Congressional & Legislative
Primary Authority: Congressional and legislative plans are drawn and enacted by the West Virginia Legislature, subject to the Governor’s veto. The Legislature can override a veto with a majority vote in both chambers. Republicans currently have veto-proof majorities in both chambers.
If a bill is presented to the governor during session, the governor has 5 days to sign or veto it; otherwise, it becomes law without signature. If the bill is delivered to the governor after adjournment, the governor must sign or veto it within 15 days of session adjournment; otherwise, it becomes law. Sundays are excluded from these calculations.
Mapping Timeline: Not specified for congressional plans. The Legislature must enact legislative plans as soon as possible after the decennial census, but no deadline is specified. [W.Va. Const. art. VI, § 10]
Redistricting Criteria:
- Congressional: Contiguous; Compact; As nearly equal in population as may be; Counties divided only when necessary. [W.Va. Const. art. I, § 4]
- State Senate: Contiguous; Compact; Counties divided only when necessary; As nearly equal in population as practicable; Preserve cores of existing districts; Consider communities of interest. [W.Va. Const. art. VI, § 4; W.Va. Code § 1-2-1(c)–(d)]
- State House: None.
Map Challenges: Not specified.
Ballot Measure & Referendum Processes
Types of Measures: Only the West Virginia Legislature can refer amendments to the ballot. There is no initiative or referendum process. [W.Va. Const. art. XIV]
Previous Redistricting Cycles
2020
- Congressional
- Original Plan – SB 3033
- Passed = October 14, 2021 (R-controlled)
- Signed = October 22, 2021
- Litigation History
- Legislative
- Original Plans – HB 301 (House); SB 3034 (Senate)
- Passed = October 18, 2021 (House); October 20, 2021 (Senate) (R-controlled)
- Signed = October 22, 2021
- Litigation History
2010
- Congressional
- Original Plan – SB 1008
- Passed = August 5, 2011 (D-controlled)
- Signed = August 18, 2011
- Litigation History
- Tennant v. Jefferson County Comm’n, 133 S.Ct. 3 (2012): Plaintiffs challenged West Virginia’s 2011 congressional plan as violating Article I, Section 2’s one person, one vote constitutional principle. The district court initially struck down the plan on the grounds the State’s offered justifications for the population deviations were insufficient, but on September 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, finding that the State’s legitimate objectives were sufficient to justify the plan’s deviations.
- Legislative
- Original Plan – SB 1006
- Passed = August 5 2011 (D-controlled)
- Signed = August 18, 2011
- Amended House Plan – HB 201
- Passed = August 21, 2011 (D-controlled)
- Signed = September 2, 2011
- Litigation History
- State ex rel. Cooper v. Tennant, 730 S.E.2d 368 (W.Va. 2012): Several groups of plaintiffs filed challenges to the Legislature’s enacted state Senate plan and amended House plan as violating the state constitution’s redistricting requirements relating to preserving precinct boundaries, minimizing county splits, and equal population, in addition to alleged violations of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and partisan gerrymandering. On November 23, 2011, the West Virginia Supreme Court entered an order upholding both plans as valid under the state constitution, and on February 13, 2012, issued an opinion explaining its reasoning.
2000
- Congressional
- Original Plan – HB 510
- Passed = September 19, 2001 (D-controlled)
- Signed = October 4, 2001
- Litigation History
- Legislative
- Original Plan – HB 511
- Passed = September 19, 2001 (D-controlled)
- Signed = October 4, 2001
- Litigation History
- Deem v. Manchin, 188 F.Supp.2d 651 (N.D. W.Va. 2002): Two different federal lawsuits were filed challenging the Legislature’s enacted state Senate redistricting plan as having impermissible population variances in violation of the one person, one vote constitutional principle, joined by intervenors who alleged that the state House plan contained violations of the state constitution’s “three-fifths rule.” On March 1, 2002, the district court upheld the Senate plan as constitutional and dismissed the intervenors’ claims against the House plan for lack of jurisdiction.
- Aff’d, Unger v. Manchin, 536 U.S. 935 (2002).
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