CHARLESTON – The West Virginia House of Delegates and one of its committees violated the Open Government Proceedings Act during this year’s legislative session, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia filed a petition June 9 against the House and its Government Organization Committee in Kanawha Circuit Court. The complaint mentions COVID-19 restrictions placed on the state Capitol for the session.
“Open meetings laws are at the very foundation of our democracy,” Loree Stark, legal director of ACLU-WV, said in a press release. “Without basic transparency and the opportunity of the public to observe government business, we cease to be a government for and by the people.”
Loree Stark
| acluwv.org
The ACLU says the session was unlawfully conducted, and the committee conducted official business March 23 despite knowing the live audio feed wasn’t working. That feed was the only way the public could access the hearing. The complaint, filed by Huntington attorney Hoyt Glazer, says four pieces of legislation advanced from the committee that were signed into law must be voided.
Similarly, the House Technology and Infrastructure Committee met under similar circumstances March 24, but it reconvened and reconsidered the bills passed during that session after the ACLU threatened legal action then.
The plaintiff in the case is Morgantown business owner Robert E. King. He owns a limousine company, and he says he had a business interest in one of the bills taken up in the March 23 hearing.
“As a business owner and resident in West Virginia, I follow the Legislature closely,” King said in an ACLU press release. “I have a right to know what politicians are doing in Charleston, but the House of Delegates and the Government Organization Committee denied me my rights by denying me the ability to observe meetings that must be publicly open about matters that directly affect me.”
The petition seeks to have the court enter an order declaring the House and the committee violated the Open Meetings Act. It also seeks injunctive relief against enforcement of House Bills 2890, 2773, 3002 and 2962.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-P-198
