CHARLESTON — Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia supports a bill that would establish an intermediate court.
AFP-WV supports Senate Bill 275 because the organization believes it aligns with its mission of creating a complete, fair and predictable judicial branch of government in the state.
AFP-WV State Director Jason Huffman said the state's judiciary currently fails to provide equal justice.
"The proper role of the judiciary is to provide equal justice under the law," Huffman said in a statement provided to The West Virginia Record. "Our current court system fails at that end."
Huffman said if the impeachment of the previous court taught us anything, it was that the Supreme Court is too centralized and powerful.
"Their use of unsigned memorandum decisions is both unfair and insufficient from a legal perspective," Huffman said. "Lawmakers should support this bill and follow what 41 other states have done in creating a modern court system with an intermediate appellate court."
Huffman said the intermediate court would help West Virginians.
"As our state Constitution outlines, an intermediate court will address these issues, ensuring every West Virginian is able to have their day in court," Huffman said.
AFP-WV also announced it plans to deploy paid digital and radio ads to supplement the grassroots engagement of its activists, connecting them with their lawmakers to voice their support of the bill.
The bill advanced to third reading in the House on March 5, where several amendments passed, including allowing abuse and neglect cases to be heard before the court.
With the passage of the bill, the new court would hear most civil appeals from circuit courts instead of them going straight to the Supreme Court. It would have two districts with three judges on each half.
The intermediate court would hear appeals in civil cases, conservatorship and guardianship cases, and rulings from family court, administrative agencies and the Workers’ Compensation Board of Review. If the bill passes, it would also eliminate the Workers’ Compensation Office of Judges.
The Supreme Court would decide which appeals it would consider and which it would reject, sending them to the new court.
