass).

Regular elections are held concurrently with the election for governor every four years, but unlike the governor these offices have no term limits.

See also: List of West Virginia state agencies

Judicial branch

The state trial courts of general jurisdiction are the West Virginia Circuit Courts, There are 31 judicial circuits, each made up of one or more counties. Circuit Judges are elected in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms. Also, beginning in 2008, family law masters will be elected to serve eight-year terms.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is the state supreme court. It is the busiest appellate court of its type in the United States, in part because West Virginia is one of only 11 states to not have an intermediate appellate court. (The West Virginia Constitution allows for the creation of an intermediate court of appeals, but the Legislature has never done so). The Supreme Court of Appeals has five justices. Justices must have practiced law for at least ten years. The five justices are elected in partisan elections to 12-year terms. The current justices are Chief Justice Brent Benjamin, Justice Robin Davis, Justice Margaret Workman, Justice Joseph Albright, and Justice Menis Ketchum.

Political history

Main article: Politics of West Virginia

From the 1930s through the 1990s, West Virginia's politics were largely dominated by the Democratic Party, and Democrats still dominate most local and state offices. West Virginia also has a very strong tradition of trade union membership.

In presidential elections, the state's electoral votes went to Democratic tradition by supporting Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, who won the state by large margins, but the state's five electoral votes went to George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 (when Bush won by 13 percentage points) and to John McCain in 2008.

The most consistent support for Democrats is found in the coal fields of southern West Virginia (especially McDowell, Mingo, Logan, Wyoming, and Boone counties), while Republicans find greatest success to the east of the Allegheny Mountains, especially in the state's Eastern Panhandle, and in the suburbs near Charleston and Huntington.

Local government

As in Virginia, the county is the unit of government, although an unsuccessful attempt to introduce the township system was made in West Virginia's first constitution. Each of the state's 55 counties have a county commission, consisting of three commissioners elected for six years but with terms so arranged that one retires every two years, is the legislative and fiscal authority. The county commissions were originally called county courts before legal reform stripped the commissions of their judicial powers. Other officers are the Clerk of the County Court, elected for six years. The executive authority in a West Virginia county is the sheriff, who is elected to a four-year term for no more than two consecutive terms. Sheriffs with a law enforcement background generally take a more active role in the policing of his or her county, while those that were not police officers tend to focus on the tax-collecting parts of the office by delegating work to the chief deputy. The prosecuting attorney, one or two assessors, and a surveyor of lands are also elected to four-year terms in partisan elections, although they are not term-limited. In addition, there are boards appointed or elected by various authorities and charged with specific duties. They include the local board of health and the board of jury commissioners. Each of the magisterial districts (of which, as has been said, there must be at least three and not more than ten in each county) elects one or two magistrates and constables, and a board of education of five members. The constitution provides that the legislature, on the request of any county, may establish a special form of county government, and several of the larger and more populous counties have special acts.

See also

• Mountain Party
• List of Governors of West Virginia
• U.S. Congressional Delegations from West Virginia
• List of members of the 79th West Virginia Senate
• List of members of the 79th West Virginia House of Delegates

External links

• State of West Virginia Government
  • West Virginia Legislature Homepage
  • Governor Joe Manchin III's Homepage
  • Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Homepage
  • Constitution of West Virginia
  • West Virginia Code