H. B. 3127
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Staton)
[Introduced March 30, 2001; Referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter fifty-five of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section nineteen-b,
relating to limitation of actions and suits; providing that
members of the Legislature and the Legislature may not be
named as parties in suits and actions pertaining to funding,
legislative enactments, governmental affairs and any other
matter involving performance of their official legislative
duties; court without jurisdiction to hear or decide action
where the Legislature or any member of the Legislature is
named as a party under specified circumstances; providing that
the speaker is the representative of the house and the
president is the representative of the senate with respect to
lawsuits; provisions retroactive; specifying time limit to
correct style of any cases currently pending; and setting forth an effective date.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter fifty-five of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen-b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. LIMITATION OF ACTIONS AND SUITS.
§55-2-19b. Members of Legislature and Legislature not to be named
as parties in certain suits and actions; retroactivity; court
without jurisdiction; savings clause for certain suits;
speaker to represent house and president to represent senate;
intervention and amicus by Legislature.
(a) Notwithstanding anything in this code to the contrary, no
member of the Legislature nor the Legislature may be named as a
party in any action, suit or proceeding or made a party to any
action, suit or proceeding in any court in this state challenging
any law or governmental action or inaction, relating to funding,
legislative enactments, governmental affairs or any other matter
involving performance of the official legislative duties of the
Legislature or any of the members of the Legislature. No court of
this state has jurisdiction to hear and decide any action, suit or
proceeding challenging any law or governmental action or inaction,
relating to funding, legislative enactments, governmental affairs
or any other matter involving performance of the official legislative duties of the Legislature or any of the members of the
Legislature
where a member or members of the state Legislature or
the Legislature has been named as a party.
(b) The provisions of this section are retroactive and shall
apply to any action, suit or proceeding pending before any court of
this state on the effective date of this section. The party or
parties having any action, suit or proceeding pending in any court
on the effective date of this section shall have ten days from the
effective date of this section to bring the appropriate motion
before the court in which such action, suit or proceeding to
dismiss member or members of the Legislature and the Legislature or
any of the preceding from such suit, proceeding or action. If this
motion is not made within the specified ten day period, the court
where the action, suit or proceeding is pending is wholly without
jurisdiction to proceed further with the pending action, suit or
proceeding except to immediately dismiss the same with prejudice.
Such dismissal shall be deemed a dismissal on the merits of that
action for all purposes.
(c) Any action, suit or proceeding filed in any court of this
state which violates the provisions of this section is void ab
initio, upon appropriate motion to dismiss shall be dismissed with
prejudice.
(d) Nothing contained herein may be read to prohibit any
person from being sued personally for any other purpose where he or she may have personal liability wholly unrelated to his or her
official position.
(e) The senate or the house of delegates, or the Legislature
has the absolute right at all times to intervene in any action or
suit in this state, and has the absolute right to file an amicus
curiae brief at any time in any suit or action in this state.
(f) In any action or suit where the Legislature has intervened
or where the Legislature has chosen to file an amicus brief, the
speaker of the house shall be the lead spokesperson and decision
maker for the house of delegates in all respects and as to all
matters relating to the suit or action, and the president of the
senate shall be lead spokesperson and decision maker for the senate
in all respects and as to all matters relating to the suit or
action.
(g) The provisions of this section shall take effect upon
passage.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that members of
the Legislature and the Legislature may not be named as parties in
suits and actions in this State. The bill provides that the courts
are without jurisdiction to hear or decide any action or case
improperly styled. The provisions of the bill are retroactive.
The bill provides a time limit to correct any cases currently
pending. The bill also specifies that the Speaker of the House and
the President of the Senate each direct any litigation for their
respective houses in the event of intervention.
This section is new; therefore strike-throughs and underlining
have been omitted.
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