H. B. 4762
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss)
[Introduced February 25, 2000; 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
the governor and members of the Legislature not be named as
parties in suits and actions involving education litigation
and school funding; court has no jurisdiction to hear or
decide action improperly styled; provisions retroactive; 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. Governor and members of Legislature not to be named as
parties in certain suits and actions; retroactivity; court
without jurisdiction; savings clause for certain suits.
(a) Notwithstanding anything in this code to the contrary, the
governor and any member of the Legislature shall not 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 where the
action, suit or proceeding regards school funding or education
funding litigation. No court of this state has jurisdiction to
hear and decide any action, suit or proceeding where the governor,
a member of the state Legislature or both the governor and a member
or members of the state Legislature have 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 the governor, member or members of the Legislature or both
from such suit. If this motion is not made within the specified
ten day period, the court where the action, suit or proceeding is
pending does not have jurisdiction to proceed further with the pending action, suit or proceeding except to dismiss the same with
prejudice.
(c) Any action, suit or proceeding filed in any court of this
state which violates the provisions of this section is void ab
initio.
(d) The provisions of this section shall take effect upon
passage.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the governor
and members of the Legislature may not be named as parties in suits
and actions involving education litigation and school funding. 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.
This section is new; therefore strike-throughs and underlining
have been omitted.